The Tenth Habano Festival is a good reason to celebrate the always-renewed quality of Cuba’s premium cigars, as put by the co-presidents of Habanos S.A., Oscar Basulto and Buenaventura Jimenez.

Speaking of Habanos is the talk of an elite product, of centennial traditions and thorough manufacture that tag along those cigars from their birth all the way to their market sales, ruled by a painstaking quality control process. Prying into the market scene, the new stuff and the perspectives of this product, and listening to all that much from two restless speakers like Oscar Basulto and Buenaventura Jimenez, co-presidents of Habanos Corp. S.A., let us take a peek into the good news, the upbeat character and the hard work that characterize Cuba’s cigar-making industry today.

EXCELENCIAS: Even in the midst of a complex international scenario, Habanos S.A. kept up a fast-paced business beat. What are the main outcomes overall?

BASULTO: It’s true that the legislative scene in 2007, with the enforcement of new anti-tobacco laws, new smoking bans in public places, advertising restrictions and high taxes, actually put sort of a negative spin on the world of cigars. So, keeping up good, steady sales of our product should be viewed as a success. We’re pleased with the functioning of our network of exclusive distributors and we’re setting out to further develop that mesh in order to reach out to other markets. Habanos are spreading all around the globe and reeling in more and more followers and we’re currently present in over 150 countries and more than 130 stores in all major cities around the world, and they have even reached out to the duty-free and travel retail outlets.

BUENAVENTURA: All this much rendered in steady sale volumes, value increases and profits in the neighborhood of $400 million. We believe that our market quota right now comprises some 80 percent in units and as much as 85 percent of the total premium cigar market –excluding the U.S. These results make Habanos S.A. the world’s leading company in the industry.

EXELENCIAS: Which Habanos S.A. products are leading the market in each and every region, as well as globally?

BASULTO: Europe goes on to be the number-one market for our business, especially Spain and France. Other nations like Germany, UK and Switzerland also stand for a large chunk of Habanos S.A.’s overall sales, though I ought to mention other regions and countries that have increased their sales as well, like Hong Kong, the Middle East and Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Russia, among others.

BUENAVENTURA: In terms of brands and leading products, Cohiba is no doubt the top reference. But we shouldn’t forget Montecristo and Romeo & Juliet, two brands with an amazing grip of the world market, as well as the rest of our global brands, like Partagas and Hoyo de Monterrey, among others. As to the factory-size cigars, the robusto and the clasica mareva continue to lead the pack as the most sought-after brands in the market.

EXCELENCIAS: Are there enough capabilities in both the fields and the industry to meet the market demands as far as Habanos are concerned?

BASULTO: I should answer that question by saying that there’re not only enough capabilities, but plenty of willingness to do it and do it right. To us, the quality of the product is the name of the game, therefore we won’t stop looking after it. In that respect, we pay a lot of heed to what the market wants and the quality of our products is supported by longstanding experience and traditions that have piled up for centuries, that have been handed down from one generation to the next with one common component: the passion and toilsome efforts of all the people committed to the world of Habanos.

BUENAVENTURA: If there’s something that really amazes me is the incredible ability of tobacco growers to understand the soils and the crop. That’s a warranty in terms of production and quality. There’s a lot of passion and pride, let alone wisdom, in the productive sphere, and I’m not only talking about the tobacco harvesters in Cuba, but also the pickers, the hand-rollers and the rest of the staff at the factories who guarantee the high quality of the products we put on the market.

EXCELENCIAS: This time around, the International Habano Festival will celebrate its tenth anniversary. How much does this event mean to Habanos S.A.?

BUENAVENTURA: Ten years have gone by and we may say this event has acquired universal recognition and prestige that accrue with each passing year. The Festival panned out to be the launching pad to unveil new products, not to mention that it’s the right time and the right place to showcase (those new products) among so many cigar lovers.

BASULTO: As in previous editions, we’ll gather a number of celebrities, execs from the tobacco industry, artists, collectors and aficionados from around the world for a weeklong celebration. They come to Cuba to know more, to share experiences and views, and to puff at Habanos –the best cigars in the whole wide world- in their own place of origin.

EXCELENCIAS: What new stuff and surprises will the Tenth International Habano Festival have in store?

BUENAVENTURA: The Habano Festival is the perfect setting, in terms of prestige and repercussions, for the world presentation of the year’s new brands and sizes. So, people attending this event will have the opportunity of tasting a couple of cigar bands that made quite a splash as Limited Editions and that will now in 2008 join the stocks of their own brands. And this is a personal recommendation: don’t miss out on the new packaging of the Partagas Series.

BASULTO: In the Tenth Habano Festival, we’ll be featuring the Welcome Night, the visits to the tobacco plantations and cigar factories, the Night of the Dealer, a number of master lectures, the Habano Sommelier contest. Yet we set out to have a big celebration to remember the very best of this prestigious event’s previous editions, and at the same time have a moment for reflection, a moment to review the achievements. We hope to gather again ten years from now with all of our friends for a similar celebration.

“To us, the quality of the product is the name of the game, therefore we won’t stop looking after it, supported by longstanding experience and traditions that have piled up for centuries, that have been handed down from one generation to the next.”