PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE HABANO

The year 2018 has begun and along with it comes the 20th anniversary of the Habano Festival. We're proud to say that we have been hosting the largest international meeting for lovers of the world's best tobacco.

Every year since its birth back in 1999, smokers, handcrafters, collectors and countless professionals in the realm of Habanos plunge themselves into Cuba's most autochthonous roots to pay tribute to one of its most sought-after products: Habano. The Habano Festival has had in attendance several personalities from politics, economics, music, filmmaking, art, literature, sports or mass media that have wanted to be a part of a unique and exceptional vision of the Habano in the course of these twenty years.

Some of the boldface names have been Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, movie stars like Joseph Fiennes, Jeremy Irons and Jack Nicholson, or Cuban artists such as Compay Segundo or Chucho Valdés, among many others.

The Festival fulfills the basic job of transmitting culture and serves as an exceptional framework to share the passion of puffing on a Habano in its country of origin. Thanks to this event, the knowledge about Habano as one of the most exclusive luxury products worldwide has been encouraged.

Over these two decades, the Habano Festival has also been a showroom for the presentation of the latest and most emblematic Habano products, which have eventually become trendsetters in the international tobacco universe. The Festival has evolved by the hand of our products, which year after year awe consumers and aficionados of the world's finest cigar: Habano.

One of the Festival's major objectives is the unveiling of star products, coupled with the latest market launches from Habanos S.A. In the course of these twenty years we have rolled out such emblematic products as Montecristo Edmundo, Gran Reserva de Partagás (Serie P Nº2), Short Churchills de Romeo y Julieta, Cohiba Behike or Cohiba Maduro 5. These are just a few of the main successes for the company in terms of launches, which stand for oneand-only moments that will always be remembered within the framework of the Habano Festival.

The 20th Habano Festival will feature the Cohiba brand, with its Reserva Cosecha 2014 as its most premium choice of all, and Partagás Línea Maduro with a couple of vitolas so far unseen in the brand. What's more, there will be major newcomers, such as Le Hoyo de Río Seco –within the Hoyo de Monterrey brand- and Romeo y Julieta Grand Churchills, as a special product to mark the Festival's 20th anniversary, also with a vitola not seen before in Habanos' portfolio. For Habanos, S.A., the Habano Festival represents more than ever the past, the present and the future of Habano. It's our intension to heighten the image of Habano and our brands to the utmost around the globe. The Habano Festival is and will always be a reference event in the world and, therefore, it must continue improving both in conceptualization and in the launches we make during this gathering, let alone in the rest of the activities that unfold within the Festival. It's our intention to move on toward an increasingly creative, more global and innovative Festival, able to connect our followers worldwide; an event in which those in attendance could live out a unique experience in an exclusive environment for Habano lovers.

The Festival fulfills the basic job of transmitting culture and serves as an exceptional framework to share the passion of puffing on a Habano in its country of origin