Today, we recap the evening events from Procigar 2025 that took place in Santiago de los Caballeros. If you have followed our coverage of Procigar, you will know there are two components to the festival in the Dominican Republic. The days consist of farm and factory tours (as well as a seminar), and the evenings consist of dinner and party nights. Both components bring Dominican culture into the equation – and, of course, Dominican cigars.
For as long as I can remember, the formula for the evening events has remained consistent and worked quite well. A couple of tweaks improved the night events.
Warm Up Reception (Tuesday, February 18, 2025)
The warm-up reception is pretty much a cocktail reception. It is the one evening in Santiago that doesn’t feature a full dinner. This is a day when many attendees are arriving from international destinations or the La Romana portion of Procigar 2025. It makes sense not to go heavy on dinner because folks might be a little weary from travel, or there could be delays.
One difference this year is that the Warm Up Reception took place at a new hotel, the new Marriott Residence Inn, which was also the central host hotel for Procigar 2025. The reception took place on the 11th floor with an open-air terrace, which had a nice view of the city of Santiago.
The cigars given were in a travel humidor containing five cigars produced by various Procigar Active Members.
Welcome Dinner (Wednesday, February 19, 2025)
This was the first Procigar dinner of the week, held at Parque Central in Santiago, continuing the tradition of previous years. The evening featured a buffet dinner, music, and a dance competition. As in previous years, the night celebrated Dominican culture, which influenced the atmosphere throughout the event.
We received a sampler box containing one cigar from each of the 12 Procigar Active Members. The wooden box on this evening was my favorite of the week. One change this year was a “mystery” cigar that was also handed out with the samplers on each of the big three nights (Welcome Dinner, White Party, and Gala Auction). Each mystery cigar was different and was housed in a cardboard box coffin.
White Party (Thursday, February 20, 2025)
It’s called the White Party because everyone dresses up in white. There was more Dominican music, food, and cigars. Last year, I asked former Procigar President Henke Kelner about the origins of the White Dinner. He said it developed organically. He told me:
“In the first festival there wasn’t a White Dinner, but that day we visited the area of the Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración with the mayor of Santiago, then we went to Parque Central and later we had dinner at the old private club. There were very few of us to occupy the Monumento, but we observed the interest that our international guests had, everyone took pictures and from there the idea of the White Dinner at the Monumento for the next festival arose.”
As in previous years, one had no problem hearing the music.
The White Party had its sampler with Dominican art on the packaging.
This year, Cabinet supplied a multi-use cigar accessory featuring a V-Cut, Cigar Punch, Lighter, and Cigar Rest.
Gala Auction Dinner (Friday, February 21, 2025)
Procigar 2025 concluded with its traditional annual gala dinner auction, a formal event featuring a charity auction of rare and collectible items. As in previous years, the auction took place at Centro Español, a social club located in Santiago. Although Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader was not in attendance this year, the evening remained filled with excitement.
Michael Herklots was once again the auctioneer and was joined by Raquel Quesada of Quesada Cigars. A final tally by Procigar reported that $451,600 was raised for various Dominican charities. We separately covered the full lot of the humidors that were auctioned. In addition, there were other rare cigars auctioned off.
One notable difference this time was the enhanced entertainment. Procigar has consistently provided good entertainment, but this year it reached a new level. The evening featured Broadway-inspired musical performances, with the opening number paying tribute to the musical “Chicago.” Gabi Desangeles, who served as the master of ceremonies for both the White Party and the Gala Auction, also participated in the musical numbers.
Consistent with Procigar tradition, there was no problem hearing the music.
In what was the most moving part of the week, Procigar paid tribute to the late José Seijas, who passed away this year. Seijas is best known for his long tenure as the General Manager of Tabacalera de Garcia.
And, of course, there were cigars with some unique packaging.
Photo/Video Credits: Cigar Coop
