ProCigar 2026: Behind the Scenes at Davidoff & Arturo Fuente

After chatting with quite a few seasoned cigar aficionados about the awesome experience of attending the ProCigar Festival 2026 in the Dominican Republic, I leapt at the opportunity to attend this year’s festivities. The ProCigar Festival is an annual week-long celebration of the rich cigar culture of the Dominican Republic and is widely recognized as one of the most prestigious events in the premium cigar industry. The event is curated by the Association of Dominican Cigar Manufacturers to showcase the country’s rich heritage, craftsmanship and status as a world leader in tobacco production. What truly sets this event apart is the fact that ProCigar is highly interactive and social. Admission typically includes a registration kit filled with premium cigars. The festival’s events are designed to facilitate camaraderie between the makers of premium Dominican cigars and the people who smoke them. Events include farm and production facility tours, as well as evening parties that fully embody the Dominican culture and night life.

The festival’s theme this year was From Soil to Soul and took place on February 15–20, 2026 in Santiago de los Caballeros, DR, the cigar capital of the world. The festival offers enthusiasts and industry professionals an insider look at how premium Dominican cigars are made. My experience this year included visiting several Davidoff facilities, including Finca Schneider (tobacco farm), the tobacco fermentation plant and the production and packaging facility. I was also able to tour production facilities for Arturo Fuente and Tabacalera Diaz Cabrera. I discussed my ProCigar experience on a recent episode of Burn & Learn: The Cigar Lifestyle Podcast, located here.

The Davidoff Experience

Walking into the Davidoff plant was like walking into a Swiss watch factory that happens to smell like fine aged tobacco and Spanish cedar. Under the artful guidance of Davidoff’s global production leader, Hamlet Espinal, I was able to get an insider’s view of the precision and quality that goes into the production of every Davidoff cigar. It was truly a masterclass in lean six sigma manufacturing. It was amazing to see the multiple quality controls that are built into the process at each step. Each stage of the production process was actively governed by measurable KPIs and analytical dashboards.

Looking back on the Davidoff experience, two memories stand out for me. First was the opportunity to plant a tobacco seedling in the tobacco fields, followed by watching the production workers provide milk to the tobacco seedlings prior to being planted!

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Tabacalera Fuente

At the Fuente production facility, the mantra Can’t Rush the Hands of Time was on full display. I was able to see first-hand how quality is the focal point of everything that is done, to ensure the creation of superior cigars. Standing in the Catedral de Tabaco with Carlito Fuente, you quickly realize this isn’t just manufacturing, it’s his mission and life’s work. Fuente’s production process is completely vertically integrated. Everything is made onsite, including the cigar molds and the cigar boxes used for final packaging.

Tabacalera Diaz Cabrera (TDC)

After serving as the master blender at Davidoff for thirty years, Eladio Diaz and his two sons, Hector and Alexander, launched Tabacalera Diaz Cabrera in 2021. Emmanuel, Eladio’s third son, later left his international sales and marketing role at E.P. Carrillo to join TDC. Although I knew that this tour was on our agenda, I didn’t completely understand what a great honor it would be to meet Eladio and Emmanuel until I arrived and the tour began. Emmanuel shared his father’s story and provided a great tour of the production process. The highlight of this visit, as well as the trip in general, was the rare opportunity to receive hand rolled cigars directly from Eladio. As a committed Davidoff cigars fan, the opportunity to meet and receive hand rolled cigars from Eladio was a once in a lifetime experience for me. Those cigars have a special place in my humidor and will remain there for the foreseeable future!

Rich Dominican Culture

In addition to the facility tours, the festival provides attendees a glimpse into the rich culture of the Dominican Republic. The evening parties consisted of authentic Dominican food, great music and exceptional dancing and shows. The highlight of these events was The White Party that was held at the Monumento a los Héroes de la Restauración, the festival’s most iconic night where everyone dresses in white for dinner, music, and—of course—cigars.

In the backdrop of the city, complete with a massive fireworks show, the evening’s highlight was the annual charity auction. To raise money for local charities, several one-of-a-kind humidors and rare cigar collections were auctioned. This year’s auction raised over $618,000, including a single Arturo Fuente humidor that sold for $150,000.

After such a wonderful experience, I look forward to next year when I hopefully will have an opportunity to visit production facilities of some of the other great Dominican cigar manufacturers, including La Flora Dominica, La Aurora and Casa Carrillo.