Havana, Cuba.- To learn about tobacco plantations of the western Pinar del Rio province is todayh the main activity for participants in the 20th Habano Festival.

To tour tobacco plantations of the Vuelta Abajo zone means a ‘must’ of the agenda of this meeting where traders, experts, artists and habano lovers are gathered.

It is precisely in Vuelta Abajo, the richest land for the cultivation of tobacco leaves, for the exclusive quality of the soil and the experience of producers, farmers with a long history of caring for these plantations.

Thus, organizers of the Festival always include this tour among the attendants of over 50 countries in which they meet those who care for this crop.

Early this morning, several groups tour plantations, despalillos (where workers take out the central stem of the leaf) and other workshops that in the field enrich each step of what is later to be the habano or Premium cigar of this nation, classified as the best of the world. Many of the farmers of these plantations have a workgroup of 10, given its quality of being a family crop to preserve traditions and quality of the leaves.

Some of these families collect 2.4 tons of tobacco leaves per hectare. Nonetheless, the main focus of their efforts is in raising the quality of the yield.

As for the task of the seed beds, in general, work there lasts 35 days and then after planting the leaves, they should be collected from 70 to 80 days after, which explains that during that period (obligatory) work requires great attention, in a land culture related to traditions.

The Habanos S.A. international corporation, created in 1994, exports to 150 countries in 27 different brands that surpass 220 cigar bands, 350 references and about 80 gallery bands or industry formats, for a network of over 150 Habano Housesd distributed worldwide.

The field is the starting point of all this work, when this versión of the Festival is dedicated first and foremost to the brands Cohiba and Partagas.