The Case for ProCigar

By Gary Korb

Last week, Famous Smoke Shop announced that they are holding a ProCigar '10 Festival raffle. Five winners will win a trip to The Dominican Republic where they’ll get to participate in all the event has to offer. Scheduled to commence on February 14, 2010, the festival includes factory tours, cultural outings, dining with some of the world's master premium cigar makers, educational seminars, music, dancing, and all the fine, Dominican-made cigars you can smoke 'round the clock. It sounds like lots of fun - and it is. But what is ProCigar? What role does it play in the cigar industry, and what purpose does it serve?

ProCigar is a not-for-profit association comprised of the Dominican Republic's leading cigar manufacturers. Created in 1992 under the name La Asociación de Fabricantes de Cigarros de la República Dominicana, the objective of ProCigar is to exploit and protect the heritage, reputation and status of The Dominican Republic (a/k/a "Cigar Country"), the world's leading exporter of premium cigars.

As stated on their website: "Following the footsteps of those visionaries who first recognized the crystal clear rivers and fertile mountain valleys as ideal tobacco country, building on traditions that have been passed down in meticulous detail from generation to generation, our association is committed to preserving the consistent quality and unrivaled reputation of Dominican cigars."

The current members of ProCigar include Tabacalera La Aurora, General Cigar, MATASA, Tabacalera de Garcia, Tabadom Holding, Inc., and Tabaquisa S.A. If the company names don't ring a bell, certainly their cigars will: La Aurora, Leon Jimenes, Cohiba, Macanudo, Partagas, Davidoff, Avo, Zino, The Griffin's, Fonseca, H. Upmann, Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo, Don Diego, and Juan Clemente. To learn more about each of the ProCigar association members, click here.

Boxes of each of the aforementioned cigars come with a numbered, ProCigar gold seal. It’s their "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval," which assures cigar consumers that they are getting "the highest standard of quality and consistency." Moreover, each member company must continue to uphold the established guidelines that qualify their products to receive the ProCigar seal.

But ProCigar does more than look out for its own interests. In return for the great land, and the people of The Dominican Republic who help maintain a healthy cigar industry, ProCigar also gives something back. Each year, during the concluding ProCigar Festival dinner, a charity auction is held. Monies raised from the auction go to benefit the Voluntariado de Niños con Jesus center for poor children with serious illnesses and the Sociedad San Vicente de Paul retirement home for low income seniors.

The current President of the Association is Hendrik Kelner of Tabadom Holding, Inc, who is best known for his Davidoff and Avo cigar selections among many other fine cigar brands. The Executive Director is Catherine Llibre (pronounced, yee-bray). During the 2009 IPCPR Trade Show in New Orleans this past August, Ms. Llibre and Mr. Kelner gave CigarAdvisor.com a video interview. To learn more about ProCigar and hear them talk about the Association in their own words, click here.   (_[ca]__{{{