The most prestigious company in the world of premium cigars, Habanos S.A., held the 1st National Habanos World Challenge this Friday at the Gran Manzana Kempinski Hotel. The event showcased the high level of competitors in a contest that combines both knowledge and practical training, along with a deep passion for the culture of the Cuban cigar.<\/p>\n
To select the pair that will represent Cuba in the International Habanos World Challenge at the 25th edition of the Festival del Habano next year, a distinguished jury evaluated the demonstrations of three duos: Noel Rodr\u00edguez Arias and Jos\u00e9 Carlos Lara Ortiz from Abel Cigar Lounge; Ram\u00f3n Borges Gainza and Catherin Fajardo Laureiro from Grupo de Turismo Gaviota S.A.; and Dayan Vald\u00e9s Matamoros and Odalys C\u00e1ceres L\u00f3pez from Empresa Comercial Caracol S.A.<\/p>\n
The winning team, composed of Noel Rodr\u00edguez Arias and Jos\u00e9 Carlos Lara Ortiz from Abel Cigar Lounge, excelled in demonstrating their knowledge and skills in the art of the Cuban cigar. Both participants expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to hold such a prestigious contest in Cuba, a country renowned for producing the finest tobacco in the world, and they look forward to the participation of more competitors in future editions.<\/p>\n
The jury was comprised of Yunier Machado, President and Director of the Cuban Domestic Market; Jos\u00e9 Carlos de Santiago, President of Grupo Excelencias Latinoamericanas; Pedro Tejeda, winner of the Habanosommelier Contest in 2008; Lourdes de la Noval, Specialist from La Casa del Habano<\/em> at Habanos S.A.; Ana Isel Mederos, Quality Director at the El Laguito Cigar Factory; and Teresa Quintana Dom\u00ednguez, Quality Specialist at Empresa de Rama 63.<\/p>\n To test the skills and knowledge of the participants, the morning session included a written exam and a blind tasting, while the afternoon featured the cigar cutting and lighting, along with the Habanos Moments<\/em> challenge.<\/p>\n Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez<\/p>\n Noel Rodr\u00edguez Arias and Jos\u00e9 Carlos Lara Ortiz from Abel Cigar Lounge. Photo: Habanos S.A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The most prestigious company in the world of premium cigars, Habanos S.A., held the 1st National Habanos World Challenge this Friday at the Gran Manzana Kempinski Hotel, an event that demonstrated the high level of competitors in a contest combining both knowledge and practical training, along with a passion for the culture of the Cuban cigar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[494,181,790],"ppma_author":[178],"class_list":["post-3424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-cuba","tag-habanos-s-a","tag-habanos-world-challenge-competition","tag-national-habanos-world-challenge"],"authors":[{"term_id":178,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"alicia-soto-smith","display_name":"Alicia Soto Smith","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3426,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424\/revisions\/3426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3424"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radioenciclopedia.cu\/cultural-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}