On Wednesday, the third day of the festival we started the day at 7:30am, for our own tour to Pinar del Rio. The official plantation tour is always rushed and too crowded, so doing our own thing as a group made a lot more sense.

After a long, bumpy ride in a small but comfortable Yutong bus, we found ourselves in Pinar del Rio, the Mecca of tobacco growing. Pinar del Rio is a so different to Havana; walking and driving through the iconic San Luis and the small villages, you get to see what living in Cuban countryside really is.

Everything you see in Pinar del Rio is geared towards tobacco growing; amazingly, there are over 22,000 tobacco plantations, most of them growing filler under direct sunlight.

Our first stop was Pancho Cuba’s farm to meet Francis Milian Diaz, more known as “Pancho Cuba”. Francis is a busy man, he is always hands on in the farm, but he is always happy to see visitors and he was more than happy to answer all our questions. Although his English is almost non existent, you sense his warm welcoming when he saw us. Francis, now in his 60’s, has been working in his farm since he was a child, and so did four generations of his family before him.

Although he is regarded as one of Cuba’s best tobacco growers, due to the outstanding quality of the wrappers he produces in his farm, he likes to play it down. “I know every inch of this farm, that is why I can grow good tobacco. In any other farm it would be a different story”.

Three large curing barns are standing in the middle of the farm, all filled with leaves being air cured. Some shade grown plants are still standing, but the leaves are not going to end up as wrappers. “We did not agree on a price for the wrapper leaves, so this crop will end up as cigarette tobacco at a fraction of the price…” he says, with a feeling of disappointment.After a short walk in the farm and a tour of the barns, it was time for us to move on and let Francis carry on with his busy schedule.

Our next stop was the farm of Hector Luis Prieto, also one of the best tobacco growers in the region, who has won the Habanos Man of the Year award. Hector runs a small farm, that is separated by a small stream that provides a steady supply of water all year around. A small palladar stands on the top of the stream, overlooking the farm and the river, offering an idyllic view. We took a walk over the wobbly foot bridge to the far side of the farm, where a statue of Jose Marti overlooks the farm. Everything looks so peaceful!

We weren’t expecting to see Hector there, as we had met him in the “Irish Embassy” the night before. Hector had finished his crop already, but small plants that were intended for cigarette tobacco were just planted in one of the fields. With time running short, we got on our bus again to visit a highly recommended Palladar for lunch.

El Pinar is a small Palladar situated in the middle of a tobacco farm, only a few meters away from the Robaina farm. The harvest in the farm had already finished and the land was ploughed and getting ready for the next crop. We had some tasty chicken and seafood lunch and some even tastier farm rolled cigars, all we needed for the long, bumpy trip back to Havana. A few hours later we were back to the Nacional, just in time to get ready for the Trinidad dinner.

The Trinidad dinner was held in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and it was the night of the long awaited release of the new Trinidad Vigia. The venue was dressed up in white and gold, the colours of the Trinidad marca. As we arrived, we were greeted with a Trinidad Reyes to start of the evening, followed by a Colonial after the starter. Although we weren’t expecting it, a heavy rainfall caused some panic amongst the guest, as all the tables in the garden had to be swiftly moved under cover!

Amongst some unusually tasty dishes and some fine wines, we all got the chance to get a Trinidad Vigia after out main course. Although I was hoping to save it, I couldn’t resist and I smoked mine. The Vigia is a fine cigar, measuring 110mm in length with a generous 54 ring gauge. Although fresh, the Vigia was surprisingly rich and balanced, with the typical Trinidad flavour profile and plenty of sweet toffee flavours; definitely one to look out for!

And to finish things off, as we ha all finished our desserts, we were presented with a couple of pleasant surprises; the brand new Cohiba Robusto Supremo Limited Edition 2014 and the Vigia Gran Reserva 18 year old rum! The Cohiba is a beautiful cigar, measuring 127mm in length with a whopping 58 ring gauge (that looks thinner) and a gorgeous wrapper. Although I had a fair few samples of the Vigia Gran Reserva, I kept my Cohiba to try upon returning to Ireland.

After the event finished, we all headed back to the terrace of the Nacional for a nightcap – or two.

Please log in on Facebook to see the photos of Day 3 below.