The fifth and final day of the XVII Festival Habanos seemed like it might be a quiet day, but by the time the lights came on at the PABEXPO center after the gala closing dinner, it turned out to be fairly full finale. Friday started with the final round of the Habanosommelier competition, with a packed room of festival attendees and media to watch. It’s a different format from the first round, which was held on Monday, as three finalists are randomly given a scenario that they would encounter in their role as a Habanosommelier: a married couple celebrating their 10th anniversary, a pair of ladies who just graduated from a Habanosommelier program, or business colleagues looking for a smoke after dinner. Each contestant is given a menu of drinks and cigars—16 different vitolas from six different brands—from which they are to work from. The sommelier must engage the “customers” before making his recommendation, asking what they have recently eaten, what they like to drink, how much time they have and so on, and then present the menus before making a pair of cigar recommendations. Each section gets about five minutes of presentation time, and then a specific recommendation is ...
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