About 30 minutes into our journey from the outskirts of Santiago de los Caballeros to Bonao, I looked across the highway and saw construction crews doing something with large rocks in the road amid lanes of backed-up traffic, and I said something to my driver for the day, Ciro Cascella. Yikes. That’s going to be a problem.
Cascella, as he has done a few times before, offered to drive me to Wednesday’s tour of the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation and Chateau de la Fuente. While the seats on the bus are a lot more comfortable than the ones I sat in my first time taking this particular tour, Cascella’s SUV is still more comfortable and, typically, a much faster way to get from Point A to Point B. Cascella, who serves as president of Arturo Fuente and vice-president of Procigar, is also someone who is full of information. For example, during the car ride, he mentioned that President Luis Abinader would be attending tonight’s dinner. More on that below.
This is the sixth time I’ve done the CFCF/Chateau de la Fuente tour as part of Procigar; inevitably, the most I’ve attended any single tour in Santiago. Henk Nota, managing director of Vrijdag—the company that makes the bands for the OpusX and many other cigars—was perhaps the only other guest on today’s tour that was part of my first visit on this tour, which was back in 2016. I know this because that tour involved just a dozen of us. A far more intimate and detailed—but less glamorous—version of what I did on Wednesday.
Because this is the sixth time doing the tour, I’d highly recommend reading our previous coverage of Cigar Family Charitable Foundation and Chateau de la Fuente, including one year written by Patrick Lagreid:
This tour includes visits to two very different places, albeit ones just minutes away:
- Chateau de la Fuente — The farm where the wrappers for Fuente Fuente OpusX are grown, notably, the first cigar to use a Dominican wrapper.
- Cigar Family Charitable Foundation — An ever-expanding education complex that is operated by the Fuente and (J.C.) Newman families.
In 1992, the first crop of what would become OpusX was planted in the valley of Caribe, a small mining town outside of Bonao. As the story goes, Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. and his father, the late Carlos Fuente Sr., would travel to the farm, and kids of all ages would run up to the car asking for money. The Fuentes would ask why the kids weren’t in school. The answers were complex. Poverty. An overrun local school. Poverty. Parents who didn’t believe in education. Poverty.
After considering donating to expand the existing school, the Fuente and Newman families decided to use their own money to create their own school instead.
Over the last two decades, what started as an idea to teach 25 kids has expanded into a school of nearly 500 students from K-12, a technical school, and a bunch of other things that are quasi-related to education.
For example, Eric Newman mentioned he wanted to show off one of the school’s graduates who has returned and now serves as the dentist, but when he walked into the school’s clinic to grab the dentist, they were doing a procedure on an adult.
There are so many pieces of the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation that stay with me, but the one room that I never forget is a sort of intake room that has many elements of a basic home. During my first few visits, it was explained to me that many of the students would show up to the school and the teachers would have no idea of the condition of the students’ lives: homes without beds, days without meals, parents wanting to burn their books for heat and, more soul-crushing, because of fear of the concept of education.
So the school has a room where teachers can gauge what home life might be like and then provide resources not only to the students but also to the rest of their home. Food, medical care, clothes, social services, water filters, new roofs, and I imagine a long list of things I have spent most of my life taking for granted are provided to the students. Like the education, they are provided for free.
All of it, paid for by many of the people reading this post, many of whom have no idea they did so.
In 2024, the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation generated $2.76 million in revenue. That comes from various sources, including direct donations, sales of specific items like the Toast Across America packs or certain Fuente-branded items from Prometheus. The Fuente and Newman families say they cover all of the overhead of running the charity, meaning that every dollar donated goes directly to funding the operations in the Dominican Republic.
Our tour started not at the school, but atop a hill that overlooks the valley where the tobacco farm complex sits. From the gazebo, you can’t see that much tobacco, but you can see the roofs of barns and what is the most decorated tobacco farm I’ve ever been to. I believe all but one of my six visits have started this way: atop the hill for some refreshments and speeches by Fuente Jr. and Newman explaining why we are here. Then, it’s back on the bus to the school.
As far as new elements: I feel like the live musicians were a new touch. After some short speeches, audio difficulties, and some mango juice, it was back in the vehicles to the school.
Cascella, the Arturo Fuente president, was genuinely surprised when we arrived. Not only did we make it after the bus, but there were construction workers on the road right outside the Chateau’s entrance. After many years of requests, the Dominican government decided today—Feb. 18, 2026—was the day to start paving the dirt road. As such, there were massive mounds of dirt and various construction trucks blocking segments of the tiny road. Fortunately, the crew worked quickly and opened up a pathway for the large bus. Cascella and Fuente Jr. were ecstatic about the paving.
At the school, we split into two groups of about 30 people and began to speedrun the tour. Each and every year, this tour has attracted more visitors and seemingly less time spent in the school. This year, it seemed like once we started walking, it was merely 30 minutes before we had completed the school tour.
So much of the tour was triggering moments from previous visits. Here’s Carlito Fuente replicating a moment I’ve seen from students over the years.
I can’t remember which year it was, but one of my favorite moments of a tour is when Eric Newman walked into a classroom that was just starting a pop quiz. Needless to say, I think we got that one canceled for the students.
After the short tour, we settled into an abbreviated version of what is a tradition to conclude our CFCF visit: Tony Kattengell introduces the school’s karate team, who does a performance, followed by two different types of students doing Dominican dances.
We skipped the annual group photo with the karate students and dancers and instead walked over to the Cigar Family Academy of Arts, which opened in 2024. During my first visit, this concept was talked about. Then I saw some renderings, a model, the construction site, pictures and videos showing the progress, and last time I was here, half-finished buildings. Now, the buildings are open. Unfortunately, none of the students were inside, perhaps something for my next trip.
There are three separate buildings: one for music, one for painting, and one for dance. Then, an amphitheater that hosts concerts, performances and even speakers. The school is named after Arturo Sandoval, the legendary trumpet player who is a friend of the Fuente family, and much of the funds for the project came from Hublot, which has a partnership with Arturo Fuente.
Okay, not every group photo was skipped.
We arrived back at the farm a few minutes before the bus, which had to back into the driveway due to the tight roads. Per capita, the Dominican Republic is likely one of the most dangerous places to drive, but it also has some incredibly talented drivers.
Having done this tour many times, I oftentimes hear two complaints from people about it: first, where are the cigars? Understandably, some people might not realize that half the trip is to a school and not to a cigar facility. Secondly, some people have told me they have taken the tour and were never given a cigar. Arturo Fuente has remedied that part: giving out a bag that contains a hat and a cigar.
For those interested in buying hard-to-find Fuente products at MSRP, a small shop was set up inside of the replica of Ernest Hemingway’s famed Key West that sits on the property. Arturo Fuente is hardly alone in selling cigars on its Procigar tours, and I suspect that once word gets out that you can purchase cigars like this at MSRP, a few more people will add this to their 2027 plans.
After some refreshments, we were called to lunch. I would venture to guess that more than 90 percent of my Procigar lunches have included roasted pig and fried plantains. Today was no different, and both were enjoyable enough that I saw many people back in the line for seconds.
If I have any sort of criticism of the tour: the bona fide espresso machine that was present in 2024 was not here for 2026. Yes, I’ve turned into an espresso snob. No, we aren’t launching halfpull, grindwheel nor RDT Today.
After the meal concluded, we did something that does not typically happen on these visits: a guided tour of the barns.
Cascella led about a third of the group into the nearby barns where tobacco was being hung to cure. The irony of this tour is that you typically visit a tobacco farm and yet only get to see the tobacco from afar or from the bus. Oddly, it’s not because Arturo Fuente is secretive or protective; previously, I’ve heard Fuente Jr. and others say that anyone who wants to walk into a barn or even the nearby fields can, but people have been hesitant to take him up on the offer.
More than just about any other tour I’ve been on, these workers did not seem to care that we were there. Tobacco needed to be hung and the gringos and their selfies weren’t going to stop it from happening.
After that, the tour was done, and for the next half hour or so, things were going according to plan. That was until we were back on the highway. We were stalled, but in what I was told was a different location from the traffic I witnessed in the morning. For context, Santo Domingo, the capital, is located on the country’s southern coast. Santiago, the cigar capital, is located in the center of the country, Bonao is about halfway in between. Just before 4 p.m., we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic as construction work took place on the only highway that connects the country’s two largest cities.
It took about 45 minutes to clear the construction work, which put me back at my hotel right around 6 p.m., an hour before the first buses would leave for the Welcome Dinner. (Not to be confused with Tuesday night’s Welcome Cocktail Hour.)
About 30 minutes after arriving at dinner, I went to take a photograph and saw Abinader’s motorcade pulling up. While the motorcade was long and his protection staff was unafraid to tell people how close they could and couldn’t get, multiple people remarked on how surprised they were not to see anyone being patted down upon entry.
I last saw Abinader in 2024, at the Friday night gala. Unlike that visit, he didn’t give any sort of speech, though I think he stayed longer this year. Needless to say, Procigar appears to have a much closer relationship with the country’s president than ever before.
Quality-wise, the food seemed especially good tonight. Banquet food is tough, but everything I had was quite tasty, albeit I was surprised by how many different types of meats—five?—were on offer.
Also surprising to me: the confetti falling from the sky midway through this dance group’s routine.
Wednesday always features a dance contest. This year’s content was off to a good start—the emcee was into it and we got some demonstration dances from the professionals—but then barely a half dozen couples entered and it was over far too quickly. The couples were good and trying to win, but the contest seemed rushed.
As someone who was once forced to participate in the dance contest, I have an idea for next year: the dozen Procigar members should have their own dance competition. Thirteen couples and the winner gets to park their car at the top of the monument on Thursday night. Early polls suggest that Hendrik “Henke” Kelner, Procigar’s president emeritus, would probably win.
Shortly after the short dance contest ended, the first bus departure was announced, and I grabbed a seat to start working on the 2,300 words you (or AI) just read.
On Thursday, it’s off to the first cigar factory I ever visited: La Aurora.
Disclosure: Procigar covers the cost of my registration and my hotel stay.
Buy Now! Grabb-A-Leaf.
