It’s more than obvious that we all desire to get back to normal. Apart from death and economic damage, the COVID-19 pandemic has upended our social life, a social life that is crucial in the tobacco world. This desire for normalcy can be perceived with the return of the great North American trade festivals – the TPE and the PCA, which have been held this year (not the Intertabac in Dortmund), with the recent announcement that Procigar will be held in 2022 in the Dominican Republic from February 22-25, and it will be held in person, and, finally, with the official announcement for the 1st Festival Art de Vivre (Art of Living) that will be held in Andorra from September 10th to 12th.
The Art de Vivre festival will be a great party that will revolve around the most epicurean products from Latin America: spirits such as rum, coffee, chocolates and, of course, tobacco, which will be the real leitmotif of this festival.
The event will be held in one of the most prestigious hotels in the entire Principality, the Sport Hôtel Hermitage & Spa in Soldeu, a 5-star resort situated at an altitude of 1850 meters. The hotel is surrounded by nature and mountains and it offers perfect facilities for a large group of smokers and passionates of the good life. It has an specific venue for the festival and a 550m2 terrace.
Its main promoter, Baron, Christian-Denis Carensac’s event organizing company, has been planning the event since 2019 and organizing this first meeting on European soil, in the form of a festival, “and fighting, above all, against uncertainty, because the true obstacle was not if the public was willing to come or not, but not knowing how the pandemic situation will be in September.”
The Art de Vivre Festival already has confirmations of the presence of several tobacco brands, some of which are known worldwide, such as Davidoff, Plasencia and A.Turrent, and others that are more focused on the local markets of France and Spain, such as El Viejo Continente, Montes, Vedado, Don Fidel, Vegas de Santiago. Although is is still possible that some more brands will be added to the list at the last minute.
The idea is to organize a small fair where manufacturers can share their passion and their knowledge and they can also show and explain their products and news to all visitors. Every manufacturer will be able to offer masterclasses (not all brands do masterclasses), tastings, pairings and seminars, and, finally, dinners with tobacco and pairings will be celebrated with the representatives of the brands. The Festival will culminate on Saturday, September 11th, with a grand gala dinner.
If the COVID-19 uncertainty is, at least, overcome, Christian-Denis Carensac hopes it will be a success, especially in terms of the most important goal: that tobacco passionates who attend this first festival take the best memories of Andorra with them.
For further information: https://festivalartdevivre.com/
