For the third consecutive year, the city of Cachoeira at brazilian northeast state of Bahia hosted more than 80 people to celebrate the four C’s of Bahia (Cachaça, Cigars, Coffee and Chocolate) from October 17th to 20th. The innovation on this year’s program was the introduction of a nautical route reviving the route used on the 18th century to bring the tobacco from the countryside to the Salvador port.
The attendees that opted for the nautical route arrived at the Bahia capital one day in advance and could enjoy a night full of cultural and gastronomic experiences at the city. On October 16th the group went to visit the Bahia Nautical Museum at the Forte Santo Antônio da Barra, also known as Farol da Barra. After the visit, a cocktail on the fort with a beautiful view from the bay at the sunset gave the welcome to the third edition of the Festival.
The next day started early with the group taking a schooner and leaving the city of Salvador heading to Cachoeira, where the event took place. The nautical tour was interesting because it revived the inverse route of the tobacco transportation at the colonial period.
But not only of culture and history lives the festival. The tour also stopped at Frades Island where the attendees could enjoy the sea and had a lunch with local culinary dishes.
The official opening of the festival was at the end of the day at the Cine-Teatro Cachoeirano followed by a cocktail at the patio of the Pousada Convento do Carmo.
The next days were filled with plantations and factories visits on the Brazilian main manufactures: Dannemann, Menendez Amerino, Monte Pascoal and Leite Alves. During the visits the group could enjoy some workshops talking about the three other C’s of Bahia and see and taste at first hand the manufacturers cigar launchings for the Brazilian market for the year.
The Festival is growing and improving every year and the plans for next year is to promote it in some other countries to bring more foreigners to live the complete Brazilian cigar experience.