The Dominican Republic produces more premium hand-rolled cigars than any country on earth. Casa de Campo® sits in the middle of that production. For years, though, the connection was incidental — guests smoked at the bar after dinner and that was about the extent of it. Cigars in Paradise changes that — Casa de Campo is finally putting its home-turf advantage on stage.
Finally, from 25 to 28 June 2026, the resort is making it the headline. The inaugural Cigars in Paradise Cigar & Rum Festival brings more than 25 cigar brands, two nights of tastings on the Marina Riverside, master-blender seminars, a round at Dye Fore, and a private tour of the Casa Brugal distillery. It is the first event of its kind on property, and the first time the resort has built a major festival around its quietest competitive advantage: it is already in cigar country.
Cigars in Paradise at Casa de Campo: The Four-Day Programme
Thursday 25 June. Guests arrive and check in between 1pm and 5pm. The welcome reception runs 7pm–9pm at the Minitas Pool Bar, with cigars, cocktails and dinner served beachside.
Friday 26 June. A cigar breakfast at Lago opens the day at 8am. From 10am, golfers tee off at Dye Fore — the cliffside Pete Dye course that runs above the Chavón River. Non-golfers take a private tour of the Destileria Casa Brugal in San Pedro de Macorís at 11am. Seminars hosted by Erik Calvino (editor of Cigar Snob) and George Brightman run 3pm–4:30pm at the Flamboyan Conference Center. The main festival opens at the Marina Riverside from 6pm to 9pm, followed by an after-party until midnight.
Saturday 27 June. A second seminar day at the Flamboyan, a second festival night at the Marina, a second after-party. The two festival evenings have separate ticketing, and a two-day pass is available.
Sunday 28 June. Farewell cigar breakfast at Lago, then check-out and airport transfer.
It is a four-night package with cigars and rum at the centre, but daytime activity uses the rest of the resort — the spa, the racquet centre, the shooting centre, and any of Casa de Campo’s three Pete Dye courses if you want to extend the golf.
Who’s Pouring and Who’s Rolling
Importantly, this is not a vanity launch with a handful of token brands. The line-up includes Arturo Fuente, Davidoff, Montecristo, La Aurora, La Flor Dominicana, Rocky Patel, Plasencia, AJ Fernandez, Drew Estate, Oliva, Quesada, Tatuaje, Crowned Heads and La Palina — a list that covers most of the Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran houses a serious collector would expect at a major industry event. Indeed, the organisers have confirmed more than 25 brands.
Erik Calvino — editor and publisher of Cigar Snob — hosts the seminar programme alongside cigar-industry veteran George Brightman. Expect blender-led sessions, paired rum tastings, and the kind of access — direct conversations with the people who actually make the cigars — that is hard to find outside of trade-only events.
Why a Villa Stay Beats a Hotel Room for This One
Four nights, late evenings, early seminars, golf in between. Hotel rooms at Casa de Campo® work for a two-night trip. For this festival, however, a private villa is the better fit.
A four-bedroom villa with full staff (chef, butler, housekeeper) runs from roughly $1,800 per night in low season and sleeps eight, which works out lower per person than four hotel rooms once you add resort fees, dining and the access fee. In practice, the cigar lounge becomes the villa terrace. Breakfast lands at the time you want it, not when the restaurant opens. And if you are travelling with a group of four or five friends — which is how most of these trips happen — you do not have to coordinate four separate room keys, four separate bills, four separate golf cart pickups.
Most Caribbean Paradise Homes villas allow cigar smoking on outdoor terraces. That said, specific properties are better suited than others for groups travelling for this festival, particularly those with large outdoor lounges, infinity pools and Marina or Dye Fore proximity. Worth filtering for on the villa search.
Related Reading
- Casa de Campo Golf Guide: All Three Pete Dye Courses Compared — if you are extending the golf days around the festival
- Casa de Campo Marina: The Complete 2026 Guide — the festival evenings run along the Marina Riverside
- Casa de Campo Villa Rental: What’s Actually Included — what comes with a villa booking and what doesn’t
Book the Festival With a Private Villa
The resort sells festival tickets separately. Caribbean Paradise Homes handles the villa side — including villas with terraces and lounges set up for cigar-and-rum evenings. Browse villas for the festival dates