Havana Club Cigars and Finery Jumeirah

November 2018:  In short, this video looks more like an advertisement depicting the opening night of; ‘Havana Club Cigars and Finery Jumeirah’. It is not supposed to be a commercial, but how else does one inform the public of a nice little feature which, because of its nature cannot easily be written about in the local press as such or broadcast on TV.  ‘Who Does What.TV’ were not invited to the opening initially, nor had any of us ever heard of this pending outlet, or indeed had the team ever visited the hotel. Now we see how Social Media works. A colleague happened to mention us during a meeting with the hotel’s delicious Marketing and Communications Manager Hanane Msalek and referred her to Who Does What. tv when she enquired how to get some video or TV coverage.

So kudos to Charlie Cooksey of the magazine Bahrain Confidential for the heads up. This type of introduction happens so often as we mention, but this is how the word gets out about the premier on-line feature channel on the Island and so we end up at Havana Club Cigars and Finery, enjoying a very pleasant evening meeting all the management and staff, while sucking on a very large Montycristo, enjoying the cocktails and wine, along with some very original tapas. Not to mention the odd Dom Pérignon. There are other very exclusive and somewhat distant tapas bars on the island, but Havana Club has its own uniqueness, especially with the cigars and accessibility.

Again, as with many countries now, alcohol or smoking activities are not permitted to be advertised on terrestrial TV or indeed in the local press, but there can be no such restrictions online and online is where everyone is at these days. Liking what we experienced, there is a strong element of tourism associated and this should be highlighted. Who Does What.TV being official video journalists for the Al Hilal Media Group and Trade Arabia, there is a perfect platform for ‘Havana Club Cigars and Finery Jumeira’ among the many magazines; that being TTN (Travel and Tourism Network). 

Jumeirah Royal Saray is the hotel’s name, but for short most just refer to it as simply Jumeirah and it is up and running, but still not complete as far outlets are concerned.  Listening to General Manager Zeki Ozal giving his little welcome speech (not included), he mentioned that many more Food and Beverage outlets are to be added shortly……a lot in fact!!!

So what else is so special? Well for a start, as implicated there are not many if any other such outlets in Bahrain specifically dedicated to the Cuban flavour all around, in fact for years there was only ever one outlet called ‘Tabacco Road’ who sold such delights. The bar or club if you like has a very relaxed pleasant atmosphere and a lot of staff.  It is quite big, yet has a cozy feel to it despite its size. As you can see from the video, the light ambiance is set right.  The cigars are puffing away, but without a hint of smog in the room. How do they do that? In fact, the smell of a nice Cuban burning is quite desirable to many, but it is not immediately noticeable.  The Cuban trio ‘Intention’ rock along unintrusively in Spanish, but speak excellent English so quite possibly have a mixture within their repertoire. On this night though, it was all familiar Spanish and quite slick they are with very good voices and perfect harmony. Whether they will still be performing by the time you visit is to be seen, since as with all the 5 star hotels, they regularly change out their artists.