Another year has come and gone; another Premium Cigar Association trade show and convention is in the books. Arguably, this was one of the best years the organization has seen in a long while. Since the disaster of 2019 – the organization rebranded and rebounded and I will admit, I was very skeptical of the show taking place in New Orleans. But Joshua Habursky, Lisa Cox and everyone else at the PCA proved me wrong. The first major compliment I want to write is to them – congratulations on putting together a great show.
The weather was perfect, the hotels were all very close to the convention center, smoking wasn’t as difficult as we feared, and the food speaks for itself. In fact, Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry spoke to the attendees on Friday before the show started during the seminar sessions and he welcomed everyone to New Orleans. I thought it was a powerful message to have a state leader speak to and support our industry. But he did say, “If you leave New Orleans hungry or thirsty, that’s your own damn fault!” He wasn’t kidding and I left New Orleans with a full stomach, a bag of beignets for the road and satisfied with the event. Even if it was rough for me personally.
In terms of releases, at the end of the day there ended up being many more releases than most of us expected going into the show. Most of the announcements came last minute but we got it all covered on the post end.
It can be a stressful week for everyone, but sometimes external factors come into play to make it worse. We were short staffed this year and I had some stress back home with my daughter only being just under two weeks out of hip dysplasia surgery and in a body cast. Covering the trade show, at least in the full capacity that we strive for, is a commitment and a ton of work. If anyone noticed me being off – that is why. I didn’t venture out as much as I usually do either so if I missed you during the trade show – I’ll make it up to you next time we see each other. Having said that, I am happy with how our coverage came out and I want to thank my wife for giving me the ability to go while having her hands full and for uploading our video content while we were busy on the floor. I also want to thank Mitchell Santaga for all of his hard work and helping me stay on track in so many ways. He is one of the best guys in media there is, and there is a reason he has earned the nickname “boy wonder”.
Taking a gander at my pre-show predictions, I realized that almost every company and cigar I had listed as ones to succeed at the show seemed to have done pretty well if not excellent at the show. As always right off the bat I will say Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust continues to be the little brand that could. Steve told us about being at the 2015 IPCPR show with a small booth all the way on the other end of the floor for his debut as DTT and how he just happened to be back there after many years in Las Vegas to celebrate his tenth anniversary and how far he has come. This was another huge show for them with more launches than anyone else and they all either sold out or sold enough to satisfy Steve’s expectations. Whatever they are doing – they are doing it right.
Looking at the big companies, Davidoff returned and had a great show, the way they represented each of their brand and had each brand ambassador representing it to the max was also a great move for them and I believe the connected with people well. In fact, this was pretty much what STG did with the Forged booth as well. They don’t need to come to PCA for to sell cigars, in fact most of the large and strong middle tier companies do not need to. They come for two reasons: supporting the PCA and connecting with the clientele face to face for a more hands on relationship building interaction.
Altadis USA and Drew Estate didn’t use this strategy but that isn’t what works for them. Drew Estate has a unique identity, and they provided customers a place to come and have an experience within an experience and that is what they did by also having their Tour de Liga event as part of their booth to keep people in the booth, while also celebrating a monumental launch of a new line. Altadis USA leaned into their strongest brands but mostly celebrated the anniversary of a brand name synonymous with even non-smokers with Romeo y Julieta’s 150th Anniversary.
I also really enjoyed how much attention to baseball that J.C. Newman Cigar Company has been showing the last few years. They had their Tampa Smokers cigars on display, celebrating the former Tampa based team of the same name. They also had their Homerun Humidor on display made from real bats used in professional games. Coming from a baseball family (for those who know) this is exciting to see and items I personally would like to have in my collection due to the meaning of it.
In terms of smaller companies, it was great to see Carlos Nodal at the show debuting his brand, Ultimate Cigars. Carlos is the son of Rafeal Nodal, an industry giant with Altadis USA. The industry is a family industry and it’s always great to see the next generations making their moves. Companies like Dapper Cigars and All Saints Cigars were not at the trade show this year, although from what I hear for two very different reasons. None of which seemed to be due to any issues with the PCA. While we did not spend more time with more of the smaller boutique brands, from the ones I did speak to it seemed like they also had a great show. One comment I heard was that it seemed as though most attendees came to attend the show and to buy versus Las Vegas where people come to party and the show floor is secondary to them. I heard this from multiple exhibitors in different wordings throughout the show.
In terms of what cigars I like from the show so far? I normally do not do this, but I will say that so far, and I have many more to still smoke through; La Aurora Family Creed, Perdomo Legacy, My Father Blue, and the Tatuaje Cohetes Corojo are the ones to beat so far…but stay tuned for updated thoughts as things progress.
I could break down this show further and further but in reality – there is no reason to do so. It was a great trade show, hard to say the best considering the 2022 show I also got married at…and engaged at the 2021 show. This show was better all-around for everybody and to be honest, as a major skeptic going to New Orleans, I am looking forward to coming back next year and getting some charbroiled oysters and jambalaya. Most of our coverage is completed at this point, there may be a few things I need to add but for the most part – see you next year, adios PCA 2025.
