PCA is the annual convention for the premium cigar industry. This year, it was held in New Orleans at the enormous convention center. Well over 200 vendors were there, including cigar manufacturers, lighter and accessory companies, cigar wholesalers, and everything in-between! Join me as I show you an exclusive look behind the scenes of how most of the cigar retail shops and lounges do their annual business, and how we network with those in the industry. Oh, and we smoked a few cigars along the way.
As always, we start from our wonderful SBP airport. What was not so wonderful was that our original flight to Denver had a mechanical problem, and we wouldn't have arrived until the next day. That simply wouldn't do. So I was able to route us down to LAX, and then on Delta to New Orleans. Great success!#1st class problems, am I right? I didn't get the Cuban style shortrib I wanted, but this was OKAY I guess.
Day One - Seminars
Our first full day in New Orleans was registration, followed by a day full of seminars and learning. We of course started the day with a cigar provided by Plasencia. Can't complain there. But first, we had to get some authentic New Orleans breakfast.
This is Mother's - a NOLA classic. You walk in, grab a menu, stand in line and order, and hope you can find a seat where they then deliver your food. I didn't take any pictures of the food because I ate it too quickly, but trust me, it was good.Our first session was a pairing session provided by La Aurora. This Anniversary edition cigar was paired with La Aurora's premium rum produced by E. León Jimenes. It was quite excellent. It was hosted by La Aurora's Master Blender, Manual Ynoa, and their National Sales Director, Antonio Suarez.Our second session was a short film produced by the Padron family. Yes, that Padron family. It detailed the life of the family and how they came to be a cigar powerhouse. As it was dark, I didn't get any pictures, but it was a very interesting presentation and I'd highly recommend checking it out - "Hand rolled - Padron".It was just a bit smokey with 200+ people smoking in a relatively small environment that wasn't really designed for it. Darn.
We finished up the seminars for the day with a couple of after parties sponsored by a variety of cigar manufacturers. The food was excellent. Again, I ate it too quickly to provide any photographic evidence. The first was at the Sugar Mill, right across from the convention center. They also love their street bands.
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The night finished up at La Habana Hemingway and Cuban Creations - both right in the heart of the French Quarter. Long first day!
Day Two - The Trade Floor
Day two was our first full day on the conference floor. As I mentioned, there was just an overload of cigar vendors here - too many to visit even if we had a week!
Our first stop was the pipe selection. We wanted to get there first to get the best picks - they sell out quick. Kevin picked out a handful of beautiful designs that will be shipped to the store in the coming weeks! Adam and I helped by...holding things.This cigar I'm really excited to try. It uses 100% Panamanian binder and filler, and is hand rolled in Panama. Very unique blend, and I had a wonderful conversation with the owner. He's working on getting distribution up more in the USA, so...perhaps in the future!The Montecristo guys really know how to put on a display. The cost? If you have to ask, you can't afford it. But seriously, a lot.Speaking of displays, this was HALF of the General Cigar booth. If you don't know, General is owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group - arguably the largest tobacco company in the world. Here Kevin is hard at work signing some paperwork for some new cigars coming later this year.This is another absolutely awesome boutique brand - Altura. During the pandemic, a farmer found he had lots of unused land and crops going to waste. The solution? Become a tobacco farmer! He had zero experience with the industry, and their farms are at a high elevation of nearly 1 mile. This makes a very unique tobacco blend that you can't find anywhere else. They released a new lancero here at the show, and if it is anything like their current lineup - it's going to be amazing.Rocky Patel's annual Chinese New Year release, this year is the horse. In a first for the annual release, it is a Churchill - one of my favorite sizes. This may be coming to the store this year, stay tuned...Finding the best new lighters and cutters to carry is serious business.We ended the evening at the Grand Isle restaurant. No pictures of food - seeing a theme here? I gained probably 10lbs a day here.
Day Two - More Trade Floor Madness
Day Two had us back at the trade floor again, meeting with cigar reps and striking deals. And by we, I mean Kevin and Jessica. The rest of us buffoons just wandered around and were in awe of the amount of amazing cigars in one place.
Here Kevin, Jessica, Adam, Davon, and myself are meeting with the Drew Estate rep. Picture in the background is...well I don't really know, but he had on quite the outfit. Drew Estate had a few new lines released, one was the El Tigre which is beautifully oily and complex, and will be coming to the shop later this year. This was another new brand I wanted to try - 100% Mexican tobacco. I'm a huge fan of the San Andres blend, and plus their retail packaging is just awesome. Is this perhaps coming to the store this year?The folks at Davidoff are releasing a new Zino line - the Zino Honduras. Produced at the CLE Factory in Danli, Honduras, this is an excellent example of Honduran tobacco and Davidoff quality. This is for sure coming to the store later this year, so look for it!Here we are talking to the great folks at Blackbird cigars. A small boutique brand out of Florida, their cigars are excellent and reasonably priced. And they were a pleasure to chat with and excited to share their passion for cigars with us! Unfortunately, due to the California UTL, smaller companies like Blackbird are unable to do business in California. This is just one of the many casualties of our draconian premium tobacco laws that really make no sense.Back to Davidoff - look at this presentation! Like we are in a museum. This is a new blend in the Avo series, and it is described as "an Avo for someone who doesn't like Avos." That isn't a bad thing - this is a departure from the normal Avo line, and it smokes beautifully. Another new cigar coming to the shop this year!Here we have AJ's latest cigar, scheduled to be released in May. Meaning "love" in Spanish and "moon" in Arabic, it is meant to tie together the factory fire that AJ suffered and a new beginning. Oh, and it smokes fantastic. Yup, we ordered it.Finally, we finished up the night in the French Quarter again at Cuban Creations celebrating the Women of PCA. Another long day in the books!
Wrap Up
Sadly, all fun workcations must come to a close, and so did ours. We walked well over 20 miles between going to the convention center, around it, and around New Orleans. We met tons of new vendors, saw old friends, and made new ones.
My thanks to Kevin and Jessica of Sanctuary Tobacco in San Luis Obispo, CA for allowing me to come along as the travel guide and...marketing person I guess. Whatever excuse they made to let me tag along, I'm grateful to them!
Let's be honest if you're reading this you probably visit the Sanctuary anyways, but if not, please come visit us if you are in SLO. We are the best group of cigar smokers you can find in the city - which is not all related to the fact we are the ONLY smoking lounge in the city.
They all like seafood, I'll stick to my red beans and rice thank you very much. Branding is on point though, look at all that Sanctuary gear on display!
