PCA 2022: Day 2 Recap

Covering the 2022 PCA Convention & Trade Show as a journalist is a study in contrasts: rushing from one booth to another in a frenzy to gather information, photos and videos as quickly as possible, then having to wait—sometimes for inordinate amounts of time—for the people you need to talk to be available.

But one thing that is fairly consistent is the chatter from the attendees. Conversations take place either in the booths, in the hallways or at the bar after the show each day. In that vein, here are some of the main topics that I have been hearing from people for the past two days.

1. Candela Is Back, Baby! — Well, not really, but it is sure showing up a lot more than it has in the past few years. In fact, there are at least two separate specific releases from the show that utilize the wrapper leaf: Founders Cigar Co.’s Hamilton Candela and Apostate Cigars’ Feathered Serpent. In addition, there are multiple manufactures who are using the green wrapper leaf as a part of specific projects, like the Black Works Studio Killer Bee Salon and Jake Wyatt Cigar Co.’s Lucid Interval Lancero, the latter of which was announced as a regular production release. I doubt very seriously that it is a trend that will continue to increase in any significant way, but it is nice to see manufactures branching out a bit and trying something new.
2. “Wait, did something happen with the FDA?” — Considering just how massive the news that came down from the court was—basically, a federal court ruled that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of premium cigars is arbitrary and capricious—it is almost incomprehensible to me that more people are not talking about it. But that was the case—at least by my estimation—during the first two days of speaking with people on the trade show floor. In fact, I counted the times that the news came up in conversation—either as a major topic or just a passing comment—and the grand total as of Sunday night was two. Are people reluctant to bring it up because they are intimidated by their lack of knowledge, or do they not know what happened, not know how big of a deal it is, or just not care? In the end, the reasons don’t matter as much as the fact that a ruling that completely changes the landscape when it comes to the regulation of cigars does not seem to be moving the needle for the vast majority of the people who make a living making and selling those cigars.
3. Fuente/Padron Feeding Frenzy — While the FDA news was not a huge topic of conversation—at least so far—there was a major amount of buzz for one item at this year’s show, specifically the much-anticipated Arturo Fuente and Padrón collaboration project named Legends. As you can see from the photograph taken of the crowd, in Charlie’s post from yesterday, there were significantly more people attending that event than just about any FDA seminar that has been held in the past 10 years. Unfortunately, if you are wondering about actual details of the project and its release—and really, who among us is not—prepare to be disappointed, at least in the short term. It turns out that while there was a plan—or plans—about how the cigars would be distributed, sold, etc., those appear to have been scrapped last minute, and the two companies are going to continue to finalize the details. Notably, the companies are not taking orders for the cigars, and the production numbers, pricing, release dates and pretty much every other detail, other than what you can see in pictures, were also not announced.