PCA 2022: Top 3 Things — Brian Burt

Several times this year that I’ve written something along the lines of being my 10th trade show which has reminded me repeatedly that I’ve been covering the show with halfwheel since 2012. In those 10 years, many things have changed, but the one constant is people always talking about how dead the show is by the last day. I will say this year it did feel like most attendees had finished with the show by day three and had left. That or they had done all their buying and were sitting down relaxing with a cigar—one thing that we rarely get to do during our week in Vegas.

What we do get to do, however, is a whirlwind of coverage that ranges across the entire tradeshow floor. We don’t each get to visit every booth, but we do get to see them at least in passing. In my case, I do actually get to visit more than what’s on my list to cover since I film the walkthrough videos. So the first thing on my list is actually a booth I didn’t cover, but I did walk through as I filmed.

1. El Septimo

In the past, there were several companies that would vie for the biggest, flashiest, and most eye-catching booth they could put together. With many of those larger companies not in attendance anymore and numerous exhibitors cutting back on their booth structures, it doesn’t take too much effort to stand out from the crowd now. El Septimo still went above and beyond, and not just with their booth structure.

When you’re showing off $5.5 million dollar lighters and some extremely old and rare Cognac, I guess you just can’t have a little 10′ x 10′ booth space. I don’t even think the two guards they hired to sit on either side of their collection of multi-million dollar lighters and bottles of Cognac could have fit in a 10′ x 10′ space. But it wasn’t just the things they had for sale that was over-the-top-excess, the booth was something I would’ve expected to see three years ago, competing with the other big boys for how much attention they could grab. I guess that is the point of the show though, to attract new accounts and to advertise your product, so in that sense, I think they achieved exactly what they were going for.

2. Casa 1910

I mentioned in my coverage of Casa 1910 that when they showed up to their first PCA show last year with a single cigar blend in a single size, I was intrigued by the unique strategy and genuinely interested to see if the brand could generate enough interest in the brand to justify returning this year. I was happy to not only see Casa 1910 on the exhibitor list again this year but also that it had expanded its booth along with the cigar lineup.

You can tell that there is a lot of pride in the brand, from the chosen design of the booth space to the details of the packaging of the cigars themselves. Keeping that pride and passion in mind, it’s no surprise that the cigars themselves are quite enjoyable as well. This year’s new line is made in Nicaragua using a blend that includes Nicaraguan and Mexican tobaccos. Next year’s release will be made in the Dominican Republic using tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and Mexico. I think it’s a regimented approach to expanding the brand without overwhelming the customers with new products, and I look forward to seeing how the company continues to progress.

3. Arturo Fuente and Padrón Legends Collaboration

If this isn’t on another one of the halfwheel team’s Top 3 Things list, I would be surprised. In fact, I do hope it’s on somebody else’s list because it was something that caused more of a stir than anything I’ve ever seen at the show before. The project itself is very fascinating, with two titans of the industry collaborating on what is sure to be the most sought-after box of cigars this year outside of a Habanos Festival auction.

It’s not necessarily because of the cigar itself that I wanted to put this on my list, it’s on here because of the crowd you see in the photo above. I was probably a couple of hundred feet away when the announcement was happening so I didn’t hear anything about it. What I did witness though was a sea of people, all with their phones held high above their heads trying to get any shot of the event they could for their social media feed. I know it’s not every day that two companies like Fuente and Padrón will collaborate on a project. Certainly, it would be hard to get two bigger names together on a cigar project. That electricity and hype surrounding the unveiling are exactly what the PCA Convention and Trade Show needs more of though.