July 14, 2023 Brooks Whittington PCA 2023,  PCA 2023 Booths

PCA 2023: Howard G Cigars

Every year, it seems there are one or two booths that never seem to have a slow period: no matter what time of day I walk by or how long I stick around trying to catch the owners at a good time, there always seems to be someone in front of me. This year, one of those booths was Howard G Cigars, the Orlando-based company founded in 2020 by Howard Gumbs.

Howard G has upgraded its booth design every year it has attended the PCA Convention & Trade Show, but this year’s incarnation was by far the most impressive. In addition to a physically larger booth, the company added a dedicated space for couches as well as a new background.

The company made a name for itself by releasing two specific lines commemorating former NFL players, Leon Searcy and Ike Taylor. Both athletes were on hand to mingle and answer questions from interested parties and also made a point to be included in interviews and photographs taken at the booth.

Howard G The Perfect Round

Sticking with the general sports theme that has made Howard G popular, the company released this 18-count box that contains nine each of two different Dominican puros: The Front Nine cigars are covered with a Connecticut shade wrapper, while The Back Nine blend incorporates a sun-grown habano wrapper.

  • Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Connecticut Shade) / Dominican Republic (Sun-Grown Habano)
  • Binder: Dominican Republic
  • Filler: Dominican Republic
  • The Front Nine/The Back Nine (7 x 52) — $16 (Box of 18, $288)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August 2023

Howard G Cigars Howard G The Perfect Round Howard Gumbs PCA 2023
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Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.

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