PCA 2023: Iconic Leaf

In 2016, to prepare for the then-upcoming FDA regulations, Iconic Leaf Cigar Co. released nine new lines with 14 different sizes. Since the company announced 126 new SKUs for a single trade show, it has rarely—if ever—brought new cigars to the annual PCA Convention & Trade Show.

This year is different. There’s a new blend for the company’s ILC brand. That said, in between the time the cigar was announced in April and now, the name has changed, though probably not for reasons you would suspect.

As for the booth, it’s a simple 10 x 10 set-up with a backdrop and a meeting area. Scott Weeks, owner of Iconic Leaf, was chipper as always. Due to the small size and one-man operation, I ended up making a few visits past the booth and waited until Weeks had some downtime.

ILC Sweet Tails

This is a new cigar that was originally announced as “Sweet Cap” but has since had its name changed. Weeks told me that he changed the name because the cigars have pigtails and not traditional caps, so mark this down as a rare time that a name is changing not due to trademark issues.

Sweet Tails is the ninth blend in the ILC Series, which contains a variety of blends—the others are not sweetened—that are offered in more than 50 vitolas. Many retailers use these cigars as a house blend, and retailers are required to purchase at least 1,000 cigars per order, though they can mix and match blends and vitolas. These cigars are made to order and take about four weeks to ship from when the order is placed.

The cigars are designed to go in the honeycomb shelving system, which makes for a nice display.

• Wrapper: Ecuador (Connecticut)
• Binder: Indonesia (Sumatra)
• Filler: Dominican Republic

• ILC Sweet Tails Robusto (5 x 54) — $6 (Bundle of 25, $150)
• ILC Sweet Tails Toro (6 x 50) — $6.50 (Bundle of 25, $162.50)
• ILC Sweet Tails Gordo (6 x 60) — $7 (Bundle of 25, $175)
• ILC Sweet Tails Churchill (7 x 54) — $7.50 (Bundle of 25, $187.50)
• ILC Sweet Tails Torpedo (6 1/2 x 58) — $8 (Bundle of 25, $200)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August 2023