PCA 2023: Karen Berger Cigars

This year has included the start of a shift in the overall marketing design for Karen Berger Cigars. In April, the company changed its name from K by Karen Berger to Karen Berger Cigars, then it announced a new line named Tailgate that features very different visual aesthetics than any of its previous releases.

Those changes were also hard to miss when viewing the company’s booth during the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show: the booth that the company had used for the past few years was gone, replaced by a new open-ended, sleek and modern design. The booth was dominated by photographs of company owner Karen Berger in various poses, all of which were missing her signature floral aesthetic from past shows.

However, Karen Berger Cigars was not content with just those changes, as the company was also showing off another new release that was unannounced before the show started. Bruce Busch, vice president of Karen Berger Cigars, told me that there are more creations planned, some of which may be ready to debut during the PCA show taking place in March 2024.

Tailgate by Karen Berger

The boxes for these cigars are designed to look like a classic truck, and the tailgate section of the box opens downwards in order to give access to the cigars inside.

• Wrapper: Indonesia (Sumatra)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua

• Tailgate by Karen Berger (6 x 52) — $7.75 (Box of 14, $108.50)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: July 1, 2023

K-Fire

The name of this box-pressed cigar refers to the temperature of 150 degrees, which is the temperature that pilónes of tobacco—which typically weigh between 3,500 and 4,000 pounds—can reach while tobacco is processing.

• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Binder: Nicaragua (Habano Jalapa)
• Filler: Nicaragua

• Karen Berger Tailgate (6 x 52) — $14.50 (Box of 20, $290)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: October 2023