PCA 2023: Top Three Things — Charlie Minato

Last year’s version of this post had me writing, ‘That’s not to say this list was difficult to come up with, three things really stood out much more than anything else and I’m pretty sure I’d seen all of them by the time Day 2 of the trade show wrapped up.”

That is not all the case this year.

For the last few days—and even during PCA 2023 itself—I’ve taken some time to think about what to include here and consistently have come up empty, at least for part of the article. Each one of our writers will produce their own version of this article. It’s in response to a question each of our writers gets asked a lot during the trade show: what have you seen that is (new and) interesting?

While we see more booths than a typical cigar manufacturer, the reality is that I step foot in less than a third of the booths that we cover, and I don’t smoke very many cigars during the trade show, let alone new cigars. Honestly, a lot of retailers that attend this show might have more compelling answers than I do, but I’m the one with the blog. So here we go.

1. Sonic Humidifiers Cabinet Humidifier

While the rest of the answers might have taken some time, this was very easy to identify. Sonic Humidifiers makes ultrasonic humidifiers, which have benefits over traditional electronic humidifiers. Unfortunately, up until this point, ultrasonic has—to my knowledge—only been available for walk-in humidors. This is the first time I’ve seen something targeted at a cabinet humidor and it seems to have all the features I’d want.

Here’s what I said in my booth write-up:

This unit can either be plumbed or use its .8 liter tank, which can be refilled from the top. Ron Lesseraux told me that the overflow line is actually wider than the input, which should help reduce messes due to overfilling. The unit has two different humidity sensors, one that is on the humidifier, which would be placed in the bottom of a cabinet, and the other that is designed to be placed towards the top of the humidor. An algorithm helps to find a happy medium between the two readings. There’s also a large front panel for controlling the unit. Inside the tank, there’s a small UV light to help kill bacteria, though Lesseraux said you may still want to use a tiny amount of vinegar, bleach or alcohol to help assist with keeping the unit clean.

Best of all, it’s priced at $349. A few hours before writing this post, I emailed Sonic Humidifiers I’d like to start off by purchasing three of them for the halfwheel office.

2. Elie Bleu Arturo Fuente Hemingway House Humidor

I could put many different Elie Bleu humidors here, but the best one to me is the new Hemingway House humidor. This is a humidor that is designed to look like the Hemingway House that Arturo Fuente has on its Chateau de la Fuente farm in Caribe, Dominican Republic. That house is a modified replica of the historic Ernest Hemingway House in Key West, though it’s not an exact copy.

This humidor replicates so many of the features of Fuente’s Hemingway House, a place I’ve been to a half dozen times and even saw during its construction. The reality is Elie Bleu makes pretty humidors and this is no different. But like another new Elie Bleu humidor that is a replica of Oliva’s TABOLISA factory, I can’t help but think that a large part of why I like this so much is that I’ve been to this place. For example, I’ve sat in the blue chairs depicted on the front, I’ve walked across the balcony on the second story, etc.

As for the humidor, there are some new techniques that Elie Bleu had to employ to get the humidor to look like this and a lot of small details that I’ll go over in the booth write-up later this week. Three standout features to me:

1. The humidor sits on a base that has mosaic tiles. The whole thing is connected, but it’s rare to see a humidor on a base.
2. The lid of the humidor is made to mimic stained glass. Perhaps even more interesting, the wood grain is designed to look like the angled roof.
3. This humidor has a Boveda holder. I’m very happy Elie Bleu is moving to a different humidification system.

MSRP is set at $16,000 per humidor, though it comes with exclusive OpusX cigars.

3. The Wildfire Booth

Last year, Wildfire’s booth looked like a campfire—complete with faux shrubbery—and a bear costume. I’m told there was actually a person in the bear costume at one point.

This year, the company needed more space, so it brought a towable trailer that looks like it’s from 1985 and a small picnic table. The bear, meanwhile, moved inside the trailer at the small dining table.

I know it’s not for everyone, but rarely does a trade show booth make me smile. Wildfire has done it two years in a row.