PCA 2023: United Cigars

With somewhere north of 150 booths on the PCA Convention & Trade Show floor this year, it’s hard to come up with unique descriptions for all of them. Some of them are flashy, some are subdued, some have a classic, refined look, and other times you get a camper and picnic table. But as I approached the United Cigars booth, I remember thinking to myself, this space just looks good: clean branding, good displays, and just the right amount of space to show off the products and write some orders.

United Cigars may be best known as the company behind the Firecracker Series, the short and fairly potent cigars generally made by other manufacturers using an existing blend and released ahead of the July 4th holiday. But the company also has a pretty extensive portfolio of other brands, with 21 in total listed on the company’s website, many of which—if not all—were also on display in their booth this year.

This year, United Cigars’ booth was located just past the midway point of the show floor, and right next door to Selected Tobacco S.A., which United distributes in the U.S.. It was also one of the handful of booths that I visited that didn’t have carpet but rather a floor that reminded me of wood paneling.

Black Bomb Firecracker (2023)

The Black Bomb Firecracker is getting an updated version for 2023, with a new blend that was produced by Tabacalera Magia Cubana, which produces the regular production Firecracker blend. The details on the previous version of the Black Bomb Firecracker haven’t been disclosed, which makes an on-paper comparison a bit more challenging, but the change comes with a new design and new packaging as well.

It’s also worth noting that unlike most of the cigars in the Firecracker Series, this is not simply an existing blend from another company put into the Firecracker vitola, rather this is its own standalone blend.

• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Binder: Indonesia (Sumatra)
• Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua

• Black Bomb Firecracker (2023) (3 1/2 x 50) — $5.99 (Box of 25, $149.75)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August 2023

Perez-Carrillo Pledge Firecracker

Since the Firecracker Series is designed to celebrate the July 4th holiday, this cigar was already on store shelves by the time of the trade show, but it did meet our policy of a June 1 release date or later to be included in coverage. As the name implies, it uses E.P. Carrillo’s Pledge blend in a petit robusto vitola that gets a long twist of tobacco off its head to mimic the fuse of a firecracker.

• Wrapper: U.S.A. (Connecticut Habano)
• Binder: Ecuador
• Filler: Nicaragua

• Perez-Carrillo Pledge Firecracker (3 1/2 x 50) — $7 (Box of 20, $140)

Production: 1,000 Boxes of 20 Cigars (20,000 Total Cigars)

Release Date: June 13, 2023

Red Anchor New Vitolas

After debuting as a very limited edition in 2022, the Red Anchor line is adding some new sizes, three of which will be widely available while the Cooper will be an event-only release.

The line may be fairly new, but its history dates back to 1770 when a trademark for Red Anchor was registered by a cigar shop. Two years later, Albertus Hillen Sigarenfabriek started making the Red Anchor cigars at a factory in Delft, Holland. The brand was passed to various family members until it was sold to Martinus Hioolen in the 1890s, who expanded the brand’s reach. In 1909, the company added new machines and started using tins but the brand faced challenges in the 1920s due to market saturation and new excise taxes. In March 1937, Red Anchor went out of business.

It is now produced for United Cigars by Hendrik Kelner Jr. at the Kelner Boutique Factory.

• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano 2000)
• Binder: Dominican Republic (Monte Planta)
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Habano 92, San Vicente) & Pennsylvania

• Red Anchor Gunner (6 1/2 x 43) — $20 (Box of 25, $500)
• Red Anchor Captain (5 x 50) — $20 (Box of 25, $500)
• Red Anchor Commodore (7 x 55) — $30 (Box of 25, $750)
• Red Anchor Cooper (4 1/2 x 43) — $15 (Box of 25, $375)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August 2023