PCA 2024: Day 3 Recap

Hello from the skies, a suddenly familiar place for me.

As I noted before the 2024 PCA Convention & Trade Show started, this year’s show would be quite different for halfwheel and very different for me. Most years, I spend seven nights in Las Vegas for this event, but this year, it would be just two. That meant seeing very few people and companies compared to normal, but also a very unique perspective.

I showed up for Day 3, which I predicted would be different than Days 1 and 2. By different, I suspected—based on previous years—it would be far less busy. That said, I was curious to see what the impact would be of Day 3 becoming the final day, as opposed to a half day on Day 4, on both attendance and business.

1. Good morning, is anyone here? — Walking into the LVCC a little after the trade show floor opened at 9 a.m. was jarring for me, as it was Brian and Brooks. It was—simply—not very busy. Based on the various cigar people I saw eating breakfast at Resorts World, it seemed likely that the attendance would pick up throughout the day, which it did. By the end of Day 3, it felt pretty similar to the Day 3s of yesteryear. I will continue to say that attendance doesn’t really matter, even if it’s the thing that gets talked about the most. That said, many cigar company principals and store owners were leaving at various points on Monday afternoon. If you want to make sure you see people, come for the first two days, which have received very positive reviews from just about everyone I spoke to.
2. When will this ship? Hold on. When did it get here? — While there are always delays in getting products to the trade show, in the limited sampling of companies I visited, it seemed like there were many more this year. At least two companies didn’t have new products to display until Monday, the last day of the trade show. Many others were clear they didn’t really know when their new items would ship because the focus had been on getting prototypes to Las Vegas to show off. More than ever, companies were showing off new items without disclosing price, which means they weren’t taking orders.
3. The Women of PCA Seminar Seemed Well-Attended — When I first saw this get announced, my reaction was that it wasn’t great that this event was scheduled for the last hour of the trade show. Given the male-dominated nature of the industry and its consumers, this industry could use events like these and then some. At 4:15 p.m., I was covering the S.T. Dupont booth, which was right next to where the meeting was taking place. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the event was overflowing out of the space. I’m not sure what happened during the event or how useful it was, but it was great to see how crowded it was, and it seemed like there were a lot more people than in this photo.