PCA 2024: Top Three Things — Brian Burt

Most years, I find myself having a THAT’S IT moment with at least one or two items at the show that I know are going in my top three things write-up. This year was such a whirlwind of coverage, spending so little time in each booth that I had to go back and review every photo I took and note I had written down to remember what I had seen. Once it started coming back to me, however, a few candidates stood out in the crowd.

1. Gran Habano Corojo No. 7

Gran Habano’s latest blend is the Corojo No.7, which uses tobacco from an undisclosed Central American country. Interestingly enough, it’s almost like a handful of manufacturers collectively found a secret tobacco farm in an undisclosed country and decided not to tell anybody about it. Gran Habano was one of at least three companies that I remember specifically saying that the tobacco was from Central America and that they were not ready to announce the specifics. Mystery tobacco aside, the green theme looks great against the dark brown wrapper. In addition, Gran Habano was releasing limited edition leather travel cases, and the Corojo No.7 got a bright green one that matches the bands perfectly. Overall, it’s a very impressive-looking release that I definitely look forward to trying.

2. El Septimo x S.T. Dupont

For the last two years, El Septimo has debuted cigar accessories that only the likes of Middle Eastern royalty would be able to afford. In 2022, it was $5.5 million lighters, and in 2023, it was $10 million ashtrays. This year, it decided to let the rest of us in on the El Septimo accessory game with the comparatively inexpensive El Septimo x Dupont line.

Using artwork from six of the El Septimo cigar lines, S.T. Dupont created lighters and pens that can be had for only $1,860 apiece, which is a mere fraction of the cost of the lighters it was showing off in 2022. Of course, these statements of relative affordability are a bit tongue-in-cheek, but honestly, having El Septimo branded S.T. Dupont accessories is the most realistic high-end accessory game that El Septimo could play. Sure, the million-dollar accessories were topics of conversation, but El Septimo x S.T. Dupont collaboration is an achievable purchase for the fans of their corresponding cigar lines.

3. Gurkha Year of the Dragon 2024 Collection

For a minute, I will set aside the lawsuit that everybody at the show with a Year of the Dragon or simply Dragon wording on their cigar line had some comment about. I understand Gurkha is only trying to protect a trademark, but the general feeling I got from people was that it was a ridiculous lawsuit and one that casts a shadow over their whole Year of the Dragon release.

But let us move on from that for a moment. For the Year of the Dragon, Gurkha collaborated with five other manufacturers to create five separate cigars. Initially, the line launched with one made by El Artista in December of 2023. The remaining four collaborations, done with AJ Fernandez, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr., Oliva and Oscar Valladares, are slated to be released throughout 2024. To top it all off, a special Year of the Dragon humidor is also to be released, which is a perfect way to store all of the releases from each collaboration. I think the entire release is impressive. Not only do I love seeing cigar companies collaborate on releases, but each individual box has fantastic theming and a beautiful Year of the Dragon humidor really puts a nice bow on the entire thing.

 

Update (April 4, 2024) — Corrected the shipping info and dates for the Gurkha Year of the Dragon releases, where it previously stated that Gurkha had changed its original shipping plans to schedule all four releases for August or September instead.