PCA Adds Consumer Memberships But No Trade Show Access

The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) has announced two new membership tiers—one for businesses and another for consumers—that will seek to broaden the organization’s membership roster and revenue.

Both memberships are part of the new PCA Alliance. The concept is that these are for consumers or businesses that would like to be allies with the PCA by supporting the organization, hence alliance.

• Consumer Alliance — $99 annually
• Business Alliance — $250 annually

Previously, consumers have been outright barred from joining the PCA, which is a trade organization. Only entities that were in the cigar business were eligible, such as cigar shops, distributors or suppliers. Those memberships start at $472 for industry partner memberships—distributors and media fall into this category—or $600 for retail stores.

The Business Alliance membership is being targeted at businesses like breweries, golf courses and restaurants.

Most importantly, neither the Consumer Alliance nor Business Alliance memberships will include access to the annual PCA Convention & Trade Show. Instead, the memberships will include copies of PCA The Magazine, access to the PCA’s member communications and training courses, and the various affiliate discounts that the PCA has access to.

“The PCA Alliance has been in development for some time. As the PCA continues to work and advocate on behalf of specialty retailers, we realized there were many businesses not yet members with an interest or a stake in premium cigars and pipe tobacco,” said Scott Regina—president of the PCA and owner of Emerson’s, a chain of cigar stores in Virginia—in a press release. “We also wanted to allow consumers, a key to the growth of specialty tobacco retailers, to be able to donate to the Industry Defense Fund. Together, this new Alliance will add to our efforts to give voice to the premium tobacco industry, and all involved.”

Because many cigar companies display new products during the PCA Convention & Trade Show and notably give out free cigars to retailers to try, consumer access to the PCA Convention & Trade Show has been a much-talked-about topic for years. In the summer of 2019, the organization unveiled plans for CigarCon, a day of the trade show when consumers would be allowed onto the show floor. The idea was met with fierce resistance, and less than 60 days after the event was announced, the PCA canceled plans for CigarCon.

For those attending the annual trade show, there are constant complaints about consumer access. Some believe that consumers attending the show waste valuable time—preventing retailers, manufacturers and others from doing business—and getting free cigars. Often, consumers are baselessly blamed for theft and damage incidents on the show floor. While the PCA has taken some minor steps to limit the ways that consumers get access to the show, the reality is that most consumers on the trade show floor are on a badge that belongs to either a retailer or manufacturer.

Despite all those complaints, consumer membership is an easy lever the PCA could pull to increase its revenue, especially as manufacturers and retailers are likely to balk at substantial increases to their membership dues.

The PCA is one of three prominent cigar trade groups. Up until the summer of 2019, the organization was known as the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers’ Association (IPCPR), with an explicit focus on retailers. Since the 2019 rebrand, the organization has been more fluid about which group(s) it serves. The Cigar Association of America (CAA)—another trade group—has membership that has historically been cigar manufacturers, both premium and mass market cigars though also includes larger retailers.

There is also the Cigar Rights of America (CRA), which long marketed itself as a consumer advocacy organization akin to the National Rifle Association (NRA) but in actuality has been an organization created and funded by family-owned premium cigar companies. In recent years, the CRA has pulled back from talking about its consumer focus and more public about who funds and controls the organization.