Cigar Coop

S.T. Dupont was impressive at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show. Our team noted that the booth's offerings and presentation were equally astonishing. This French company is known for its ongoing top-of-the-line product innovation, but this year, it showcased its products in various collections. These collections mostly had a contemporary/modern theme, bringing out the best of the S.T. Dupont offerings. In part 1 of our two part coverage, Les Mann Vice President of Sales at S.T. Dupont walks us through the products. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sF6

The 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show was special for Aric Bey and Black Star Line Cigars. This year, the company is celebrating its five-year anniversary. To mark the occasion, a special five-year anniversary cigar, the Marun, is coming out. In addition, two of the company's core lines, Lalibela and Dark War Witch, are getting line extensions. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sEq

Joya de Nicaragua was at its own booth at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show and was also part of the Drew Estate booth. This year, Joya showcased several new things that covered all the bases. There is a new core release for the U.S. market, a limited edition release, a sampler, and a repackaging for one of its core brands. We caught up with Executive President Juan Martinez at the PCA and owe him a special thanks. Sometimes, equipment mishaps happen, and we did have one with Juan's interview. Nevertheless, we have a video because he was kind enough to let us do the interview a second time. This was a jam-packed trade show, and we really appreciate Juan taking the time to do this. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sEg

The 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show would not be complete without a visit to the Toscano Cigars booth. Toscano Cigars the Italian brand famous for its fire-cured cigars. Given Toscano Cigars are pretty different from most, it is always interesting how Toscano combines an experiential and educational component in its booth. This year, the highlight was the cigar roller at the booth. At the same time, Toscano always has something new at the PCA Trade Show, the Toscano Italia. This is a cigar that truly pays homage to Toscano's Italian roots. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sDO

Let's Get Pairing talks pairings with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sDr

E.P. Carrillo was one of the busier companies at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show. For the past few years, much of the focus has been on the premium Perez-Carrillo line. During this year's Trade Show, E.P. Carrillo showcased their latest cigar, the Encore Black, and unveiled a new six-cigar blend lineup called the Essence Series. These blends are now a regular production offering and a new core series for the company. Despite receiving many accolades over the years, it's clear that E.P. Carrillo is not a company that rests on its laurels. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sDr

Tonight on Prime Time Episode 303, Nick Fusco of El Mago Cigars makes his debut. Nick’s a newcomer to the cigar industry and has already been making his mark. We will discuss the brand, get to know Nick better, and talk about the unique backstory of the brand. Plus, we have our FSG Beef Segments, Altadis USA’s Ties the Bind, Alec Bradley Live True, Espinosa This Day in Sports History, and, of course, the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Deliberation Segment.

All Saints Cigars came into the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show with a themed booth with a confessional, candles, and a pew. All Saints chose not to exhibit new product this year. Instead, the company focused on leveraging its unified sales force with Micallef Cigars. Following PCA, All Saints and Micallef ended their unified sales operation. At the same time, both companies leveraged the unified model to do business at PCA 2024. While All Saints didn't have new product at PCA, they have told us that later this year they should be announcing something new. Regardless, All Saints Cigars is always one of our favorite stops at the PCA Trade Show; PCA 2024 wouldn't be complete without Bear Duplisea and All Saints co-owner Micky Pegg having their annual "bear hug." PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sCB

For Aganorsa Leaf, the big story at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show was the return of the Arsenio brand. The Arsenio brand has been one of the more popular brands in the Aganorsa Leaf portfolio, going back to the Casa Fernandez days. The brand is named after the company's master blender, Arsenio Ramos, whopassed away in 2018. Happily, this year, Arsenio returns with an all-new blend, one that was a personal favorite of Ramos. Meanwhile, Aganorsa quietly also had a couple of line extensions, adding the "Junior" size to the JFR Connecticut line. Moreover, Aganorsa added a 6 x 60 Titan size to its New Cuba Superior line. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sCw

The 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) marked the third consecutive year that Micallef Cigars exhibited. It is also the second year in a row that Micallef has launched a major regular production release. This year, Micallef Blue made its debut. It's the second cigar in the unofficial "color" series following 2023's Micallef Black. With both Blue and Black, Micallef is targeting the market with a high quality premium cigar in the $7.00 to $8.00 range. The Micallef Blue was also a cigar favorite by the Cigar Coop Coalition among the 2024 PCA releases. Since the 2024 PCA Trade Show, news has broken that both companies will no longer have a unified sales team. It's important to know that the companies were still operating with the unified sales steam model at the time of PCA. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sBH

One of the big stories of the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show was La Flor Dominicana celebrating 30 years in the cigar business for Litto and Ines Gomez. Given La Flor Dominicana had released milestone cigars for the 20th and 25th anniversary, it was no surprise that there was a 30th-anniversary cigar, LFD 30 Years. This year, we caught up with Litto and Tony Gomez to discuss this important milestone. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sBB

While Oveja Negra Brands would highlight several new releases at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show, a lot more was showcased at this booth. All of the brands at the booth are distributed by Oveja Negra Brands and produced at Fabrica Oveja Negra. This includes the brands co-owned by James Brown (Black Label Trading Co, Black Work Studio), Emilio). It also includes Dissident, the brand owned by Cynn and Joshua Coburn. The work being done is high quality, and it's no wonder Oveja Negra Brands has racked up many Cigar Coop Coalition awards over the years. This year we caught up with James Brown to discuss the Paper Crane and Orthodox releases. Both of these releases capture the essence of the Black Works Studio and Black Label Trading Company brands perfectly. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sAP

The 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show was the third one for Ferio Tego. This year Ferio Tego did not have any new products being showcased a the Trade Show. At the same time, this still was a busy past 12-months for Ferio Tego. Timeless Panamericana and Timeless Prestige both received line extensions. Meanwhile Ferio Tego introduced its first eponymous regular production offering with Summa. This gave us a good opportunity to catch up with Michael and also gave Michael a chance to participate in "Let's Get Pairing". PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-szX

In a lot of ways, the theme for Rocky Patel Premium Cigars at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show picked up where last year left off. Gone are the days where Rocky Patel would release half a dozen new vitolas each year and now the company is focusing on a couple of releases. Like last year, there was one premium cigar released coming in around the $10 to $13.00 range with Gold Label. Meanwhile, there is an ultra-premium release with Year of the Dragon. While the ultra-premium release isn't close to the price point of the $100.0o Rocky Patel Conviction, it still comes it at a $35.00 price point. The other thing that has not changed is that Rocky Patel himself always makes time to talk to our team, and he is showing no signs of losing his passion for the cigar industry. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-szS

After being a part of the Sutliff Distribution booth the past three years, Matilde Cigars was in its own booth for the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show. The booth highlighted several bold colors which have become a staple of Matilde's packaging. Owner Enrique Seijas has certainly been active releasing a new core line (Serena Maduro) and the small batch Limited Exposure series. This year, Seijas gave attendees a preview of another small batch series, the Matilde Special Edition and introduced a new fresh pack sampler. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-szb

The 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show again saw Plasencia Cigars as one of the busiest booths. This is no surprise, as the booth has been one of the most popular ever since Plasencia Cigars launched its brand at the 2017 IPCPR Show. In fact, the booth was named PCA's Best Medium-Sized Booth. In addition, the Cigar Coop team recognized Plasencia's booth as one of the top booths. This year, Plasencia showcased a new line extension to its Plasencia 149 line called Cortez. It's a line that CEO Nestor Andrés Plasencia says not only allows his family to showcase some of the best tobacco but puts the spotlight on Honduras as well. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-syp

HVC Cigars had three new offerings at the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show. It's been almost two years since HVC opened its own factory, Fabrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. Not only has the factory proven in a short time it can deliver quality products, but it has allowed HVC to expand its horizons in terms of the tobaccos it is using. There is the new HVC Hot Cake Fresh from the Oven Broadleaf which as the name suggests brings a Broadleaf wrapper blend to the Hot Cake line. In addition, there is the new HVC Selección No. 1 Connecticut Shade - which is the second Connecticut Shade line in as many years for HVC. Finally, last year's Connecticut Shade line, the Hot Cake Golden Line gets a new size in the form of a Half Corona. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sy0

Visiting the Cavalier Genève booth is always fun; the 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show was no exception. The past three years have been quite busy for Cavalier Genève. The company has made moves toward vertical integration by opening its own factory and setting up its own distribution. New brands have also been formed, such as Inner Circle and Tres Delincuentes. This year has seen Cavalier turn its focus back to its core eponymous brand. The company came into the 2024 PCA with two new line extensions to its core lines. While sometimes line extensions can be mundane, Cavalier Genève's new ones are anything but that. The company has taken the time to introduce two new sizes that are pretty different from its other offerings. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sxB

The 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show is the eighth one for JRE Tobacco Co. Every year, the booth is one of the busiest at the Trade Show, and 2024 was no exception. JRE's focus has been innovation over the past four to five years. JRE used the PCA Trade Show to launch two new innovative lines: the Aladino Fuma Noche and Aladino Cameroon Reserva. In addition, a sixth size was introduced to the Aladino Maduro. PCA 2024 Report: https://wp.me/p6h1n1-sx9