It has been a week since this year’s PCA Trade Show officially ended. I have had to time to look back and reflect on what was good and bad at the year’s premiere industry event. This year was our first year attending the PCA’s (Premium Cigar Association) annual trade show. To be honest, we had…
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I had the opportunity to sit down with co-owner of Up Down Cigar (located at 1550 N. Wells St., Chicago, IL) and current PCA Board Member, Phil Ledbetter. Phil and I discussed his cigar journey, starting from pipe smoking and going all the way through his becoming co-owner of Up Down Cigar. We discussed the…
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With the news that Drew Estate, Altadis, General Cigar Co., and Davidoff will not be exhibiting at the PCA Trade Show this year, I give an outsider’s view of what appears to be going on. I discuss the lack of a shared vision between the PCA and the manufacturers, the PCA’s perceived lack of direction,…
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CIGARCON by James Giehm A few weeks ago, Troy wrote an article about CigarCon 2020. For those who may not know, CigarCon was the planned consumer day at the Premium Cigar Association (PCA, formerly IPCPR) annual trade show. A few days ago, we learned that the PCA has now cancelled the planned consumer day (CigarCon)…
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CIGARCON by Troy Kelso As the IPCPR has made clear through its name change to PCA, the tobacco retailer and tobacco retail business is no longer it’s only, or even primary, focus. The retailers led organization has decided to expand the scope of their presence to include industry regulation and legislative issues as well as…
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WHAT’S IN A NAME? By Troy Kelso The IPCPR has made several announcements recently that have been the talk of the industry. The first was their name change from “International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers” (IPCPR) to “Premium Cigar Association” (PCA). The second announcement was the introduction of consumer day, or “CigarCon”, at the 2020…
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