Editor's Letter

Editor’s LETTER

Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Ushers in an Important New Era, Kinks to Be Expected

Big change rarely arrives without some kinks to iron out.

Those on the inside and those with their ears to the ground may have known that the industry’s premium tobacco trade association had some major developments on the horizon, ready to unveil at the 2019 trade show in Las Vegas in June, but for the majority of the industry, the wave of change came mostly as a surprise. Yes, news about two major facets of the developments—the association was re-branding, from the International Premium Pipe & Cigar Retailers Association (IPCPR) to the Premium Cigar Association (PCA), and the fact that the association planned to add a consumer level of membership and consumer day to next year’s trade show—broke online a week before the show. With few details and no context, it sent PCA into defensive mode. The name change garnered widespread support. And the extensive slate of new services—a new website, web-based products, education events, changes to the PAC, a print magazine —will no doubt all sink in over time. It was a ton of information to absorb.

But the juxtaposition of consumers and trade belonging to the same association raised eyebrows. The prospect of the world’s largest consumer cigar event, CigarCon, being added to one of the days of trade show set off a mini panic.

“One thing we want to be crystal clear on, this is not consumers coming to the trade show,” said PCA executive director Scott Pearce. “What we are doing is leveraging the beauty, the grandeur, the size, scope, excitement, energy. All the stuff that manufacturers put into that show floor presents the best venue

PCA did an admirable job in Las Vegas trying to explain its thinking, but from Smokeshop Magazine’s perspective the vast majority of retailers and manufacturers were either in a “we need more information” mode, or in downright disagreement with many aspects of the arguments being presented. Others asked tons of questions raising issues they felt hadn’t been considered by the association. CigarCon quickly seemed to progress from a firm “done deal with details to follow,” to “an idea for which we’re soliciting input.”

There was plenty of input to be heard, both at the show and afterwards. By late August, PCA announced that CigarCon 2020 wouldn’t happen, and that the association was “considering” CigarCon 2021.

The re-branding is one part of a much larger effort to become a more effective, more proactive trade association, which has pinpointed the crucial need for the premium cigar and premium tobacco industry to “tell its story” more clearly to the legislators and regulators who know little if anything about it, yet pull all the strings with the industry’s welfare, livelihood, and future hanging in the balance. The industry needs to pick up its game, and PCA has the blueprint.