Cigar Blog

The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) has announced a state advocacy grant program. This program aims to invest in State Associations and fund lobbying activities at the state level for 2024.

“This is not only a way for us to support existing state associations and their advocacy capacity, but it also establishes a baseline for starting a brand-new state association with the prospective of seed funding. This criterion is a blueprint to get started and to receive funding. Our staff will continue to support individual associations and retailers with strategy and logistics, and this is a new tool to help maximize that effectiveness,” says Scott Pearce, executive director of the PCA, in a statement announcing the program.

A process has been set up where a State Association can apply for the grant from PCA. If the PCA approves, the State Association would then agree to match the grant. Associations must have a basic infrastructure in place and must meet certain criteria to be eligible for funding, including having an incorporated state association and agreeing to accountability and transparency with the Premium Cigar Association about where the funds will be spent. These criteria include:

Have an incorporated and active state association.
Have an elected board of directors.
Have a designated treasurer with authority over accounts.
Agree to comply with PCA reporting requirements.
Agree to PCA involvement in consulting lobbyist selection process.
Agree to disclose any issues for which funds are used and for which a lobbyist is engaged.
Provide PCA with the operating budget and amount and source of funds raised by the state association.

“This year, our team has been extremely effective in the states and reflects retailers stepping up to defend their businesses. This state grant program is aimed at spurring this level of activity and, frankly, success moving forward. Each year, our team must evaluate our priority area, and in the past, our Vision 50 strategic plan focused on litigation or international outreach. Make no mistake, this is the year of the states,” added Joshua Habursky, PCA’s head of Government Affairs.

A portal has been set up for applications to be submitted. The appropriate advocacy staff and the PCA Legislative Affairs Committee will review these applications on a rolling basis.

The post Cigar News: PCA Introduces State Association Grant Program appeared first on Cigar Coop.

Originally posted on November 29, 2023 @ 2:17 pm

Crowned Heads has added Danny Hennessy as its Midwest Sales Manager. In his territory, Danny will cover Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and South Dakota.

Hennessy began his career in the premium cigar industry in 2018, when he was hired by Casa de Montecristo Nashville. In January 2022, he was promoted to Assistant Store Manager, and soon entered into the Manager in Training Program, where he has served since.

Hennessy joins Andy Yaffee and Craig Smith as territory sales manager hires in 2023.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Danny to the Crowned Heads team,” commented Crowned National Sales Manager, Miguel Schoedel in a press release announcing the hire. “Danny brings a combination of retail and managerial experience to our group, along with [a] level of customer service that is perfectly aligned with our goal of providing unparalleled customer support to our retail partners.”

Hennessy’s appointment as Crowned Heads Midwest Sales Manager is effective December 1, 2023.

The post The Blog: Crowned Heads Adds Midwest Regional Sales Manager appeared first on Cigar Coop.

Originally posted on November 29, 2023 @ 2:17 pm

 

Welcome back to Cigar Coop’s coverage of Puro Sabor 2023, the Nicaraguan Cigar Festival. This is taking place in Nicaragua from January 23-27, 2023. The Nicaraguan Cigar Festival is split between two cities: Granada (Jan 23-24), and Estelí (Jan 25-27). Today we take a look at day three of Puro Sabor.

Day three saw the festival move out of Granada and into the city of Estelí. If you are an active reader of Cigar Coop, you know that Estelí is the epicenter of the Nicaraguan cigar industry from a production standpoint. It was an early morning departure from Granada, and a 105-mile drive via bus up the Pan American Highway to Estelí.

About 20 miles south of Estelí, we stopped in the town of San Isidro at a farm owned by Victor Calvo for lunch. Over the next three days, lunch and dinner would be hosted on the grounds of a different factory or farm. What was really cool about this lunch was that it took place in a massive tobacco barn – complete with hanging tobacco. The food was good too!

The next stop was the first of the factory visits to Estelí which would comprise the lion’s share of the activities over the next 2 1/2 days. Stop number one was at one of my favorite factories to go visit, Joya de Nicaragua.

Joya de Nicaragua is the oldest cigar factory in Nicaragua. If you have followed Joya de Nicaragua on this website, you know that this is a company that ties its own history very closely to the history of Nicaragua. In a lot of ways, this was a very fitting first stop for this festival. As I’ve mentioned in previous installments, part of the purpose of Puro Sabor is to showcase the rich culture of Nicaragua. The tour of the factory was given by Joya de Nicaragua President Juan Martinez, who did a great job of explaining this tie between his company and Nicaragua.

Juan also then gave us a tour of the factory. By no means is Joya de Nicaragua a small operation. It’s a factory that employs over 400 people and has 80 pairs. The tour provided a great opportunity to see Joya’s processes in action – including wrapper sorting, bunching and rolling, quality inspection, packing, and shipping.

The afternoon concluded with a blending seminar. Basically, this was a chance to blend your own cigar. We were given a library of tobaccos to choose a wrapper, binder, and a selection of fillers from to include in the blend. We were also given some background on the leaf origins and primings that were available. We were allowed to taste the tobaccos prior to selecting our tobaccos.

In case you are interested, here is what I picked for my blend.

One other note is Puro Sabor has partnered with companies outside the cigar industry. One major sponsor has been Flor de Caña, a company world renowned for its rum. They have been participating in several activities here – and were on-site at Joya de Nicaragua blending seminar providing samples.

The evening dinner was hosted at STG Estelí, the factory owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG). One thing I can tell you about STG is that they know how to throw a party – and the evening gala for day three was no exception. The evening featured food, spirits, music, and even fireworks.

I usually don’t talk in-depth too much about the evening events, but one thing Puro Sabor has done extremely well is have open seating. This is not the case with every festival as I have seen some where the manufacturers all have private tables. Not only does this make it difficult for folks like me to find seating, but I think it deprives consumers of the opportunity to interact with the major players in the cigar industry.

During the evening, the Nicaraguan Chamber of Tobacco and STG paid homage to the late Hector Vanegas, the Manufacturing Manager at STG Estelí. Vanegas passed away in 2020, but given this was the first time Puro Sabor has been held since then, he was honored on this evening at STG Estelí.

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop

 

Originally posted on January 28, 2023 @ 7:17 am