The PCA Best of the Leaf Awards recognizes retailers who have demonstrated the highest standards of excellence in aesthetics, merchandising, humidor selection and presentation, and customer service.
The goal of the PCA Best of the Leaf Awards is not only to recognize and support excellent retail operators around the country, but to showcase the best of what specialty tobacco retailing offers.
Recognition is awarded based upon how well candidates excel in the following areas:
- Aesthetics: Creative use of aesthetics that showcases the uniqueness of shop/lounge/bar personality, including but not limited to lighting, furniture, decorations, cleanliness, ventilation.
- Merchandising: Clean, polished store/lounge/bar with a logical flow to view and interact with products, and branding signage that makes it easy to identify where products can be located
- Humidor: Keeping the humidor running optimally, products properly humidified and displayed, well-stocked with depth and breadth of selection with clear pricing, well-lit, and inviting
- Customer service: Trained and professional staff, knowledgeable and welcoming, taking customers on well-defined cigar tasting experiences, developing relationships with customers to create repeat customers.
Finalists will be selected based on region and establishment category of lounge.
United States Regions-
- West: Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska
- Midwest: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio
- South: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
- Northeast: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia.
- International: All countries outside of the United States, including but not limited to Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.
For each region there will be a PCA Best of the Leaf award for each of the three establishment categories:
- Premium Tobacconist Cigar Shop: A retail store focused on selling cigars and related accessories; the store does not have a lounge or bar area.
- Lounge: A retail store offering a dedicated space for premium cigar and pipe smoking.
- Bar: An establishment where the primary sales come from spirits and food sales. This establishment offers an area within it for cigar or pipe smoking.
- Smoke shop: Tobacco store offering a range of different smoking products; primary sales do not come from premium cigars or pipe tobacco sales
Judging Process
The judging panel consists of industry experts who use a rubric that aligns with the criteria. Additionally, the public consumer’s scoring will be taken into consideration.
Eligibility Rules:
1, Nominees must hold an active 2026 PCA Membership to qualify.
2. Best of the Leaf Winners of 2025 may be nominated again in 2027, unless the nomination is for a different store or location, in which case it qualifies immediately.
3. Individuals serving on the PCA Board of Directors are ineligible to be nominated in the Best of the Leaf contest.
The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) reserves the right to change the competing category based on each store’s submission. The PCA reserves the right permission to transmit, post, and reprint any video or photo submitted in the “Best of the Leaf Awards” for the purpose of promoting this competition.
Note: If you encounter problems while uploading your submission, you can email the materials in a zip file using a file sharing service such as WeSendIt or DropBox and provide a download link to maria@premiumcigars.org.