The PCA trade show has long been a fixture in Jon Huber’s professional life. “It was always that time of year that you would look forward to, not only to launch new products and new deals. It’s always been a big networking event as well,” he said.
It’s this chance to catch up with old friends and new acquaintances that Huber says makes the annual PCA trade show so important to him and many others.
“I feel like if you want to successfully launch a brand, [the PCA show] is the only place to really do it in our industry,” Huber says. “PCA is the Super Bowl. That’s always how I’ve looked at it, whether it was called the RTDA, IPCPR or now the PCA.”
Crowned Heads has launched many of its biggest releases at past PCA trade shows, and they’ll do it once again at PCA24, debuting a new regular production premium cigar brand that will be offered in two different varieties and will be made at two factories. This new brand, named Coroneta, will be offered at PCA24 as a Habano and Maduro blend. Huber carefully points out that this is a new brand, and these two blends within it will be entirely different.
“It’s something we’ve never done before,” Huber states. “Usually, you do a brand, and then maybe a few years later, you do the extension to the brand, and then maybe you create a different version. This time, we’re creating the brand and we’ve got two different versions of it from two different factories. The Maduro is from the Dominican, and the Habano is from Nicaragua. But the boxes are all being made in the Dominican. I’ve got a lot of logistics to get the boxes where they need to be, to get the bands where they need to be, to get the secondary bands. There’s a lot of moving parts with this one. It’ll be interesting.”
The Coroneta Habano will have an Ecuadoran Habano wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan filler grown in Jalapa, Estelí, and Condega. The Coroneta Maduro will have a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadoran Connecticut binder, and filler from Nicaragua, Pennsylvania, and the Dominican Republic. Both blends will be available in three sizes, each named after different crowns of British heraldry worn by lower ranks of nobility during the 16th century: Earl, 5 x 52; Duke, 5 1/2 x 54; and Baron, 6 x 56. Suggested retail price per cigar will range from $12.95 to $14.95 before applicable taxes.
While visiting Crowned Heads’ booth at PCA24, you can also check out Tim Ozgener’s Ozgener Family Cigars company, a partner of Crowned Heads. This year, Ozgener will release the third cigar within Ozgener’s Bosphorus trilogy.
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Crowned Heads is a sponsor of this year’s PCA trade show. You can visit them at booth #11041.
This story first appeared in PCA24 Attendee Guide. Current members of PCA received a copy in the mail; additional copies available at the trade show. Join or renew today at premiumcigars.org/membership.