Survey Says? – With an Introduction to the Premium Cigar Association

Each year, we attend the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) annual tradeshow.  Founded in 1933 as the Retail Tobacco Dealers Association, the PCA is the “leading authority and advocate for the premium cigar and pipe retailer industry.”

As members of the Premium Cigar Association for over 50 years, we are proud to support our trade association and look forward to the annual tradeshow. This is THE event for our industry, and the attendees include retailers and almost every cigar, pipe, and accessory manufacturer from around the world.  At the show, we connect with other retailers and learn from the manufacturers firsthand about new blends and products being released in the coming year.  It’s where we nurture relationships we’ve built over decades and make new ones— both with vendor partners and other retailers.

The PCA tradeshow is not open to consumers, but in upcoming Caucus Briefs and on our social media, we’ll bring you snapshots of what the experience is like, what we’ve learned, and what you can look forward to seeing in the store and on our website in future months!

The Premium Cigar Association’s most important work is advocacy: fighting against harmful regulation and taxation at local, state and federal levels to insure businesses like ours can continue to thrive and you can continue to shop for premium cigars and pipe tobacco from stores like ours.  We’ll learn the latest in those advocacy efforts while at the tradeshow and share how you can get involved in a future Brief.

As we prepare to attend the tradeshow, we take stock of our current selection and identify opportunities so we can keep an eye out for new products while at the show.  Last week, we posed a few questions to the readers of The Caucus Brief and are so grateful for your tremendous response!  Here is what our customers are saying:

This information is particularly helpful, as we try to tailor the content of the Caucus Brief to include both cigars and pipes, and we’ll continue to include both.

Davidoff and Padron are generally two of our strongest brands, so it’s no surprise to see them ranked so highly here.  (Shame on me for neglecting to include our Georgetown Tobacco Caucus on the survey!) The support for Tatuaje was a bit of a surprise.  We have carried Tatuaje in the past based on customer requests, only to see them languish on our shelves.  As we perhaps bring back a selection of Tatuaje or any other of your favorites, be sure to show your support to keep them in our inventory!

Thank you for sharing your love of our house tobacco blends! These have long been customer favorites both in the store and via mail order. We will continue to expand our pipe tobacco selections to offer even more variety.

The great news for all of our Dunhill fans is that we currently have one of the best Dunhill selections we’ve had in years. We continually add to our inventory from several of the world’s leading pipe makers throughout the year and you can count on seeing more after this year’s tradeshow!

Thank you so much! We have always taken a very proactive and creative approach to curating our selection. As our customers know, Georgetown Tobacco & Pipe is not your typical tobacconist, as we offer “products ranging from the familiar to the fantastic.”

A Customer Satisfaction Score (CSS) of 81 is considered the benchmark for eCommerce and Retail. A CSS score of 90 is truly outstanding, and we truly appreciate your feedback and support!

There were too many comments to include all of them here, but a few notes:

• For those interested in “Caucus 2.0”, stay tuned for something special for our 60th Anniversary!
• Arturo Fuente is challenging to stock consistently, which is why we do not feature some of the more popular blends like Hemingway and Don Carlos on our website but we do have them in the store when they are available. We hope inventory levels will become more consistent in the future.
• If you’re looking for a particular brand, we may carry it even if it’s not on our website or may consider carrying it based on demand. Please give us a call or send an email to info@gttobacco.com.

This year’s PCA tradeshow will take place July 7th to the 11th in Las Vegas. We look forward to reporting back from the show and adding some interesting finds to our selection! Stay tuned!