PCA 2021 Report: PDR Cigars

Over the past couple of years, PDR Cigars has undergone a series of branding and packaging changes. That theme continued at the 2021 PCA Trade Show. In these PCA summary reports, we have tried to stay away from wrapper, binder, and filler, but in the case of PDR Cigars, it is important. A few years ago, PDR Cigars owner Abe Flores became a part of ProCigar, an organization that brings together the key cigar manufacturers in the Dominican Republic. Since joining ProCigar, Flores has focused his efforts to support the organization, and this has involved changing his cigar blends to incorporate more in the way of Dominican tobacco. In fact, PDR Cigars used to stand for “Pinar Del Rio” cigars. Now PDR stands for “Puros Dominican Republic. At this year’s trade show, Flores showcased two lines that saw a major packaging change as well as blend changes to leverage more Dominican tobaccos.

A big change comes to the PDR 1878 line, one of the earlier core lines introduced by Flores. PDR 1878 is now known a PDR 1878 Recordando A Santiago Edicíon. This means “Remembering Santiago” and it’s a line that now showcases the Dominican Republic on its boxes and its tobacco. The blends have undergone significant changes. The PDR 1878 Recordando A Santiago Edicíon blends include (along with the wrapper): Capa Madura (San Andres), Capa Oscura (Ecuadorian Sun Grown), Capa Natural (Ecuadorian Connecticut), and Capa Sun Grown (Ecuadorian Sun Grown). All four blends now use Dominican binders and fillers. The vitolas offered have been streamlined to Robusto (5 x 52), Toro (6 x 52), and Double Magnum (6 x 60).

El Criollito also has redesigned packaging and a revamped blend. This is a brand originally launched in Europe, but a few years ago was brought to the U.S. As for the blend, it now features an Ecuadorian Criollo wrapper, over a Mexican binder and a combination of Dominican and Mexican fillers.