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IPCPR 2011 Recap

It’s only about a week late, but that will fit in nicely with an overview of the IPCPR trends. It was a good show and it definitely leaves me feeling uneasy about whether or not Orlando is ready for next year, but, time will tell. Lots of drama before, particularly on the new media side [...]

IPCPR 2011: Davidoff Group

There are a lot of new faces at Davidoff, a lot. Some are formal additions like Matt Booth and Dylan Austin, who moved Room 101 and Camacho into the maze that was the winner of the large booth award at the show. Others were additions like Jim Young, the new North American President of Davidoff [...]

IPCPR 2011: Prometheus

Prometheus’ mixture of limited editions, regular lines and accessories make it one of the busiest booths of the show, this year was no different. I guarantee what’s after the jump is missing some humidor, but it includes a new line, a new limited line, Opus 22 sets, Gran AnivXario extensions, accessories and a lot more; [...]

IPCPR 2011: Room 101

After some high ratings from everyone’s favorite print publication earlier, the amount of people taking note of Room 101 has no doubt skyrocketed. I was fortunate enough to spend quite a bit of time with brand head Matt Booth, including a late night after party that included much of the brain trust and many that [...]

IPCPR 2011: Ashton

A new size from Carlito and a new blend from Pepín. That’s the tough life that Robert Levin, head of Ashton, has to live with. Ashton’s trademark has been a steady supply of new releases, and this year was no different. Product releases were sensible, and I guess to an extent boring. After the jump, [...]

IPCPR 2011: General Cigar Co.

One of the larger questions going into the 2011 IPCPR, CAO? (That was, “CAO”, “insert question mark.”) At one point there seemed to be a belief that CAO would remain as independent as possible, including the symbolic action of an independent booth. That was not the case… CAO was just another stop on the General [...]

IPCPR 2011: J. Fuego

While the approach of Jesus Fuego’s booth at the 2011 IPCPR show seemed a bit quieter than the prior, the booth felt busier in terms of actually business. (So busy, that I really didn’t have much time to speak to Jesus while in the booth.) It was a mix of extensions, reblending and preview for [...]

IPCPR 2011: My Father Cigars

A few months ago, Jose Ortega and Janny García stopped by Dallas. We spoke about a lot of the new releases that were planned, including those at IPCPR. TheCigarFeed broke the news on the star of the My Father booth back when the García family’s company was featured in the State of the Brand series. [...]

IPCPR 2011: Padrón

This could really be a lot easier. The Family Reserve 47th shall be known as the Padrón 85th. Jorge Padrón explained they changed the name to coincide with José O. Padrón’s 85th birthday. The only other interesting tidbit worth mentioning is that at least two retailers claim that they will have these in early August, [...]

IPCPR 2011: Illusione

And it was a big year for Dion. Back in February, Dion Giolito dropped quite a bombshell indicating that he would be launching a Maduro version of his core line of cigars. But Dion wasn’t done, he wasn’t even close. New packaging on Cruzado, return of a folklored cigar, an extension to Epernay, and that [...]