InterTabac 2022: Day 1

Perhaps it’s the jetlag, perhaps it’s my inherent skepticism—but the first day of InterTabac 2022 felt a bit weird.

I walked into the trade fair about two hours after it started and was immediately impressed with the process to get my badge. I had registered before the trade show and printed out a QR code as proof of registration. I then simply went up to a turnstile machine, scanned the QR code thinking that it would allow me to enter, and then it printed out a badge and opened the turnstile. The whole process took less than 30 seconds and didn’t involve having to see or interact with another human. I’m not sure how much these machines cost, but it was a much more pleasant experience than registering for most trade shows.

From there, I walked into Hall 4, one of the original halls and one of the two main halls used by cigar companies, which felt relatively normal. I spotted adorini, the German humidor company, in its normal place; J.C. Newman in the place it’s been for the last few years, and Habanos S.A. with what appeared to be a new booth but in its normal place. The one notable difference was Joya de Nicaragua, which was now in a place that I once recall seeing Toscano. Walking to Hall 7, the other primary hall used by cigar companies, produced the first jarring change: no Scandinavian Tobacco Group.

In its place is the International Cigar Pavillion, which contained about 10 companies ranging from Bosquet Paris—a French accessory company—to La Flor Dominicana, which seemed a bit orphaned as it would normally be in a distributor’s booth, but since STG is its German distributor, that wasn’t an option. Arturo Fuente’s booth seemed more or less the same—there’s now annoying red velvet ropes—but the booth is now much further up the main hallway and on the other side of the hallway. And the more I walked through Hall 7, the more the changes were obvious.

If you are someone that has been to multiple PCA Convention & Trade Shows you are probably baffled by reading this, and asking why would I make such a big deal about booths changing locations? Because STG had been in the exact same place for every InterTabac I’ve been going to, which started in 2012. I believe Fuente has been in the same spot all but one year. Continuity—from the locations of booths to waiters at a local restaurant I go to every year—has been a hallmark of my experience at this trade show. Whether it’s because of COVID-19 or because the most recent InterTabac was in 2019, there are a lot of changes to a trade show that generally avoids them.

Beyond the locations changing, being here on a Thursday was a bit odd. Every other year I’ve been to InterTabac, the show ran Friday-Sunday; this year it’s Thursday-Saturday. I’m curious to know the reason for the change, but I cannot imagine that cigar-related foot traffic is the reason, nor should it be. While Hall 4 felt about what it was like previously, Hall 7 was noticeably quieter than how I remember it for much of the day. Cigar companies told me that they still had days packed full of meetings with distributors and unlike at other trade shows, I generally believe them, so that’s good; but I suspect today was not great for retail traffic.

The real question is what the e-cigarette and vaping companies thought of the change. They almost certainly occupy more space than cigar companies and should be the driving force in these decisions. I haven’t made my annual stroll through the whole trade show to see—it takes about 40 minutes to do it—but there seems to be plenty of vape companies here.

One thing I’ve begun to pick up in at InterTabac is that there’s very little showing off of cigars. While there are cigars on display, it’s quite rare to see a company showing the physical products off to another person, something that is incredibly common at the cigar industry’s main trade show, the PCA Convention & Trade Show. That said, there are new product introductions, including the elaborate Selcción Meerapfel stand, which has this eye-catching room of mystery. (I haven’t been inside yet, so it really is a mystery.)

I saw a few new products, but not as many as I had hoped to see. Admittedly, I probably could have looked a bit more closely, but that’s what tomorrow will be for. One thing I heard pretty consistently—from both small and large companies—was that they wished they had the inventory to supply the international markets, which remain very strong and seemingly, very in need of cigars. It’s a good problem to have and a far cry from 2012 when I once watched an international client ask Jorge Padrón if Padrón was a new company and whether it had established itself in the American market.

After the trade show ended, I walked around a maze of halls and an old hockey arena to get to Cigar Journal’s annual award show, which continues to grow. Simply based on industry attendance, it’s as close to a cigar industry Academy Awards show as there will ever be. It’s a fun evening and I give credit to Cigar Journal for hosting it as it is undoubtedly a ton of work. The end result is a few hundred people that include executives from just about every cigar company you could name off the top of your head, along with other industry folks.

I went to dinner in the southwest part of town and unfortunately for my sleep schedule, didn’t leave until after midnight. Fortunately, the trade show doesn’t open until 10 a.m.; unfortunately, I booked a 10 a.m. meeting tomorrow.