TPE 2024: Day 0

Welcome to Las Vegas, where the 2024 Total Product Expo, or TPE, is about to begin at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Having just returned from Puro Sabor, I felt like I was home just long enough to do laundry and then get on the road from Phoenix to Las Vegas for the next chapter in what promises to be a very busy first quarter of 2024 for the cigar industry.

For those unfamiliar with TPE, this trade show is primarily geared towards convenience store and vape shop operators, though in recent years has put an increased focus on premium cigars. It is not as big of an event for cigars as the trade show that the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) puts on, which will happen in late March as opposed to its usual mid-summer dates, which makes for one of the first and most interesting wrinkles of our coverage. Previously there had been about six months between the two shows, creating a nice break between the two as well as a balance of summer and winter shows. With them now so close together, I’m intrigued to see how it affects both retailer and manufacturer attendance, and in particular, how attendance feels on the show floor.

The two trade shows will also be in the same building—the Las Vegas Convention Center—and from what I understand, TPE will span two floors, with the premium cigar part on the lower level and a good bit of the other tobacco and nicotine products on the upper level. It’s been about a year since I’ve been in the LVCC, so I’m interested to see both what it looks like amidst the construction as well as how the TPE space is laid out as a preview for what the PCA show might look like in March.

Beyond the difference in who the events are marketed towards, TPE is also less expensive to attend and exhibit at. In addition to being a trade show, PCA’s event doubles as a fundraiser for the organization, which increases the cost per square foot to exhibit. TPE is much more of a straightforward business and offers a number of lower-cost options, such as the cigar pavilions, which are shared spaces that have a smaller footprint for an individual company, namely just a single display tower. I really like the pavilion idea, and it was one that worked well at PCA last year in the case of the Boutique Cigar Association.

Some well-known manufacturers won’t be exhibiting at TPE for one reason or another, a list that includes My Father, Tatuaje, Padrón, and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. That said, a number of prominent manufacturers are here, such as Aganorsa Leaf, General Cigar Co. Oliva, Illusione, Fratello, E.P. Carrillo, Crowned Heads and others. There are also some companies that will only be exhibiting at TPE and not PCA, with Casa Cuevas being the first that comes to mind.

In terms of new products, there will be a pretty decent number of them from what I can tell. If you’ve been following the news for the past few days, you’ve undoubtedly seen a number of new product announcements for both cigars and cigar accessories.

Charlie Minato and I are here and will be providing coverage throughout the show, which runs through Friday, Feb. 2. Be sure to follow halfwheel on Instagram for posts from the show floor, and keep an eye on the site for new product announcements as well as posts about the new products that will be refreshed and updated throughout the show.