What is IPCPR 2016?

Two weeks.

The 2016 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show is officially two weeks away. At 9:30 a.m. local time on July 25, the first attendees will enter the Sands Expo and Convention Center—but what is the show and why are there so many articles about it?

WHAT IS THE SHOW?

It’s both a convention and trade show. The convention part begins Sunday, July 24, with a variety of seminars centered around legislative issues, retail strategy and other interests for retailers and manufacturers. The four-day trade show part begins July 25.

WHAT IS IPCPR?

The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association hosts the trade show. As the name implies, it’s a trade group for retailers that sell cigars and pipes. In addition to the trade show, the group lobbies on both the local and federal level.

WHERE IS IT?

Las Vegas. It’s hosted at the Sands Expo Center which is connected to the Venetian and Palazzo hotels. It will be held here through 2018, at least.

WHEN IS IT AGAIN?

Seminars start on July 24, the trade show, i.e. the selling portion, takes place July 25-28.

WHY DO PEOPLE GO?

For a variety of reasons:

• Manufacturers — Because it’s a selling trade show. Over 800 retail stores attended the last trade show in Las Vegas, so there are lots of customers. As such, manufacturers bring new product and special discounts to help drive sales.
• Retailers — It’s a chance to see new product, sample new product and take advantage of special discounts.
• Media — There’s lots of new products, plus most of the cigar industry is under one roof for four days.
• Consumers — Because manufacturers give out free samples. #freecigars

CAN I COME?

Maybe.

The trade show is not open to the general public/consumers, though there was a contest to give one consumer a chance to attend the show.

If you work in the cigar industry whether as a retailer, manufacturer, supplier or media, you can go to the show, though you must be an IPCPR member, which starts at $395 annually and gives you three passes to the show.

That being said, there are plenty of people who attend the trade show regularly that probably don’t meet the qualifications.

SO YOU WILL BE THERE?

Yes. For a week.

HOW MANY NEW CIGARS COME OUT?

It’s not entirely clear, we’ll have a much better idea when we publish our IPCPR 2016 Preview guide shortly before the trade show, but it seems likely there will be around 1,000 new SKUs—i.e. individual cigars—shown off at the trade show.

If we write 200 articles between now and July 25 about new products I would not be surprised.

AND THIS IS BECAUSE OF FDA?

To some degree, yes.

The IPCPR Convention & Trade Show has always been a place where a lot of new cigars debut. Over the last five years the amount of new product has increased exponentially, but it certainly will spike this year.

IS EVERY MANUFACTURER COMING OUT WITH 50 NEW CIGARS?

Nope. Some aren’t bringing any new cigars to the show.

For the most part, it seems like people are taking one of five approaches to the trade show:

1. No new product
2. New products, but no more than what was originally planned on prior to FDA’s announcements
3. A few more new products, but not much more than originally anticipated
4. As many products as we can possibly put onto the market before Aug. 8.

*Most manufacturers are using one of those approaches combined with a strategy that will see them send new products to certain retailers, but not formally introduce the cigars until after Aug. 8. More information about that here.

If you had to ask me what seems to be the popular choice, most seem to be going with number three, a few more new products, but not an all out blitz.

WHAT’S YOUR COVERAGE GOING TO BE LIKE?

It’s going to be better.

We will still be doing our live trade show coverage, it will still have short videos for each booth.

There are a few points of emphasis that we’ve spent all year working to improve:

1. The Amount of Booths Covered — We have a very defined schedule about where each writer is going each day. The goal is to make it easier for us to cover upwards of 150 booths, up from 103 last year.
2. The Consistency of Coverage — We’ve implemented a standardized style of covering the booths that should make it easier to read.
3. The Consistency of Posting — We’ve agreed to a pattern that should mean that content is regularly going up throughout the four day sou the show.
4. The Organization — We’ve made a lot of changes to be better organized, better prepared and ultimately produce content in a much more effective and consistent manner once we arrive in Las Vegas.

If you have additional questions, please use the comments section below and we will try answer them.