Last month, the cigar industry gathered in Las Vegas, Nev. for the annual IPCPR trade show and convention. Even a part-time reader of the site should be familiar with the acronym at this point, as the trade show serves as traditional time for manufacturers to launch new products, coverage that we have been provide since May and continue to write on a daily basis. As we do ever year, here’s our annual IPCPR recap with commentary from Patrick Lagreid and myself. ON ATTENDANCE Last year, we spoke about how at every show we hear the same complaint about attendance. Our argument then was that we needed a new measuring point to judge attendance by, because the days of the cigar boom (mid-1990s) are gone. This year, the trade show space was 30 percent larger and not as well attended than last year. As such, there were lots of complaints regarding the ghost town that was the Sands Convention Center. Four years ago, after my first IPCPR trade show, I wrote about the problems incentivizing retailers to attend the IPCPR show, because it was becoming apparent things were about to hit the fan. Getting retailers to attend the trade show is no different than getting a ...
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