The official opening to the IPCPR 2014 Trade Show Floor is less than 24 hours away, and David Garofalo has filed this…
When the IPCPR Trade Show Floor opens at 9:30am tomorrow, it will be the biggest in size (over 13 acres of trade show floor) and largest in manufacture attendance with over 300 different companies showing their product. Let us not forget the retailers, with well over 5,000 who will hit the floor buying the hundreds of new cigar brands.
The biggest chatter in meetings, around the bar and on the casino floor is the FDA deeming proposed regulations on cigars. Depending what happens this could be the benchmark. Before FDA is today…what happens after is what everyone’s guess. Retailers have turned out in numbers but are concerned what the numbers will be in the near future.The biggest concern seems to be the $10 and up price of how a “premium” cigar would only be described if it reached those prices. Another is pushing aside all cigars with added flavoring which would hurt many popular brands. And of course no sampling which certainly change this trade show next year in New Orleans where it could be a BYOC (bring your own cigar) event.
Despite these concerns, the retailers and cigar manufacturers seem excited and ready for the biggest IPCPR trade show ever!
While not exactly news, it does help set the mood for the show..
