Notes from New Orleans

It took a little longer to get to this than I expected. Truth told, I expected to start posting “IPCPR Diary” posts while the show was still going on and finish up soon after I got back. Reality set in when I had a very full schedule during the show, along with crappy WiFi in the hotel, and very little in the way of “downtime” in which to write. As soon as we returned from New Orleans, I had to get back to the regular job and get final plans in place for the 2015 Chattanooga Tweet-Up. Ended up all I could do to simply post the 10 part series of Cigar Previews over the last month.

But now I’ve run out of “preview” cigars and the Tweet-Up is over for another year. I’ve had some time to reflect. I’ve had some time to read other people’s show summaries and develop some reaction to them…or not. So here goes…here are my (hopefully) final thoughts on this year’s IPCPR show…remember, I am writing this as a first-time visitor to the show and I went as a retail employee, not a blogger.

Cajun Fried Chicken along with Sausage & Rabbit Jambalaya

The Host City

The refrain I’ve heard from many people that have gone to the show in previous years is that Vegas is just much better as a host city, primarily because there are one or two fairly central and well-known meeting places for parties during non-show hours. I honestly didn’t find this to be a big problem in New Orleans. The first night we got there, the boss and I walked down to Smoke on the Water, hung out with Erik Espinosa and some other folks, smoked a cigar and discussed our dinner options. I ended up going with Sheldon (our local Kings rep, a good customer and a friend) with a couple locals to a dive bar called Coop’s.

Cajun fried chicken along with sausage and rabbit jambalaya washed down with an Abita Beer, then we were off to a different cigar shop because we had heard Rocky Patel was having a party there. The shop ended up being the La Habana Hemingway Cigar Bar. I walked in and almost ran right into Rocky. I extended my hand like I’ve known him for years and greeted him. We hung out, ate some more food, had a couple drinks and I found Stacy Cross, my local Rocky rep, as I found it out it was her birthday.

The point of that little story was to say that I ended up back in La Habana Hemingway the next 2 nights for other events and parties, and I could have ended up there a 4th night without any problem. It wasn’t the only place in town that people gathered, but while there, I ran into Jon Huber, Jonathan Drew, Fred Rewey, Tom Person, Clint Aaron, Chris Kelly, Lawrence Miltenberger, Wes Thornton, Nate McIntyre, Pizza Mike, Cigar Mike, My Boss Mike, and others…can’t remember everyone a month later.

There were a couple other cigar bars in the city. I went by one, walked from one end to the other and back without seeing a single person (brand owner, rep, show owner, blogger) that I knew…so I left. La Habana Hemingway was the place to hang out.

I thoroughly enjoyed the food of New Orleans. Besides the above-mentioned, I ate alligator sausage, the best scrambled eggs ever found in a warming tray, a shrimp po boy, shrimp and boudin jambalaya risotto, and learned to love grits at a hole-in-the-wall place we went for breakfast. I unfortunately missed out on Mother’s and Cafe de Monde, two places that came highly recommended. I’d say “next time,” but I really don’t want to go back.

Because here’s the thing: New Orleans is a dirty, stinky, dangerous place. People can fall in love with the “charm” of the French Quarter all they want; all I know is that Bourbon Street smells strongly of stale vomit and urine…all…the…time. Walk down Bourbon in broad daylight and it stinks. Go near Bourbon after the end of a hot day and while the evening is getting revved up and it just plain reeks. Get two or three blocks off the street and it’s not so bad. Then you just have to deal with people that want to rob you.

The story goes that a few store owners were “roofied and robbed” on Bourbon Street. Apparently someone slipped something into the huge drinks they had ordered and next thing they knew they woke up in an alley with no money and no hotel key. When they got back to their room, it was similarly cleaned out. I don’t know this first-hand, but I know a guy whose wife heard it from the guys it happened to…oh, and my boss heard them talk about it first-hand as well. I know this could happen just about anywhere…hell, it’s probably just as likely to happen in Vegas as NOLA!…but it was just punctuation. The first night we were there the local that we went to dinner with gave us a handful of tips for avoiding getting robbed or worse while we were there. Two days later a guy with an AK-47 shot at a medical clinic a few blocks away from our hotel.

So I’m kinda “over” New Orleans. I can probably get food just as good going to Baton Rouge or Lafayette or somewhere else close by…no reason to get back to the stinkpit that is the French Quarter. If anyone from NOLA reads this and is offended…well, I’m sorry, but not that sorry.

Show Floor

This was not just my first IPCPR, it was really my first trade show of any kind. I’ve been to conventions and I’ve been to large, booth-style cigar events, but a trade show is just different. Wandering around the day before opening it was hot and people were hard at work…the center wouldn’t turn on the A/C on the show floor until the day the show officially opened. Think about that and let it sink it…it was 90+ degrees outside with very high humidity and they were laboring inside to build booths and displays with no A/C…and they weren’t allowed to smoke during build-out. Just wanted to illustrate how hard these people work to make to be ready for the retailers.

In walking around the show floor, I tried to hit everything. I spoke to people I had known for years, looked into brands that I had heard of but not had a chance to try, and I sat through quite a few sales pitches for brands I’ve never heard of before…and may never hear of again! I even took a stroll through Hookah-Town, that section of the trade show devoted to hookah pipes, tobacco and accessories, as well as vape equipment and fluid. I may have been the only tobacconist walking through that area while I was there…all the vendors seemed very lonely in their booths.

Other people have said attendance was down this year compared to years the show is in Las Vegas. That may well be the case, but I didn’t really notice. There were several booths…Drew Estate, Davidoff, CLE, My Father/Tatuaje, Padron, LFD…that just seemed overrun with people every time I walked past. A couple of those I didn’t get a chance to visit until near the end of the last day. Others I went to during “appointment” times and couldn’t get a reps attention the rest of the weekend. And then there were certain booths that were pretty easy to get into anytime.

Working It

I’ve heard the stories about people just there to play “trick or treat” and, let’s be honest, I wanted to do some of that…but I also didn’t want to be a total weasel or a-hole in the process. The true trick-or-treater will just walk up to every booth and ask for samples, with no intention of ever buying anything from that vendor. My MO was different…I would let the vendor give me their sales pitch. I would listen to whatever they had to say, even if my first impressions of the brand weren’t good. I would accept samples and price sheets and literature on the products…because that’s really part of the implied agreement between vendor and customer: I would like to try your product but I realize nothing’s free…I’m willing to trade some of my time to you and you can see if you can convince me your product is worth selling.

There were a couple that were successful, by the way. Brands that I had no real interest in when I visited, but I was convinced otherwise by the time I left. For one brand in particular, a 5 minute conversation worked out for me to pass on information to a friend that they were looking for a rep…he is now their rep in our area and our shop carries that brand of cigars…and it’s been successful so far. Other brands are in the “let’s talk later” queue…as much as I like the cigars and the stories behind them, we simply can’t carry everything.

I didn’t get to every booth. After finishing up on Monday afternoon, I realized there were a handful that I had fully intended to go to and never got around to it. That’s after working the floor all day Saturday, all day Sunday and all but about 2 hours on Monday. We left early Tuesday so I didn’t get to see the final day.

The Future

So not that I’ve “done the show” will I do it again? I’m sure that if I keep working in the business in some capacity, I’ll end up going again. With the budget our shop is looking at for the coming year, I’m not that certain I’ll be going to next year’s show, though. This was a relatively cheap one for the shop…the boss was driving to NOLA for the show. Me being along didn’t significantly increase the amount of gas used and we shared a room, so there wasn’t extra hotel cost. Going to Vegas will be different. It’ll be plane tickets for whoever goes, plus taxis, and other expenses.

If I can go, I will go next year. If not…well, I’ve had at least my one time and in some ways that’s enough. If they go back to New Orleans again, I’d probably best highly tempted to pass completely.

Some people (including myself) have questioned the existential relevance of the IPCPR show. It is true that brands are tending to introduce things all year long rather than concentrate on just a couple months in August. It’s also true that many of the bigger brands don’t really need the show to get their products to market.

But…it is a convenient way to reach a lot of retailers in one place during one concentrated time period. And for the retailers, it’s a good way to build and reinforce relationships across a spectrum of vendors in a few days’ time. For smaller and newer companies, it provides a fantastic opportunity to reach a lot of people they would otherwise have to travel far to visit. I have come to the realization that the show is still relevant and should still be a mandatory annual trip for most retailers.

Top Picks

In looking back through the 10 preview posts I’ve thrown out there in the last month, a few cigars really do stand out as sticks that I believe will do well in the marketplace and that I would like to revisit for full reviews at some point. I decided to list my Top 10 Most Anticipated Cigars (based on my previews) and maybe add some honorable mentions if there are more than 10…(in alphabetical order)

1. Blind Man’s Bluff by Caldwell
2. El Gueguense by Foundation Cigars
3. Enclave by A.J. Fernandez
4. Flathead Steel Horse by CAO
5. Gibraltar Extra by Caldwell
6. HOME by Dissident
7. San’Doro Colorado by Villiger
8. Señorial Maduro by Las Cumbres Tabacos
9. Syncro by Avo
10. Twentieth Anniversary by Rocky Patel

Honorable Mention: Freyja by Las Cumbres Tabacos, Johnny Tobacconaut by Room101, Extension de la Racine by L’atelier, Therapy by Nomad

Some More Photos

I took a few photos while I was in New Orleans. A few while we wandered around during booth set-up (hey, security let us in…don’t blame us!), some during the course of the show, some during the Davidoff Gold Band Awards dinner.

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