Live Updates from the 2011 Cigar Trade Show (Day 2)

This week StogieGuys.com is in Las Vegas covering the 79th annual International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association Trade Show—the convention where cigar makers from around the world come to showcase their products and debut new creations. Check back throughout the day for updates, and keep an eye on Twitter for even more.

Early Morning Update: Yesterday was a busy day for me, and it was also a busy one for cigar makers as they took orders from retailers. The real test will be if traffic and sales hold up, or if the strong sales were just a function of people getting their buying done quickly so they can enjoy a few days of vacation in Sin City.

As we reported in our Trade Show preview, Tatuaje has plenty of new releases. Highly anticipated is the Black Petit Lancero, which was displayed next to the recently released La Vérité 2009.

Fausto is based on the T110 blend and, by all accounts, is a real powerhouse. Avion is a box-pressed perfecto that features the same blend but the size makes it less powerful.

La Casita Criolla features a blend made entirely of Connecticut broadleaf tobacco. The 7th Capa Especial is the same blend as the Brown Label but with a Sumatra wrapper.

Every year Tatuaje puts out a special Halloween-themed release like “Boris,” “The Face,” “Frank,” and “Drac.” This year’s will be “The Wolfman,” a box-pressed torpedo with an unfinished foot. A limited number of special boxes will be available.

Afternoon Update: I spent most of the day catching up with some of the boutique cigar makers who, while they don’t all have the largest booths, are making some of the most interesting cigars.

La Caridad del Cobre released their new Javelin, which is essentially a perfecto lancero. Another eye-catcher at the La Caridad del Cobre booth is the “La Cucaracha” perfecto, which features a Connecticut wrapper on the head and foot.

Jameson Cigars, which makes Declaration, recently released Santos de Miami. It’s a box-pressed Dominican puro with a Havana corojo wrapper, criollo ’98 binder, and corojo and criollo fillers.

El Primer Mundo is releasing the new Epifania line. I smoked a robusto recently, but brand owner Sean Williams says it will only be available in the toro size at first and will come in cabinets of 50. The blend features a Ecuadorian habano wrapper, dual Nicaraguan binders, and filler with two types of Dominican and two types of Nicaraguan tobacco.

My last stop before a late lunch was the San Lotano booth, where A.J. Fernandez seems to be having a very successful show. The latest from San Lotano is Oval, which features a Brazilian-grown habano 2000 wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler from Nicaragua, Honduras, and from an undisclosed locale. According to San Lotano’s Clay Roberts, the company is seeing excellent growth. Currently they are in 400 shops and they expect to be in 1,000 by September. The company recently broke ground on a 100,000 square-foot factory on their Nicaraguan plantation where they are also building a guest house to host cigar consumers and retailers.

Check back throughout the day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for live updates from the Trade Show floor as we get the skinny on new products. And feel free to leave a comment on this post if you have a question you’d like us to ask a cigar maker.

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys