Fresh from  the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association tradeshow, this week’s blog updates will be rolled in highlights from the show.

the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association

Image Courtesy of IPCPR

In case you might not know, the IPCPR tradeshow was held August 9 – 13 in the great state of Louisiana, New Orleans to be exact. That’s right, four days of all things tobacco-related. Was it hot in the Big Easy? Oh yeah, and humid too. But you know premium tobacco has to be kept in temperature-controlled environments, so the good people organizing the tradeshow made sure the air conditioning was pumping. You can almost smell the aromas, can’t you?

Probably the most eye-catching was the  19-foot cigar that weighed over 2,500 pounds with a 1620 ring gauge. Located at the Gran Habano booth, the show stopper made headlines across cigar blogs and news releases everywhere. Part homage to great cigars and part promotional item (Gran Habano debuted their Azteca at the tradeshow), the world’s largest stogie is attention-grabbing if nothing else. And yes, aficionados, the cigar was definitely smoke-able.

This year it seemed like the manufacturers were all announcing something. New products, new line extensions, revivals of old favorites; the opportunity to sample some new smokes on the market was everywhere you looked. If you came to  IPCPR and left empty-handed, it was not for lack of trying on behalf of all the great exhibitors.

The rest of this week we’ll be covering all the new products that made their debut at this year’s tradeshow, and we’ll be including links where you can make purchases or learn more about these enticing new smokes. In the meantime, we’ll be sampling the ones we purchased and will be sure to include reviews as well.

In case you didn’t make it to this year’s show, we hear  IPCPR 2011 will be held in Vegas.