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However, a host of manufacturers did debut new offerings, and
many more showcased reissues and/or size variants of existing brands
(see “What’s New?” sidebar, p. 20). In some cases, “phantom” prod-
ucts released in a limited fashion in order to get on the market prior
to last year’s deeming regulation deadline paved the way for brands
showcased at IPCPR 2017. In others, companies simply opted to move
forward with new launches in the hope that the industry’s efforts to
modify or roll back premium cigar regulation will succeed or that
they would be able to make a successful application for the product to
remain on the market.
According to industry advocates working on the front lines of such
efforts, there is good reason to hold out hope for those changes (See
“Regulatory Review,” p. 14). “I don’t think the cumulative forces of
politics and decision-makers within the administration have ever been
more in our favor,” Daniel Trope, IPCPR’s director of federal govern-
ment affairs, told show attendees. “I am optimistic.”
Many show exhibitors reported that it will be business as usual until
the FDA tells them otherwise. “We are moving ahead with meeting FDA
deadlines for submissions,” said D&R Tobacco’s Mark Ryan, who has
been working on registering 346 pipe tobacco blends with the FDA, but,
like many of his peers, doesn’t believe it will be economically feasible to
go through the full application process—estimated to run $330,000 per
SKU—if the current requirements stand. “We will meet the deadlines
for registration, ingredient lists and warning labels and hope that some-
thing will change regarding the need for millions of dollars’ worth of
[FDA] applications,” Ryan said. “I think [regulation] will be postponed
until the point where people will forget about it. I don’t see them putting
everyone out of business.”
Ryan is not alone in viewing the chances of the deeming regulations
being relaxed or going away entirely as stronger than ever. “I think
we will prevail,” said Craig Cass, president of Charlotte, North Car-
olina-based Tinder Box and outgoing president of the IPCPR. “I feel
good about it.”
➤
The pages to follow offer highlights from
the IPCPR trade show floor and conference seminars.
PREMIUM
CIGARS
[ T O B A C C O B U S I N E S S . C O M ]
TOBACCO BUSINESS
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from
IPCPR