InterTabac 2026: Tuesday | halfwheel

For the second consecutive year, it’s unusually warm here in Dortmund, with temperatures cracking 80F (26C) here on Tuesday, though it seems like it will cool down substantially for the next two days. Fortunately, the air-conditioning at the Westfalenhallen seemed to be on and working, as it was cooler inside today than it was on Monday.

And with the indoor weather report out of the way, here are five thoughts from InterTabac 2026.

1. The Talk of The Show

The situation around 5th Avenue, the Cuban cigar distributor in Germany, Austria and Poland.

Two weeks ago, the company said it was unable to ship cigars due to banking issues due to unspecified sanctions, almost certainly related to Chen Zhi, a Habanos S.A. shareholder. Last week, the company filed for insolvency.

I’d venture to guess that this came up in at least a quarter of the conversations I had with people here in Dortmund. It’s the talk of the town, and there is not a remotely close or clear second topic. I don’t have much more insight other than what’s in those two articles above.

5th Avenue/Habanos S.A. hasn’t been an exhibitor since 2023, though in the last few years, company employees have been in attendance. I haven’t seen any from either company, at least not yet.

2. The Largest Change for 2026

Lots of companies have moved around the show floor.

Unlike the American trade shows we cover, most of the booths at InterTabac tend to stay in the same place each and every year, which means regular attendees don’t need to relearn the show floor each year. Some companies haven’t moved since I first started coming here in 2012. While there’s always some movement, this year feels like a lot more.

There are two main reasons.

Historically, most of the cigar companies have been housed in trade show booths that belong to their German distributors. Over time, some companies have opted for their own spaces, though each year, it seems like there’s one fewer German distributor that is exhibiting. Given that there are fewer and fewer German retailers coming to the trade show, this makes a ton of sense. In effect, many of the German distributors are paying for and handling the logistics to set up a space for these cigar companies to have meetings with other distributors.

This year, Kohlhase & Söhne opted not for a booth, which meant that Ashton and Rocky Patel have their own booths for the first time I can recall. CLE Cigar Co., not part of Kohlhase & Söhne, is another prominent American company that has its own booth for the first time.

I suspect that within the next few years, there will be just a handful of the mainstay German distributors with their own booths.

Second, companies like Arturo Fuente, Drew Estate and Joya de Nicaragua returned as exhibitors after one year absences, each with booths in different locations, though I think the Fuente booth is actually the same booth, just a slightly different location.

3. There’s More American Media

For years, it’s been just halfwheel and Cigar Snob, but on day one, I spotted Fred Rewey of Cigar Press (pictured above) and David Savona of Cigar Aficionado.

This is a lengthy and expensive trip to make for stateside media, but given just how many cigar companies are here, it makes sense.

4. The Americanization of the European Market

I’ve written about this before, but it strikes me just how little difference exists between the products sold in the U.S. and Europe. In my first few visits here, there were not only more European-only brands and lines, but many of the American companies would bring what they perceived to be their more Cuban offerings: thinner cigars, lighter wrappers.

While there are still plenty of brands that aren’t primarily sold in America—names like Bossner, Henk and Laura Chavin—an American consumer walking around the trade show floor would see tons of cigars they can find at their local shop. Oddly, it’s the accessory space where there’s far more brands that aren’t offered in America.

I think there are a lot of different factors that contributed to this, including: the internet, the repositioning of Cuban cigars, shops more interested in the non-Cuban products. But it’s tough for me to tell the two markets apart and while I think Europe’s increasing regulations might mean the two regions become slightly different, I think it will be more like Europe offers an even smaller subset of the products sold in America and not that the percentage of European-only brands will increase.

5. The Coolest New Thing I Saw

While most companies have no new items and very few have multiple product launches here at InterTabac, S.T. Dupont typically shows off a lot of the new designs the company plans to introduce in the next six months, which means it regularly ends up getting mentioned for this segment. Seriously, there are seven pictures in this post but I gave Brooks more than 40 photos of new S.T. Dupont products to edit.

I think this is the S.T. Dupont Fantome de L’Opera Haute Creation Collector Set (~$55,000), though I didn’t get a chance to speak with anyone from S.T. Dupont while visiting the booth.

Whatever the case, it’s difficult for any one piece to stand out in the S.T. Dupont booth, but this had no problem doing that. I absolutely love the chandelier.

After the trade show, I headed to Cigar Journal’s Cigar Trophy awards ceremony, one of my favorite cigar events of the year. The team at Cigar Journal put together a fantastic event, one that I could not imagine doing, let alone during what is the magazine’s home trade show.

You can see the list of winners here.

Afterward, I headed to dinner with the Boveda team to a German restaurant that the company has nearly adopted as its own. Well, at least some of them. The first few taxis arrived just in time to place an order for food, but unfortunately for some of the later arriving people, the kitchen was closed.

While I’m here in Germany, Brooks and Patrick are writing more articles about the upcoming product launches. You can catch up on them here.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. Previously, I started TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors blogs of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry since 2010, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. Beyond writing, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff from weighing cigars to coordinating the tech. Outside of work, I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.