What does it take to be successful in tobacco retail today? Our panel of successful brick-and-mortar tobacconists share their first-hand experiences with many of the challenges tobacco retailers are dealing with today, from employee retention to finding the right products for their store’s customers.

With nearly 81 percent of Americans using SMS and other text-based communications on regularly, businesses are tapping into this unique form communication to engage with their customers. After all, 81  of Americans text regularly. Learn how tobacco businesses are using texting solutions such as Gnymble to build relationships, increase customer satisfaction and build communities around their businesses and its products.

Tobacco regulations continue to challenge the alternative tobacco products and vapor industries. VTA’s Executive Director and longtime industry consultant, Tony Abboud, will explain what really drove the FDA’s late 2021 round of mass removal of flavored ENDS products from the market and what it means for the future of flavors in tobacco products. Abboud also will offer his perspectives on recent Congressional activity on tobacco/vape taxes and attempts to regulate novel alternative tobacco products such as synthetic nicotine. Finally, Abboud will share the surprising results of a recently completed economic impact analysis of the vapor products industry.

Vice President of Government Affairs will give listeners an overview of the challenges the industry faced at both the state and Federal level in 2021 and discuss the likelihood of potential tax increases and proposed flavor bans that we will face in 2022.

Back in 2020, TPE hosted the landmark Sisters in the Leaf panel that put a spotlight on the important role women play in the cigar industry. Now two years later, this panel is being revisited and exploring the progress that women continue to make in cigar manufacturing and retail. Discover how these and other women are changing the cigar industry for the better and what brands and other tobacco businesses need to do to make their brands more inclusive to female employees and customers.