If you’re looking for the single biggest tobacco industry event Germany hosts each year, this is it. InterTabac and InterSupply 2026 run from September 15 to 17 at Westfalenhallen Dortmund, and this edition comes with a genuine change worth knowing about: for the first time, the fair moves from its traditional Thursday to Saturday slot to a Tuesday through Thursday schedule, a shift organizers made specifically to make attendance easier for retail buyers and to give exhibitors better travel conditions. As the 46th edition of the show, InterTabac 2026 is expected to bring together more than 800 exhibitors and around 14,500 trade visitors from roughly 70 to 80 countries, making it the largest tobacco industry event Dortmund, or arguably anywhere in Europe, will see this year.
The tobacco industry has changed more in the last decade than in the several before it. The rise of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and other alternative products has reshaped what “the tobacco industry” even means at a trade show like this one. At InterTabac 2026, that shift is on full display across the exhibition halls, split into distinct theme worlds covering cigarettes, cigars, pipes, smoking accessories, and next-generation products. Attendees get a direct look at how consumer preferences are moving, and what that means for sourcing, manufacturing, and go-to-market strategy going into 2027.
[Check Ready To Ship: Cigarette Manufacturing Machines]
Staying current on tobacco industry trends is close to a competitive necessity at this point. The event’s supporting program runs technical sessions and market discussions alongside the exhibition floor, covering everything from regulatory shifts to where reduced-risk products are heading next. For manufacturers and machinery buyers specifically, this is also where you hear directly from suppliers about lead times, new equipment launches, and what’s actually moving in the supply chain, information that’s harder to get accurately from a press release than from a conversation on the show floor.
[Check Ready to Ship: Cigarette Packing Machines]
Three full days, one venue, and effectively every relevant player in the industry under one roof. Here’s what that actually looks like in practice.
InterTabac 2026 features a wide range of exhibitors showing off new products and machinery, with plenty of room to compare suppliers side by side rather than sourcing through cold outreach alone. InterSupply, running alongside it in the same halls, is where the manufacturing side of the industry shows up specifically, covering the production of tobacco products, e-cigarettes, pipes, and shisha equipment for a purely B2B audience.
[You may want to have a look at: World Tobacco Asia]
Technology keeps pushing the tobacco industry forward, from manufacturing processes to packaging design, and InterTabac 2026 is where a lot of that gets shown publicly for the first time each year.
Expect live demonstrations of new machinery alongside software solutions built to streamline operations, not just static displays. If you’re evaluating new equipment for your line, seeing it run in person is a meaningfully different evaluation than working from a spec sheet.
With close to 14,500 trade visitors on site across three days, the networking value here is hard to replicate anywhere else on the calendar. Roughly half of attendees travel in from outside Germany, which makes this one of the more genuinely international touchpoints in the industry each year.
Networking is central to how business actually gets done in the tobacco sector, and a show of this scale compresses months of outreach into three days. Meeting potential partners, clients, and suppliers face to face tends to move deals forward faster than the same conversations spread out over email.
Orchid Tobacco Dubai has been manufacturing cigarettes and supplying tobacco machinery for the past 35 years. As a regular exhibitor at major industry events including InterTabac, Orchid Tobacco stays directly connected to where the industry is heading rather than relying on secondhand reporting. View Gallery
Orchid Tobacco Dubai has played a genuine role in advancing tobacco machinery, helping manufacturers across multiple markets improve their production lines and stay competitive. At the event, their team is available to walk through the current equipment lineup and discuss specific production requirements in person.
InterTabac and InterSupply 2026 run September 15 to 17 at the Dortmund Exhibition Center, Rheinlanddamm 200, 44139 Dortmund. Hall hours run 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on September 15 and 16, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on September 17. The venue sits about 10 minutes from Dortmund Central Station via the U45 subway line, or roughly 5 minutes via the U46 to the Westfalenhallen stop, both straightforward options if you’re flying into Dortmund or connecting through a nearby city. Given the new Tuesday through Thursday schedule, it’s worth booking travel and accommodation earlier than you might have in past years, since hotel availability near the venue tends to tighten as the show approaches.
Once InterTabac and InterSupply 2026 wraps, the real value is in what you do with what you saw and heard. A few things worth reviewing afterward.
Between new product launches and the technical program running alongside the exhibition floor, there’s usually more useful information from a show like this than any one attendee can absorb in three days. Taking notes on specific exhibitors, machinery, or contacts worth following up with is what actually turns a trade show visit into business results afterward.
[Also Check: World Tobacco Expo]
Why did InterTabac 2026 move to a Tuesday through Thursday schedule?
Organizers made the change specifically to make it easier for retail sector attendees to participate and to give exhibitors and visitors more practical travel conditions across three working days, rather than the previous Thursday to Saturday format.
Is InterSupply a separate event from InterTabac, or the same show?
They run at the same venue on the same dates but serve different audiences. InterTabac focuses on the consumer-facing tobacco products market, while InterSupply is dedicated specifically to manufacturing, covering the production side for tobacco products, e-cigarettes, pipes, and shisha equipment.
Who should attend InterTabac and InterSupply as a machinery buyer?
Anyone sourcing or evaluating cigarette making, packing, filter making, or wrapping equipment gets direct access to multiple suppliers in one location, along with the chance to see machinery running live rather than relying on spec sheets and video demos alone.
InterTabac 2026 is shaping up to be a genuinely important date for the tobacco industry this year, not just because of the scale, but because of the schedule change and what it signals about how the show is evolving. Mark your calendar for September 15 to 17 and plan to be at Westfalenhallen Dortmund. Whether you’re tracking industry trends, meeting suppliers, or exploring new machinery for your production line, this is where that work actually gets done in person.
We specialize in the provision of Tobacco Machinery. Our expertise encompasses not only the trading of machinery but also extends to being a dedicated supplier. This specialization is enriched by our comprehensive solutions tailored for emerging Cigarette Companies. What sets us apart is our ability to offer firsthand insights through our active Cigarette Manufacturing operation in the UAE.
