Las Vegas entrepreneurs promote products at adult trade show

Chocolate-shaped private parts, marble toys and porn star trading cards, oh my.

These Las Vegas creations are being shown to the masses this week, as the companies are promoting their wares at the 2014 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, held at the Hard Rock Hotel through Saturday. The event is expected to attract about 50,000 people.

A first-time exhibitor, Las Vegas’ own Maximums Chocolate has only existed a couple of months. Founder Cory Fields, though, has been a pastry chef for 30 years.

“I decided to take the erotic chocolates to the next level,” he said.

That he did.

On Wednesday, Fields’ booth at the Hard Rock featured a 3-foot-tall chocolate centerpiece adorned with milk, dark and white chocolate male and female private parts, with a larger, lifelike model of a milk chocolate male part resting near the top of the creation like a crowning achievement.

The chocolate body pieces are made in Las Vegas, and Fields uses a high-grade U.S. chocolate in his recipe. He’s targeting bachelor, bachelorette and divorce parties.

“I’m happy to be here. I think it’s going to be a fun show and I’m looking forward to meeting everybody,” Fields said.

Sherri Shaulis, senior editor of pleasure products for AVN, has been with the company more than six years. She said the show is larger this year than the last.

Shaulis said there’s a lot more focused technology in the industry.

“It’s not just good enough to have normal vibrator anymore,” Shaulis said.

No, today’s vibrators are sonic and are customizable through touch or programmed through applications.

Las Vegas business Sinsations is hoping people will want their custom toy models that are constructed from leftover stone used in casino construction and remodeling. The company’s partnered with local builders to use leftover materials and for $200 to $1,200, they’ll transform the raw stuff into something more personal. They’ll also take custom requests.

On Wednesday, owners of Desires Sex Shop, Shane and Monica Egner, stopped by to check out Sinsations’ products. The duo said they’d be ordering from the company for their online store.

“It’s a very original product,” Monica Egner said. “We have never seen something like this before.”

Sinsations co-owner Ilan Raiter said his company will be adding Las Vegas-made mechanical vibrators to its product line, which also includes organic massage oils.

At the Adult Trading Card Co. booth Wednesday, Andrea Bell was handing out trading cards featuring popular porn stars. Instead of bubble gum, the $5 packs come with a little packet of lube and five cards.

“We just want to create awareness and we want people to know what our product is,” Bell said.

The 3-year-old Las Vegas-based company also has a Kickstarter project up now in which it’s trying to raise money for a book of porn star photos shot in nature.

At Vegas Party Nights’ booth, a dancer worked a stripper pole while another scantily clad woman signed people up for a party at Vince Neil’s Girls, Girls, Girls strip club.

The company’s public relations director, Lorris Aufill, said the VIP concierge service was seeing good traffic at the AVN show this year.

As for AVN itself, Shaulis said: “I think we’ll always be in Las Vegas. We’re here at the Hard Rock at least through next year and maybe longer.”

If you’ve never been, once you’re inside the halls of the AVN show, strippers moving up and down poles line hallways on the way to the exhibit floor. There, large booths feature porn stars ready with pens to sign headshots and take photos with adoring fans. Most of them are fully clothed, sporting sky-high heels, full makeup and cocktail dresses.

These booths show off their products, and a mix of industry people and a curious conventioneers move throughout the space.

“I can probably guarantee we’re not what people think we are. If you think we’re this big, Wild West hoopla show with naked girls everywhere, we’re not that. But if you think, ‘Oh we’re quiet and reserved, we’re not that either,’ ” Shaulis said.

Longtime exhibitor NJoy had a prime booth location that was attracting steady traffic the expo’s first day. Jason Tranchida, who handles marketing for the brand, said business at AVN is usually pretty steady.

“It’s always a great group of people showing and visiting the show,” he said.

Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @lscvegas on Twitter.