At this week’s annual Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA) Meeting and Convention, La Flor Dominicana began selling its latest cigar made for the group of retailers.

It’s called the TAA Exclusivo, a 6 x 54 box-pressed toro based on the La Flor Dominicana TAA Celebration that the company offered only at La Flor Dominicana events at TAA retailers last year. While that cigar featured a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, the TAA Exclusivo will use a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over a Dominican binder and Dominican fillers.

Suggested retail pricing is $9.90 per cigar and it will come in a 25-count box.

There will also be another TAA Celebration, which features a natural wrapper. It’s offered in the same 6 x 54 box-pressed size, though it’s based on a different blend, one that the company is declining to disclose, beyond stating it is a predicate production.

Like last year’s TAA Celebration it will only be offered at select events. The La Flor Dominicana TAA Celebration 2017 will come in 10-count boxes.

The TAA is a fairly small group of some of the country’s top tobacconists, about 80 retailers as well as 40 or so manufacturers. The association gathers annually to discuss issues facing the industry and retailers, as well as to have its annual trade show, a unique event that works on a group buying format in order to secure exclusive deals for these generally high-volume merchants.

In recent years, many of those manufacturers have made exclusive cigars for the organization.

Crowned Heads and Tatuaje have also announced their 2017 TAA releases.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.