As part of this year’s ProCigar festival that takes place in the Dominican Republic next week, Tabacalera Palma will show off a release in honor its history. Known as the 79th Anniversary, the cigar honors the company which was founded by Jose Arnaldo Blanco II in 1936.
Today, the company is run by his son, Jose Arnaldo III, also known as Jochy Blanco who oversees the factory, known as Tabacalera Palma, and the company’s Dominican growing operations. While the company’s precense in retail humidors is usually limited to being known as the factory that produces cigars for Aging Room, and now José Blanco’s Las Cumbres Tabaco, the 79th Anniversary is being branded as Tabacalera Palma.
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The blend will use a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Dominican fillers. Participants in the festival will receive a 6 x 50 toro version of the blend, while a humidor full of 79 cigars will contain seven versions of the blend in a churchill size.
Additional sizes, pricing and packaging are still being finalized and the company was quick to point out that the band shown off at the festival is a prototype.
One curious note is how the cigar will be distributed. While Tabacalera Palma does not regularly sell cigars directly to retailers, this cigar uses the Tabacalera Palma name as part of its branding. The company is still determining how the cigars will be distributed. Alexander Berezowski, the administrative manager for Tabacalera Palma, told halfwheel that the cigar will be a regular production item, made in limited quantities, with a targeted release date over the summer.
Marketing materials for the auction guide indicate that this is the inaugural release in the Anniversary Series.
The other cigars in the humidor will feature the prototype 79th anniversary cigar bands, but are described as “traditional blends.”
Patrick Lagreid contributed to this story.
(Image via ProCigar.)