CRA Freedom Sampler Summer 2023 Announced

The latest sampler from Cigar Rights of America (CRA) will begin shipping next month.

It’s the CRA Freedom Sampler Summer 2023, the second sampler from CRA, a cigar trade group, this year. As is typically the case, the sampler contains 10 cigars from CRA member companies. Most of the 10 cigars have been sold before—some are regular production items while others are limited—and three of the cigars are exclusive to the sampler.

Included in each sampler are:

• Ashton Symmetry Sublime
• Diamond Crown Black Diamond Emerald
• Fuente Fuente OpusX The Lost City Toro
• La Flor Dominicana Salomones
• My Father García & García Robusto Deluxe
• Oliva Serie V 8 x 52
• Oliva Serie V 135th Anniversary Edición Limitada
• Padrón Black No. 52
• Rocky Patel White Label Toro
• Tatuaje 15th Anniversary Plus One Escasos

Three of these cigars are exclusive to this sampler. The Oliva Serie V 8 x 52 is a very long version of the regular Serie V blend. This is a parejo—meaning it’s about an inch longer the Serie V Churchill Extra—and has not been offered for sale before.

The Tatuaje 15th Anniversary Plus One Escasos is a 5 7/8 x 52 robusto extra made entirely of Nicaragua tobacco grown by the García family, capped off by a corojo 99 shade-grown wrapper. According to Pete Johnson, Tatuaje’s founder, these cigars were made by one roller at the El Rey de los Habanos factory in Doral, Fla. and have been aging since last year. Furthermore, Johnson said that he has no plans on when these cigars might be released outside of the sampler.

While not new, the Padrón Black No. 52 has only been offered in CRA samplers. Padrón has consistently declined to comment on the Padrón Black blend(s).

Each sampler will have an MSRP of $204, and there will be 2,000 samplers shipping in August. J.C. Newman is handling the sales and fulfillment of this sampler.

CRA member companies donate the cigars to the organization, which then sells the packs. The proceeds from the sales are used to fund the CRA, one of the three main cigar trade groups.

While the CRA spent years trying to brand itself as a consumer organization akin to the NRA, its most tangible impact has been a nearly seven-year-old lawsuit, which it has helped fund. Last year, the joint lawsuit filed by CRA and the other two cigar trade groups scored a major victory against FDA’s regulations of premium cigars. For that particular part of the lawsuit, the CRA paid the legal bill for Michael Edney, the lead attorney in the case.

Notably, this is the first sampler in quite some time not to include an Alec Bradley cigar. The company had been one of the CRA’s 10 key benefactors, but it was purchased by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) in February. In lieu of an Alec Bradley cigar, Oliva has provided two cigars for this pack.

Patrick Lagreid contributed to this story.

Update (July 14, 2023) — The original version of this story incorrectly referred to this sampler as the “Spring” sampler, it is in fact a Summer sampler.

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.