E.P. Carrillo’s first Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA) exclusive is now heading to member stores.

The cigar is called the E.P. Carrillo TAA Exclusive 2018, a 6 x 52 toro using a Connecticut habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua. It’s limited to 2,000 boxes of 10 cigars and priced at $13.50 per cigar.

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.

Many manufacturers have crafted TAA exclusives, though this is the first one from Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr.’s company. This year the TAA celebrated its 50th anniversary.

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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.