The first batch of the Gurkha Heritage Rosado Toro is on its way to members of the Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA). Juan Lopez, sales director for Gurkha, told halfwheel that the first 200 boxes began shipping last week, while the other 1,300 boxes should be shipping in about two weeks.

This is the first time that Gurkha has produced a cigar just for the TAA, a group of about 80 retailers that represent some of the largest volume stores in the business, and it may not be the last time the company offers such a cigar.

“We are excited to introduce our first ever TAA exclusive cigar and will be making this an annual tradition at Gurkha,” said Carlos Llaca, director of operations for Gurkha, in a press release. “We were looking to make something special for the TAA’s 50th Anniversary and we feel this is the perfect cigar to celebrate the association and its members.”

As for the cigar, it’s a 6 x 52 toro that uses an Ecuadorian habano wrapper and binder as well as filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and Peru. It’s priced at $10 per cigar and is packaged in 10-count boxes. While 1,000 boxes was the original number scheduled to be produced, that was upped to 1,500.

It will join a number of other TAA exclusive releases on store shelves, including the CAO Estelí, Tatuaje TAA 50th, Flor de las Antillas Lancero, and CLE First 20 Diadema. Several other companies, including Joya de Nicaragua,  Altadis U.S.A., La Flor Dominicana, Crowned Heads, Padrón, La Palina, E.P. Carrillo and Arturo Fuente also have TAA exclusives this year.

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Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for MLB.com, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.