La Flor Dominicana TAA 50th Oro Tercera Edición Designated as 2021 TAA Release

La Flor Dominicana’s 2020 TAA release is now its 2021 TAA release.

Last year, the company announced the TAA 52nd Oro Tercera Edición as an exclusive release for retailers who are members of the Tobacconists’ Association of America, Ltd (TAA.) That cigar never shipped to stores but it is now scheduled for a “summer 2021” release as part of the 2021 TAA Exclusive Series Program.

In addition to a change in release date, it has a new name: the La Flor Dominicana TAA 50th Oro Tercera Edición. Other than that, the details remain the same as when the cigar was announced last year.

That means the vitola remains the unique 6 1/2 x 58 box-pressed torpedo vitola known as The Chisel. It will be offered in Natural, which uses a Nicaraguan sun grown wrapper; and Maduro, which uses Connecticut broadleaf. Underneath are a Dominican binder and Dominican fillers including the criollo 99 tobacco that La Flor Dominicana grows exclusively for its TAA releases.

Both cigars have MSRPs of $23 per cigar and they are sold in boxes of 20. Like it does for many of its limited release cigars, La Flor Dominicana is not disclosing the number of cigars it is producing.

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.

During the event, the organization holds two selling events, one known as the Dream Machine where the retailers collectively order to secure larger discounts, while the other is a more traditional trade show. Typically, around a dozen manufacturers release new exclusive cigars for the retail members of the organization under the TAA Exclusive Series Program banner. Those manufacturers agree to give a portion of the proceeds to the organization, usually around 50 cents per cigar.

TAA 2021 will host a virtual meeting on March 23 and then plans an in-person event at Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic this October.

So far, only four companies have announced their TAA ESP releases for 2021:

• Crowned Heads
• La Flor Dominicana
• Kristoff
• Villiger

Update (March 25, 2021) — The original version of this story incorrectly stated the typical donation to TAA.