If you are looking for the La Palina Congress, head to Washington D.C., at least for now.

W. Curtis Draper of Washington D.C. has acknowledged they’ve received two sizes of the new La Palina line. Multiple emails sent to La Palina were not returned, but based on what the D.C.-based retailer has on its shelves, there are two sizes: Robusto (5 1/4 x 50) and Toro (6 1/8 x 48).

Both sizes are offered in a natural and maduro version, though no blend info is known. The boxes are 20-count and indicate the cigar is made in the Dominican Republic.

W. Curtis Draper has set pricing at $8.25 and $8.75 respectively.

This isn’t the first record of the Congress, Cigars International has a defunct webpage and at least one person bought some last year. W. Curtis Draper recently received its shipment.

La Palina’s roots in the Congress name are deep. Congress Cigar Co was founded by Sam Paley in 1896, its first cigar was La Palina.

Like many manufacturers, La Palina shipped a variety of new products prior to Aug. 8. 2016 in order to meet the deadline before the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) began regulating premium cigars. Any new cigar shipped after Aug. 8 would be subject to FDA pre-approval before a company would be able to sell it to retailers.

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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.