Limited Cigar Association Adding New Annual Limited Edition, Debuts with CLE-Made Lonsdale

The Limited Cigar Association (LCA) has become known for its monthly release of limited production cigars that are released on the first Friday of every month. Now, the company is adding an annual limited edition series that will kickoff with a cigar made by Christian Eiroa of CLE Cigar Co.

The LCA Reserva Vintage 2021 is a Honduran corojo puro offered in a 6 x 44 lonsdale vitola, with all of the tobacco coming from the 2018 crop of the Eiroa family’s farms in Honduras. It is made at CLE’s factory in Danlí, Honduras, with pricing set at $14 per cigar and $350 per box of 25 cigars.

“Each year’s LCA Reserva release will be blended by a different master blender, but the focus for LCA Reservas will always be on producing the best cigar possible using only one year of crop from a single farming estate,” said Brian Desind of the Limited Cigar Association via a press release. “In beginning our focus on the craft cigar movement, it is important that we are able to produce a cigar using all tobaccos from one single farm, all grown in the same year. LCA Reserva Vintage 2021 certainly lives up to this standard. We are proud to have been able to collaborate with Christian on this project, and are grateful to him for digging into his tobacco reserves and producing what can only be described as an exceptional cigar.”

Also notable about the project is the packaging, as each cigar come in a sustainably packaged box, with each cigar in a recyclable, hard paper coffin.

“LCA has gotten well known for our untraditional and edgy branding of cigars, as well as for not using boxes for our releases,” said Clark Thornton, director of the Limited Cigar Association, via a press release. “For LCA Reserva, we wanted to present these cigars in a way that showcases our true respect for these cigars and the masters of craft who are responsible for bringing them to life. That respect has always been there, but LCA Reserva felt like the right project through which to visually showcase it. Using more sustainable materials will hopefully inspire other companies to rethink the way they package cigars and what happens to the packaging once it is consumed as well.”

A total of 1,600 boxes have been produced, for a total run of 40,000 cigars. They are scheduled to begin shipping in the coming days and will begin arriving at LCA retailers in the middle of December, with those retailers able to offer them for sale at any time, as opposed to the specific launch date that the LCA’s monthly releases have.

Future releases of the LCA Reserva series will also be end-of-the-year releases, with Thornton saying that the plan is to have subsequent cigars released in November or December.

The LCA has also announced that it will be releasing a limited edition set of 12 trading cards that commemorate its 2021 monthly releases. A total of 3,000 packs of cards have been created, though the number available to consumers will be a bit less than that number as the LCA is providing one complementary pack to every owner and employee at all LCA retail locations before the packs go on sale to the public.

Each pack is priced at $15 and will be available via LCA retailers in early January as they will be shipping alongside the LCA’s January 2022 cigar.

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 Major League Baseball, 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.