July 20, 2022 Brooks Whittington PCA 2022,  PCA 2022 Booths

PCA 2022: Yaya

Another brand making its debut at this year’s PCA Convention & Trade Show is Yaya–which translates to grandmother from Spanish—which was founded by Carlos Guillermo. The brand launched in 2019 in the Dominican Republic but is now getting a U.S. debut through United Cigars.

This is not Guillermo’s first foray into the cigar industry, as he also owns CigarZona, which makes customized cigar accessories including humidors, ashtrays and domino tables.

Since the brand is now being distributed by United Cigars, Yaya is located in the United Cigars booth. I found Guillermo to be both charming and energetic in person, especially when talking about his brand or his time growing up in the Dominican Republic.

Yaya Short Robusto

The story behind the moniker of this line goes thusly: when Guillermo was a young boy, he and his friends used to sneak cigars from an old woman who made her own blends. The kids nicknamed her Yaya and years later, he decided to name his first cigar brand after her. This new Short Robusto vitola is only being sold to retailers who attend the PCA Convention & Trade Show.

  • Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)
  • Binder: Dominican Republic
  • Filler: Dominican Republic
  • Yaya Short Robusto (4 x 54) — $8.99 (Box of 15, $134.54)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: July 2022

Carlos Guillermo PCA 2022 United Cigars Yaya
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Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.

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