TAA 2021 Rescheduled for Oct. 24-28

The 2021 Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA) Meeting & Convention will take place Oct. 24-28, 2021 at Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic.

TAA announced the move a month after canceling its original dates—April 11-25—due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. When the organization made that announcement, it said that it would host a virtual meeting on March 23 and left open the possibility of rescheduling the in-person event for the fall. Now, the organization says it will keep the virtual event but add the in-person event in the fall.

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, networking and to sell a lot of cigars. This is typically done in the spring, usually at either Casa de Campo or in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Its annual TAA Meeting & Convention usually consists of two selling events. First, there’s a special event called the Dream Machine where the TAA retailers collectively agree to purchase products through a tiered incentive structure. The manufacturers who agree to participate in the Dream Machine will offer more aggressive discounts depending on the collective sales from the retailers.

There’s also a more traditional trade show where manufacturers will offer discounts on an individual basis to each retailer.

Both the virtual March event and the in-person October event will feature both selling events.

Consumers know TAA largely through the organization’s Exclusive Series Program. Each year, typically around a dozen manufacturers produce exclusive cigars for the TAA retailers, where a portion of sales—usually around 25 cents per cigar—are donated back to the organization.

So far, only one company has announced its TAA ESP release for 2021: Kristoff.