The Tobacconists’ Association of America, Ltd. (TAA) has announced its next two meetings, both of which will be held in person.

From Oct. 24-28, the TAA will host a fall version of its annual TAA Meeting & Convention at Casa de Campo in La Romana, Dominican Republic. This will mark the first time the group has met in person since the spring of 2019; the coronavirus COVID-19 canceled the in-person version of both its 2020 and 2021 meetings. The TAA already announced plans for this event in February.

Historically, the TAA Meeting & Convention is a once per year event that is held each spring. The 2022 TAA Meeting & Convention will take place March 20-24 at Hacienda del Mar in Los Cabos, Mexico.

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 50 cents per cigar—are donated back to the organization.

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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.