Altadis U.S.A. will be celebrating the Lunar New Year with the VegaFina Year of the Rabbit 2023, which the company announced will be arriving at U.S. retailers this month ahead of its global release in February.

The cigar is a a 6 x 50 torpedo that uses an Ecuadorian wrapper, Dominican binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Altadis U.S.A. says that the blend is designed to start mild and get progressively stronger, finishing as a full-bodied profile, a process it achieves through specific placement of the filler tobaccos. The cigars are made by Tabacalera de García in La Romana, Dominican Republic.

“VegaFina is a brand with a strong global presence that has captured the hearts of adult cigar lovers for decades,” said Rafael Nodal, Tabacalera USA’s head of product capability, in a press release. “Now we are inviting adult U.S. cigar enthusiasts to be part of this special VegaFina holiday tradition with a limited production of 1,500 boxes of VegaFina Classic Year of the Rabbit 2023 made for the U.S. market.”

The VegaFina Year of the Rabbit 2023 is offered in red boxes containing 16 cigars, with the cigars divided into two groupings of eight cigars, a nod to that number’s significance as being lucky in Chinese culture. Each box features a graphic of a leaping rabbit on the lid as well as additional Chinese design motifs, while each cigar wears a red foot band with the same design featured on the lid. Pricing for the VegaFina Year of the Rabbit 2023 is $12, while production for the U.S. is limited to 1,500 boxes. Production numbers for other markets has not yet been announced.

The VegaFina brand has released several cigars in recent years in celebration of the Lunar New Year, including cigars for the Year of the Dog, the Year of the Pig, the Year of the Rat, the Year of the Ox, and the Year of the Tiger, which came out earlier this year.

Altadis U.S.A. announced the cigar via Cigar AficionadoAn email sent to representatives of the company seeking to confirm the accuracy of that article, as well as seeking pictures and other details has not yet been returned.

Update (Dec. 9, 2022) — Altadis U.S.A. has sent out a press release. Images and other details have been added to the post.

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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 MLB.com, 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.