Weekly News (March 28, 2022)

On Last Week’s Big News — Last week, the Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA) held its annual meeting in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The TAA is a membership organization that consists of about 80 of the country’s most prominent brick and mortar cigar retailers and around 40 or so manufacturers. While the other main cigar organizations have a more prominent lobbying role, the TAA is much more focused on its annual meeting and conference. The highlights for most retailers are probably led by either seeing work colleagues at a resort or the large discounts that are offered during TAA. For consumers, it’s largely about the exclusive cigars that manufacturers make for retailers in the group.

This year, there appear to be a dozen of those cigars. We’ve written about cigars from the following:

• Asylum
• Crowned Heads
• Ferio Tego
• Forged Cigar Co.
• Gurkha
• Illusione
• La Flor Dominicana
• La Palina
• Tatuaje
•  Villiger

Furthermore, Rocky Patel and E.P. Carrillo have plans for releases.

One thing that caught Patrick and I off guard last week was just how not finalized a lot of the details about these cigars appeared to be at the start of the week, something that is not usually how these announcements go. While we are still waiting to hear back from E.P. Carrillo, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Inc. says it still hasn’t finalized the blend—and as such a number of other details—about its cigar. Rocky Patel is not alone; the press release from STG’s Forged wasn’t exactly the most enlightening and Gurkha’s initial press release about its TAA cigar was missing a lot of basic info. There were two things that came to mind as potential reasons for this. One, this is the first time TAA has held an in-person meeting at its normal spring date since 2019. Second, I wonder if the higher sales from 2020-2021 and the supply chain issues that continue to plague many companies meant that some companies had much more pressing things to focus on than TAA exclusives. — Charlie Minato.

 

Cigar News

• Alec Bradley Fine & Rare BC-(13)4EV Heads to Stores
• Altadis U.S.A. Adding Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua Espeso
• Ashton Updates La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Packaging
• Asylum 13 11/18 Designated as TAA 2022 Exclusive
• Asylum April Fools’ 9 x 90 Returns for 2022
• Cigar Trade Groups, FDA Due Back in Court on May 4, 2022
• Diesel Launching Fool’s Errand Trilogy with Interactive Game
• Diesel Tempest Announced as 2022 TAA exclusive
• Ferio Tego Timeless TAA 2022 Shipping This Spring
• Gurkha Unveils Colección Especial at TAA 2022
• Illusione TAA ESP 2022 Announced
• La Flor Dominicana Golden Salomon Scheduled for Fall
• La Palina Kill Bill TXX Scheduled for Late May
• Tatuaje Announces PCA 2022 Exclusive Cigar
• Tatuaje TAA 2022 Expected in November 

Legislation

• Kansas House of Representatives Approves Tobacco Purchasing Age Increase Bill, Sends to Senate — via LeavenworthTimes.com

Reviews

• Curivari Seleccion Privada Lancero Limited Edition 2021
• Lampert 1675 Edición Rojo
• Plasencia Year of the Tiger 
• Rocky Patel Disciple Half Corona
• Tatuaje Cohete Capa Especial (2022)

Deals From Our Sponsors

• Atlantic Cigar Co. — Crowned Heads Juarez Shots 2022 LE (Box of 50, $253.30)
• Cigar Hustler — Mi Querida Triqui Traca No. 448 (Pack of 5, $47.45)
• Corona Cigar Co. — Florida Barn Smoker Tickets ($100-350)
• Famous Smoke Shop — 20 Percent Off + Free Shipping on Crowned Heads
• Gotham Cigars — Free Travel Humidor With Liga Privada Papas Fritas Box Purchase
• JR Cigars — Up to 20 Percent Off of $100 (CODE: MYSAVINGS)
• LM Cigars — Arturo Fuente K-Cups Coffee ($15.95)
• STOGIES World Class Cigars — VegaFina Year of the Tiger (Box of 16, $175.20)