The TAA (tobacco association of America) 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, as well as to have its annual trade show, a unique event that works on a group buying format in order to secure exclusive deals for these generally high-volume merchants.

Each year many of the manufacturers involved with the TAA release cigars exclusively for the group. This year won’t be any different and these are some of the TAA 2023 releases:

Tatuaje

Tatuaje is making a 6 3/8 x 54 Parejo cigar but hasn’t revealed any details, except that he’s following the path he set last year. Last year he created two identical cigars but with a different wrapper. One for the TAA, the other for PCA members. And he will donate 50 cents per cigar sold to the organization. Last year, the releases were limited to a 1000 boxes for the TAA and a 1000 boxes for PCA, but no numbers for 2023 have been released yet.

Gurkha

Gurkha comes with the Gurkha TAA Exclusive Nicaraguan Colección Especial, a 6 1/8 x 54 Piramide. The blend is all Nicaraguan but the manufacturer is undisclosed for now. The production is limited to 1500 boxes of 10 cigars. Last year, Gurkha released the Gurkha TAA Exclusive Nicaraguan Colección which became a regular production cigar for the company after positive feedback.

Espinosa

Espinosa Cigars is a new member of the TAA and they release the Murcielago de Oro, a tweaked blend of the famous Murcielago. The filler and binder are all Nicaraguan with a Mexican claro wrapper. The 6×54 Toro has an oval press and is made at AJ Fernandez’s San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua. There will be 2000 boxes of 20 cigars made.

Villiger

The Villiger TAA Exclusive 2023 will be a 6 1/4 x 52 box-pressed toro made entirely of Nicaraguan tobacco, topped off with a Habano-seed wrapper. The 500 boxes of 20 cigars are made at the Aganorsa factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

My Father Cigars

My Father Cigars comes with three cigars, a robusto, toro and toro Gordo to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the Don Pepin brands. The line, Don Pepin – Vintage edition come with artwork that draws inspiration from the original blue lune. The cigars are Nicaraguan puros with a Corojo 99 wrapper. Production numbers and suggested retail prices have not been disclosed

Crowned Heads

Crowned Heads teams up with Tabacalera La Alianza for the TAA exclusive Lost Angel. This year, the 6×54 Toro uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra hybrid C9 wrapper over an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic. 1000 boxes are available, all with 20 cigars. “I think we spent more time in development of this blend than on any previous TAA release to date,” said Jon Huber, co-founder of Crowned Heads, in a press release. “It really began in early 2022 when Ernesto (Perez-Carrillo Jr.) presented this amazingly unique Ecuadorian (Sumatra) hybrid wrapper to us. It was dark and oily, but surprisingly sweet and rich. That was the jumping off point, and from there the blend was in development for the better part of a year.”

Tatiana

Tatiana, one of the most popular flavoured cigars, is releasing a TAA exclusive version of its Tatiana Groovy Blue. The Tatiana Groovy Blue Belicoso Groovy is a 6 ¼ x52 Belicoso that is limited to 1000 boxes of 10 cigars. The cigars are made at La Aurora Cigars for Miami Cigar & Co. The cigar, made with an Indonesian wrapper over Dominican filler and binder has flavours of berries, cognac, honey and vanilla.

CLE

CLE will release their unique 11/18 size of the EIROA Dark for the TAA. 11/18 is the birthday of Christian Eiroa’s mother and he pays homage to his mum with this vitola. The Eiroa family has been using 6 1/4 x 52/60 perfecto size since their Camacho days.

As far as the Eiroa Dark line, it is made out of Honduran Corojo tobaccos. The line gets its name from the darker colour of the high-priming leaves used for the wrapper. “Because the leaves are higher on the plant, they are richer and once fermented they yield a darker shade,” said Christian Eiroa CLE’s founder, in a letter to retailers when the line was introduced in 2019. “The only appropriate name for these cigars is (Dark) due to their colour and the fact we do not add anything to the wrappers to yield these colours.”. CLE only made 500 boxes of 20 cigars for the TAA 2023 release.

The following companies have to announce what they will release for the TAA in 2023.

E.P. Carrillo, Ferio Tego, Forged Cigar Company, General Cigar Company. J.C. Newman Cigar Company, Joya de Nicaragua, Kristoff, La Flor Dominicana, La Palina, Plasencia, Quality Importers, Quesada Cigars & Rocky Patel.

This is a continuing story that will be updated as soon as more cigars are announced.