PCA 2024: La Aurora

The 2024 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show was the second for the new La Aurora USA business unit. La Aurora USA was established in 2022 to handle the company’s distribution in the United States. Our team visited the La Aurora booth on Day One and found it bustling with activity. La Aurora brought a mix of value products and ultra-premium products. The value products saw two new blends under the La Aurora Cazadores line, and the ultra-premium saw new vintages of the Hors D’Age and Puro Vintage lines.

Cazadores is a value-based line by La Aurora. Initially released in 2018 with a Claro wrapper, 2024 introduces Nicaragua and Maduro blends. The Cazadores Nicaragua brings a Nicaraguan-wrapped offering to the line, while the Cazadores Maduro brings an Indonesian Maduro. The two new blends are available in Robusto, Toro, and Gordo formats. The price point is between $4.50 and $6.50 depending on size. These new blends have already shipped to retailers.

On the ultra-premium side, the La Aurora Preferidos Hors D’Age is back with the Hors D’Age Vintage 2022. Hors D’Age stands for “beyond time.” The La Aurora Hors D’Age uses an extended aging process. Hors D’Age goes through a 12-year cycle from when the tobacco seeds are sown to when the cigars reach consumers. These cigars then rest in the aging room of the La Aurora factory for two years. The 2022 vintage is the fifth release of the line. The vintage is the year the Hors D’Age cigars were put in the aging room.

The 2022 Vintage release comes in one size—a 5/34 x 54 Toro. As with the previous vintages, the blend utilizes an Ecuadorian wrapper and binder over Dominican, Colombian, and Nicaraguan fillers. Limited to 650 15-count boxes, the Hors D’Age 2022 has a price point of $30.00 per cigar.

The other ultra-premium release is an all-new release to the Puro Vintage series, the La Aurora Puro Vintage 2014. The Puro Vintage series is a limited-production line of cigars, and each installment is made up of what La Aurora considers the best tobaccos harvested from a particular year. The tobaccos for the Puro Vintage 2014 come from a harvest of that same year. The blends of the Puro Vintage series vary.

Produced at the La Aurora factory, Puro Vintage uses an Ecuadorian wrapper and binder over Colombian, Dominican, and Nicaraguan tobacco fillers. Like most previous Puro Vintage releases, the Puro Vintage 2014 is a Salomon, measuring 6 1/2 x 50/60. Limited to 1,000 eight-count boxes, the Puro Vintage 2014 has a price point of $26.50 per cigar.

Finally, the La Aurora booth featured NBA Hall of Famer Karl Malone‘s brand, Karl Malone Barrel Aged Cigars. La Aurora handles both production and distribution for Karl Malone Barrel Aged Cigars. While Malone is no stranger to PCA, he was not in attendance this year.