Out of the Humidor: Quesada 35th Anniversary

The Quesada 35th Anniversary cigar comes from the Dominican Republic’s MATASA factory, home of the Fonseca brand. This is the first time the family’s surname has been used as a brand. Though family patriarch, Manuel Quesada, has been the force behind MATASA, developing and maintaining some of the most popular cigars on today’s market, the younger generation of Quesadas has been working in MATASA for a number of years now, recently taking more of a leadership role in the family business. This “Fifth Generation,” as they are known, is comprised of Manuel’s daughters Raquel and Patricia, his niece Esther, and nephews Jose Manuel, Hostos, and Terrance.

In 2009 MATASA celebrated its 35th anniversary in the Dominican Republic. To honor this milestone, the Fifth Generation took the reins of a project to create a limited-edition cigar that would not only pay homage to the older generations who taught them so much, but also create a new flavor and experience that did not exist in previous MATASA projects.

The Quesada 35th Anniversary is a box-pressed toro (6 inches x 49 ring gauge) with a dark oily Arapiraca wrapper. Though typically grown in Brazil, this particular Arapiraca tobacco was grown in Ecuador. The binder is a Dominican Criollo 98, and the filler is made up of ligero tobaccos from Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, ranging from the late 1990s up to the 2009.

Incredibly complex, the Quesada 35th Anniversary is full-bodied and rich, with notes of white pepper, black pepper, leather, and earth. It has a spicy core that remains throughout the smoke, while gaining heavier, meatier flavors towards the latter half. Though it burned unevenly at times, the flavor was not adversely affected.

Only 1,000 boxes of 20 cigars were released ($239).