Initial Thoughts

This Quesada 40th Anniversary cigar was created to celebrate Manuel “Manolo” Quesada Jr.’s 40 years in the cigar business. It comes in 6 sizes all of the same blend except for one, the ‘Corona Classic’. It appears to use a different wrapper leaf.

You may be familiar with the Quesada brand, every year they release a Oktoberfest cigar that is usually all the rage during October. I had one a couple of years back and really enjoyed it. They also manufacture the Casa Magna brand, which used to be under the SAG Imports name and now everything is under the Quesada flagship.

For this review I smoked the Toro Press 6×49, it comes in a 10 count box and only 1,000 of those boxes were made. So I feel honored to have gotten 1 of 10,000. I’ve actually had this cigar for quite some time. My sister-in-law got it for me for my birthday last May and I’m just now getting around to smoking it… Better late than never though right!

Looks

Taking a look at this Quesada 40th Anniversary it has a beautiful dark San Andres wrapper. This leaf seems to be the theme this year. It’s gorgeous dark chocolate brown. Some nice rugged texture to it as well. You can see a few veins and seams but it appears to be well put together.

I love the double band on this cigar. It’s got a big Q shaped leaf in the middle and a great mix of black, gold and silver. It’s a powerful look and one that isn’t mistaken on the shelf. Below the main band is a secondary one that has 40th right in your face. So there’s no confusion as to which blend this is. I love the packaging all around. I have a feeling this strong secondary band sets up sub-sequent releases under this new branding adventure for Quesada. I can’t wait to see what they have in store.

Function

If there’s one thing I love in cigars it’s a nice pressed cigar. I love have a cigar that won’t roll on you. This Quesada 40th Anniversary has a beautiful toro press to it. A nice flat top and bottom and it lays perfectly in my ashtray. I didn’t squeeze the barrel too much because I didn’t want to chance breaking the wrapper. I’ve found in the past that when I do that on a pressed cigar the corners tend to break a bit easier.

The foot is partially closed so it’s hard to get a look and see how much tobacco is packed in there. I’ve learned from the past though that these pressed cigars seem to have a bit easier draw in them. So I nipped the cap and sure enough the dry was nice and open on this guy, even with the shaggy foot!

Smoking

Putting my Stratosphere lighter on the foot the shaggy foot took right to the flame and we were off. This Quesada 40th Anniversary had a wonderful draw through the first third. It was nice and open and let a good amount of air through the barrel and it was nearly effortless to smoke. Can’t hate on that can ya? I had a few touch ups a long the way, but the burn line never got too out of control which was nice. I really just sat back enjoyed the cigar. I think I got a little distracted at one point reading and let the cigar go out. It took a bit to relight it and then it had a bit of a funky taste. I powered through it and it got its form back on track quickly though.