Quesada Oro Dominicana Maduro Cigar Review – 5 Years in the Making

Quesada Cigars has been crafting premium hand rolled cigars in the Dominican Republic for over 40 years,  In fact it was in 2014 that the company celebrated their 40th anniversary  in the country with the release of the Quesada 40th Anniversary Cigar.  That cigar earned them the #5 spot in our top 25 cigars of 2014.  Well we have smoked quite a few Quesada cigars over the years and a number of small boutique brands that use the Quesada facilities for their source of leaf and manufacturing. Not surprising, many of those have made it into our top 25 lists also.

This year the company announced the release of one of their latest creations, the Oro Dominicana. The word “Oro” translates to “gold” in Spanish and it is gold that the company struck, or in this case, harvested. As described by the company, the new Oro Domincana comes in two blends, Connecticut and Maduro, and both use tobacco harvested in the Dominican Republic by the Quesada family. The leaf in this cigar has been aged for five years.  I would like to note that this is 3rd cigar with the name Gold in it that I reviewed this year. Seems everyone wants to strike gold in the cigar business. Let’s see how many of you have read this far in the review. If you can name the other two cigars, be the first to post it in a comment to this article and I will send you a little gift from my stash.

As far as the Quesada Oro Dominicana , it was personally blended by owner and master blender Manuel Quesada and is manufactured at the Quesada Cigar factory in Licey, Dominican Republic.

From the Quesada Cigars press release, earlier in the year:

“the Quesada Oro Dominicana features an all-Dominican binder and filler draped in a dark Broadleaf wrapper grown in Connecticut. .. the Maduro version will come in boxes of 21, although, the sizes are much larger:

• 5 x 60 Robusto Grande
• 6 x 54 Toro 
• 6 x 65 Gordo
• 7 x 70 Gigante.

The Maduro line will retail between $7.75 to $8.90.”

For this review I sampled the Quesada Oro Dominicana Maduro blend, specifically the Toro vitola which I received from the company at this years IPCPR for the purpose of reviewing on Stogie Press.

Pre-Light Examination

The first thing you notice on the Quesada Oro Dominicana Maduro is the band. It glossy white with gold lettering and decoration and it glows on the background of the dark maduro wrapper of the cigar. The band has no indication that it is a Quesada cigar but instead just states “Oro Dominicana” in the center. There is not even the Quesada logo.

The wrapper is the second thing to notice with its rich coffee bean brown wrapper. It has a high sheen with some noticeable veins and tight seams.  The packing is solid throughout.

If you need more enticing to light this beauty up, just run it along your nose and take in the inviting sweetness and cocoa along the barrel along with the fruit and pepper notes on the unlit foot.

Ok, now let’s clip the cap and give it some cold draw puffs. There is a bit of restriction to the draw with notes of earth and red pepper. Roll it around some, tasting those notes and the red pepper will  build on your lips.

You want to fire it up now –  right? Then let’s do it. Warm the foot gently with the soft flame of a cedar spill so as not to scorch it and take in those few puffs and retro-hale out your nose to get the full impact – yea a warm pepper burn to open your nasals for the rest of the journey. If you don’t know how to retro-hale checkout this video from TK Achille from  Stogie TV that will  teach you how to do it. How to retro-hale.

Notice how the pepper recedes quickly and the smoke settles into a coffee and citrus set of notes. Tasty start for sure.

Follow along as I break down the rest of the burn and enjoy the pictures of the pristine burn and ash below.

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Cigar Review Notes

• Coffee grows through the early burn
• Light grey ash rests on a thick and oily char line
• Cedar enters after an inch of solid burn
• Ash is amazing as the coffee dominates through the first third
• Citrus peel under note
• The wrapper is bursting with oils
• Earthy aroma develops
• Ash fell after about two inches
• Perfectly centered and flat burn cone
• Spice and earth begins to enter in the second third
• Pepper shows up on the retro midway
• Coffee re-enters more like espresso
• Well formed ash
• Pepper dances with the espresso and intensifies moving to the final third
• Medium to full strength
• Full body of smoke
• Woody cedar fills out the profile
• There is a citrus lingering note on the palate
• The mix of flavors in the end is exciting and enticing
• Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 25 minutes

Overall,  the Quesada Oro Dominicana Maduro was an extremely enticing cigar with a full flavor body that transitioned well through it even burn and long ash. This is certainly a magnificent addition to the Quesada portfolio and may well be my favorite so far. At the easy price point this is certainly a box buy or split a box with a brother or sister of the leaf. I would pair this with a nicely aged dark rum to enhance the sweetness and fruit. If you don’t drink go with cup of Dominican espresso as this is certainly a celebration of what the Dominican Republic offers!

I did not receive the Connecticut blend to review but if I do or i find it I am sure looking forward to it.