Cigar smokers in France will soon be getting a new limited edition size in the Quai d’Orsay line, as SEITA has announced the 2017 Edición Regional release for the country.
The Quai d’Orsay Secreto Cubano is a 4 3/10 x 40 petit corona, a vitola known as Secretos which is also found in the Cohiba line and was used for the Por Larrañaga Secretos, a 2013 Edición Regional release for Spain. In addition, the cigar will wear an updated band, a larger version of the original that is now embossed and trimmed in gold, a change that is being undertaken to help bring a new level of premium association to the brand while enhancing the Cuban origin of the cigar.
SEITA, which distributes the Quai d’Orsay and José L. Piedra lines in France, has ordered 10,000 boxes of 10 cigars, a total of 100,000 cigars which will be priced at €7.50 per cigar and €75 per box.
While not the most well-known Cuban-made cigar, the Quai d’Orsay brand’s history dates to around 1973, when Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, then Minister of Finances and soon-to-be President of the French Republic, sent a letter to the state tobacco monopoly asking why there was no French cigar. A request was made to Cubatabaco, whose chief blender crafted a new creation that would come to bear the name Quai d’Orsay, named for the wharf along the Seine where the tobacco office was located. It remains the only brand made completely in Cuba at the request of another country.
The new cigar is expected to arrive in early 2017.
Images courtesy of SEITA.