In 2008, Quesada released a new regular production line named Casa Magna Colorado, which included Nicaraguan tobacco from the Estelí and Jalapa growing regions. Over the next decade, a number of line extensions followed, including the Casa Magna Oscuro, Casa Magna Domus Magnus, Casa Magna Jalapa Claro, Casa Magna Dominican and Casa Magna D. Magnus II.

A month before the 2021 PCA Convention & Trade Show, Quesada announced the newest addition to the Casa Magna line. Named Casa Magna Liga F—the F is short for Fuerte, which translates to strong from Spanish—the new creation is produced at Quesada’s Tabacos de Exportación factory in the Dominican Republic. This is notable because most Casa Magnas, including the original, are or have been rolled at Plasencia Cigars S.A. in Estelí, Nicaragua.

“The combination and balance of tobaccos from Nicaragua and different seeds from the Dominican Republic brings out wonderful complexity,” said Manuel “Manolo” Quesada Jr., president of Quesada Cigars, in a press release. “A sweet, rich, full body blend.”

Blend-wise, the Casa Magna Liga F line incorporates an Ecuadorian sun grown corojo wrapper covering a Dominican binder and filler tobaccos from both the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. While the 4 1/4 x 40 petit corona vitola is packaged in boxes of 50, the other three sizes are being sold in 10-count boxes.

There were four different vitolas of the Casa Magna Liga F at launch.

  • Casa Magna Liga F Churchill (7 x 50) — $9.70 (Box 10, $97)
  • Casa Magna Liga F Toro (6 x 52) — $9.50 (Box of 10, $95)
  • Casa Magna Liga F Robusto (5 x 54) — $9 (Box of 10, $90)
  • Casa Magna Liga F Petit Corona (4 1/4 x 40) — $5.80 (Pack of 5, $29; Box of 50, $290)

  • Cigar Reviewed: Casa Magna Liga F Churchill
  • Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
  • Factory: Tabacos de Exportación
  • Wrapper: Ecuador (Sun Grown Corojo)
  • Binder: Dominican Republic
  • Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
  • Length: 7 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 50
  • Vitola: Churchill
  • MSRP: $9.70 (Box 10, $97)
  • Release Date: Sept. 8, 2021
  • Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Covered in a rustic medium brown wrapper, the Casa Magna Liga F Churchill looks like it was dipped in oil just before being packaged in cellophane and placed in the box. In addition, all three cigars are just short of rock hard when squeezed though one sample has large soft spot right under the main band. The aroma from the wrapper is combination of strong sweet barnyard, hay, earth and leather while the foot brings notes of cocoa nibs, cedar, raisins and generic nuts. After a straight cut, the cold draw features flavors of powdery cocoa nibs, leather, earth, salted pine nuts and slight milk chocolate sweetness.

Starting out just as the foot is toasted, the Casa Magna Liga F Churchill features very obvious notes of both leather and cedar, both of which quickly make way for the top flavors of pine nuts and cocoa nibs. Secondary notes of gritty earth, cedar, hay, dry cereal and a touch of floral flit in and out, and I am still tasting quite a bit of salt on my lips with just about every puff. In addition, the retrohale features a small amount of black pepper along with some significant vanilla bean sweetness, although the latter seems to be decreasing as the first third burns down. In terms of construction, the draw is excellent so far after a straight cut and the smoke production is massive off of the foot. While the burn is far from razor sharp, it is also far from needing correcting so far on two samples. Flavor is at medium but rising, body is a bit above medium and rising and the strength hits a point just under medium by the end of the first third, but is obviously going to go higher.

The profile smooths out noticeably during the second third of the Liga F, while the main flavors changed to a combination of leather and cedar, followed by notes of pine nuts, dark chocolate, roasted coffee beans, earth and popcorn that are present at various times. While the mineral saltiness is still very obvious on my lips, both the vanilla bean sweetness and black pepper on the retrohale from the first third has receded quite a bit. Construction-wise, the draw continues along its excellent path and smoke production is above average on all three samples, but two samples need a quick correction to avoid larger issues. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-full but increasing and the strength blasts through the medium mark just as the second third comes to an end.

As the final third of the cigar begins, the main flavors in the profile shift again, this time to a combination of generic nuts and popcorn, with additional notes of cocoa nibs, hay, barnyard, dry cereal, cedar and earth making themselves known. There is still plenty of salt on my lips and black pepper on the retrohale, but the vanilla bean sweetness that was so obvious during the first third has disappeared almost totally by the middle of the final third. Thankfully, the all three samples feature the same excellent construction—both the draw and the burn—while the smoke production continues to flow off of the foot in copious amounts. Flavor ends on the high side of medium full, body ends at full and the strength easily hits the full mark by the time I put the nub down with about an inch remaining.

Final Notes

  • For those wondering about the Tabacos de Exportación factory name, it is the more formal name of the The Quesada Factory.
  • The Casa Magna Liga F started shipping to retailers at the same time as two other new Quesada products: the Oktoberfest 10th Anniversary and the 1974 Toro.
  • Using Fuerte in the names of cigars is not exactly rare: Plasencia has its Alma Fuerte line, Villiger makes one named 1888 Fuerte and Nomad has the Connecticut Fuerte.
  • The Casa Magna Liga F is not the first time the Quesadas have produced a Casa Magna brand in the Dominican Republic: the aforementioned Casa Magna Dominican—which was a Meier & Dutch exclusive—is also made in the Dominican Republic.
  • All three cigars needed at least one burn correction, but the final sample I smoked had to be touched up in each third, and the burn on the first third in my final cigar ended up being fairly unattractive visually as you can see from the photograph above.
  • I do wonder how a bit of age—say, a year or so—will affect how the strength impacts the balance in the profile.
  • Although the Casa Magna Liga F Churchill is not quite strong enough to blow my socks off—thankfully—it still features enough overt strength to warrant caution if you prefer medium-bodied cigars most of the time.
  • The cigars smoked for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
  • Final smoking time for all three samples averaged two hours and 6 minutes.
  • If you would like to purchase any of the Casa Magna Liga F Churchill cigars, site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co. and JR Cigars have them in stock now, while Corona Cigar Co. has the other three vitolas in the line.
88 Overall Score

Anytime I smoke a cigar associated with the word Fuerte, I am a bit concerned about not only how strong the blend is going to end up being, but also how that strength is going to affect the balance in the profile. In the case of the Casa Magna Liga F Churchill, my concerns turned out to be mostly groundless. While it does start out with some obvious strength—and reaches the full mark around the middle of the final third—that strength is well-integrated enough to remain mostly balanced with the rest of the profile throughout the smoke. There are some relatively minor burn issues, but the blend is fairly complex overall and is full of rich notes like pine nuts, cocoa nibs, cereal and vanilla sweetness, along with some noticeable mineral saltiness on my lips that stuck with me for pretty much the entire cigar.

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Brooks Whittington

I have been smoking cigars for over eight years. A documentary wedding photographer by trade, I spent seven years as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I started the cigar blog SmokingStogie in 2008 after realizing that there was a need for a cigar blog with better photographs and more in-depth information about each release. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars. I am a co-founder of halfwheel and now serve as an editor for halfwheel.