Manolo Quesada Celebrates 75th Birthday With Special Cigar

Manuel “Manolo” Quesada Jr. turned 75-years-old yesterday and later this year, you might have the chance to smoke the cigar he blended in honor of the occasion.

The Manolo Quesada 75th Anniversary is a 6 3/4 x 48 vitola—a size in between a toro and Churchill—that uses an Ecuadorian corojo wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

“I have been very fortunate, and blessed, to have worked in the tobacco world for 63 years and for 48 years in the cigar manufacturing side of the industry,” said Quesada in a press release. “Surprised as I was, I have celebrated my 75th birthday on April 10th and, as I did on my 70th birthday, I have blended a cigar to mark reaching this meaningful stage of my life.”

It will have an MSRP of $15 per cigar and will go on sale this summer, launching at the 2022 PCA Convention & Trade Show in Las Vegas—which takes place July 9-12—and shipping shortly after the event. The Manolo Quesada 75th Anniversary is limited to 1,200 numbered boxes of 10 cigars.

Manuel “Manolo” Quesada Jr. (left) and Michael Herklots (right)

Quesada, like many others, grew up in the business and his roots trace back to Cuba. His family served as tobacco brokers beginning in the late 1800s and left Cuba in 1960. At the time, Manolo was just 13. He would settle in Miami—along with his mother, his siblings and, later, his father—where he would go to school. At the time, his father was helping to establish the company’s new business in the Dominican Republic.

While in college, Quesada Jr. was selected for the draft. Despite not being a U.S. citizen, he chose to go to Vietnam. His service got him American citizenship.

In June 1974, the Quesada family set up Manufactura de Tabacos S.A. (MATASA) with $100 and a chair. The three-roller operation took the Quesadas from a family of tobacco growers and brokers to manufacturers. Over the years, the company has made cigars for a long list of clients, gaining notoriety for making Antillian Cigar Corp.’s Sosa brand prior to and during the cigar boom along with making Romeo y Julieta at one point. Eventually, the family would go on to make cigars under its own name, Quesada, as well as other brands like Fonseca and Casa Magna.