Press Release: Quesada announces Quesada Q d’etat

December 8, 2011 — The Q d’etat line represents a symbolic revolt against the unfair taxation practices and mistreatment of the premium cigar industry.  The brand is intended to create awareness of the dangers increased government regulation and taxation will produce, specifically the FDA’s desire to regulate premium cigars. There will be three sizes, released at different dates, of 1,000 ten-count boxes.  Each box will contain a form to register for membership in Cigar Rights of America.

The first of the three sizes is a figurado called the “Molotov” and will be released in January.  We chose the name because the term was first coined by the Finns in reference to the cocktail bombs they utilized to fight against Communist oppression from the Soviet Union during the Winter War in 1939.  When the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov falsely claimed Soviet planes were dropping bread baskets and not bombs over Finland, the Finns began to refer to the bombs as Molotov Bread Baskets and responded by naming their own improvised incendiary devices Molotov cocktails, joking that they needed a drink to enjoy with the food.

We chose Dec 8th, 2011 to issue this press release because it is the 20th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  Shaped like a Molotov cocktail measuring 5 x 38/58/44, this cigar is a great size for the thousands of us who will have to smoke outside in the freezing cold this winter because of draconian smoking bans that prevent us from enjoying a cigar indoors at our favorite bars, restaurants, and, oftentimes, even cigar shops.

Wrapper, binder, filler are all Dominican.  MSRP for the Molotov will be $7.95

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.