Quesada Selección España A-

For the past three years, Quesada Cigars has released a limited size of its popular Selección España line in limited fashion, selecting one retailer per month to receive a single box of the special size.

With 10 vitolas already in the line, the choice of which vitola will be used for the special size is certainly getting more and more limited, but this year, the company went with the A-, an 8 1/2 x 48 version of the typical 9 1/4 x 47 vitola known as grand corona, or oftentimes referred to as A.

Outside of the size, the other noticeable change this year is that getting a box to yourself will be much easier. It’s not that Quesada will make more cigars, they are still only slated to release 1,200 cigars like last year, but this year the cigars are coming in 10-count boxes instead of 50- or 100-count boxes of year’s past.

• Quesada Selección España Short Robusto (4 x 50) — $7.95 (Boxes of 20, $159) — March 2011 — Regular Production
• Quesada Selección España Robusto (5 x 52) — $8.50 (Boxes of 20, $170) — March 2011 — Regular Production
• Quesada Selección España Corona (5 1/2 x 42) — $7.25 (Boxes of 20, $140) — March 2011 — Regular Production
• Quesada Selección España Lancero (7 x 38) — $8.50 (Cabinets of 50, $425) — January 2013 — 12 Cabinets of 50 Cigars (600 Total Cigars)
• Quesada Selección España Ninfa (7 x 33) — $12.95 (Cabinets of 50, $647.50) — January 2014 — 12 Cabinets of 50 Cigars (600 Total Cigars)
• Quesada Selección España JFH 25th Anniversary (4 3/4 x 38/58/44) — $7.95 (Boxes of 10, $79.50) — July 2014 — 150 Boxes of 10 Cigars (1,500 Total Cigars)
• Quesada Selección España Petit Belicoso (4 1/2 x 40) – $7.50 (Cabinets of 100, $750) — January 2015 — 12 Cabinets of 100 Cigars (1,200 Total Cigars)
• Quesada Selección España Churchill (7 x 47) — $11 (Boxes of 10, $110) — March 2015 — 300 Boxes of 10 Cigars (3,000 Total Cigars)
• Quesada Selección España H-Town Lancero (7 x 38) — $8.95 (Boxes of 20, $179) — March 2015 — 300 Boxes of 20 Cigars (6,000 Total Cigars)
• Quesada Selección España Beli-Lance (7 x 40) — $10.95 (Boxes of 10, $109.50) — March  2015 — 300 Boxes of 10 Cigars (3,000 Total Cigars)
• Quesada Selección España Fabulosos (7 x 54) — $11.95 (Boxes of 10, $119.50) — March 2015 — 300 Boxes of 10 Cigars (3,000 Total Cigars)
• Quesada Selección España A- (8 1/2 x 48) — $9.99 (Boxes of 10, $99.90) — January 2016 — 120 Boxes of 10 Cigars (1,200 Total Cigars)

As it has done in years past, the special España debuted at Just For Him in Springfield, Mo. Christian Hutson, one of the store’s co-owners, is credited with helping to convince Quesada to bring the line to the U.S. and his wife, Jessica Hutson, commented that he’d been asking for the size for a few years.

Quesada will announce the other retailers one at a time as the year goes on.

• Cigar Reviewed: Quesada Selección España A-
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Quesada Cigars
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Arapiraca
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
• Length: 8 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 48
• Vitola: Short Gran Corona
• MSRP: $9.99 (Boxes of 10, $99.90)
• Release Date: January 2015
• Number of Cigars Released: 120 Boxes of 10 Cigars (1,200 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

All three cigars seem really soft to the touch. They’ve been sitting in a 65 percent environment for a few weeks, but I still try drybox my second and third samples, to no avail. There’s a hard spot underneath the band on two samples, something I probably wouldn’t have noticed if not for the extremely soft characteristics of the cigar in general. Aroma from the wrapper has some barnyard and not much else. I pick up graham cracker, some generic woods and raspberries from the foot. The cold draw also the graham cracker note surrounded by some vanilla and not much else.

The first third of the Selección España A- begins with some sweet cedar, a touch of spices on the tip of the tongue and some coffee beans. Despite my concerns about how soft the cigar feels, the draw is fine and it appears to be burning fine. There’s some pretty pedestrian sweet cedar and roasted peanuts in the middle of the mouth with just a touch of black pepper. Through the nose, I pick up burnt toast and hints of chocolate chips. Unfortunately, within the first inch, I begin to find myself making small touch-ups to prevent anything from going overly awry. Otherwise, the construction of the España is fine with the ash falling off in three-quarter inch chunks, smoke production average and a decent draw.

While the cedar is still present, particularly up until the midway point, the nuttiness moves to the forefront of the profile alongside some burnt butter and oak. There’s some added harshens, but it’s minor and relatively restrained. Besides that, it’s much the same. There’s still neither very much sweetness nor can I pick up much pepper beyond a bit of black pepper towards the back. The flavor increases slightly in intensity, but it’s not much different from the medium-full place where it was in the first third. The España A- remains medium in both body and strength. A few touch-ups are needed in two of the samples, but otherwise the construction is fine.

There’s an added sweetness thanks to a cappuccino-like coffee flavor. It does well joining the nuttiness, which is now more walnut, and also allows for some creaminess to break through. Most interesting is the retrohale, which went from being a pleasant, yet unremarkable experience, to something that is now extremely full with lots of grapefruit, some white pepper and some harshness. It’s significantly fuller than it was at any other point during the cigar and also much more punishing than it had been. That being said, the flavor of the España is still not beyond medium-full.

Final Notes

• As has been the case for every España I’ve smoked, the bands aren’t centered in a normal way. It seems like the ñ in the España is made to be centered with the main band. I moved them as it looks really awkward.
• While this sort logic of applies to any size, it seems to be so much more relevant with the gran corona size: it either works or it doesn’t. I’d put this in the latter given there’s little evidence of the profile building like it does on some other A-size cigars. It’s not that the cigar is bad, because it’s not, but does the size help to bring out the blend? No.
• I really like the A/gran corona size. It’s my third favorite format behind the lancero and petite corona.
• Personally, I’d like to see an España Culebra next. If not, Quesada has left the door open for a full-size salomones—otherwise, there’s not a ton of parejo shapes left.
• Quesada Cigars advertises on halfwheel. Samples for this review were sent to halfwheel by Quesada Cigars.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 10 minutes. While it’s certainly less time than I would have guessed, I find that some gran corona-esque shapes burn really quick.