Quai d'Orsay is a premium

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

brand, made in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

under contract with

Habanos SA Habanos S.A. is a Cuban manufacturing company of tobacco that controls the promotion, distribution, and export of premium cigars and other tobacco products for Cuba worldwide. It was established in 1994. Ownership of Habanos S.A. is split equal ...

History

The Quai d'Orsay brand was created by

Cubatabaco Cubatabaco, short for , is the Cuban state tobacco company. The company was formed in 1962, after the Cuban tobacco industry had been nationalized by Fidel Castro's socialist government. Cubatabaco handled all production and distribution of Cub ...

in 1973 for the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

state

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

SEITA SEITA (''Société d'exploitation industrielle des tabacs et des allumettes''), was the former French state-owned tobacco monopoly. Cigarette brands included Gauloises and Gitanes, both created in 1910. It merged in 1999 with its Spanish equivale ...

, and was blended with French tastes in mind, being a milder brand. There are multiple arguments about what the marque's name refers to: one is that it is referring simply to the famous

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

avenue Avenue or Avenues may refer to: Roads * Avenue (landscape), traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees, in the shifted sense a tree line itself, or some of boulevards (also without trees) * Avenue Road, Bangalore * Avenue Road, ...

, another is that it refers to the

French Foreign Ministry The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs () is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The term Qu ...

that is located on it, and another is that it is referring to the headquarters of SEITA which is also on the same avenue. Quai d'Orsay was apparently outside of the umbrella of Habanos SA for a number of years and was managed directly by Cubatabaco and SEITA, but judging by packaging, Habanos SA documents, and SEITA's merger with

Tabacalera Tabacalera, formerly the Compañía Arrendataria de Tabacos, was a Spanish tobacco monopoly whose origins date back to 1636, making it the oldest tobacco company in the world. In 1999, the company merged with SEITA of France to form Altadis, ...

into the multi-national tobacco company of

Altadis Altadis is a Spanish-French multinational purveyor and manufacturer of cigarettes, tobacco and cigars. It was formed via a 1999 merger between Tabacalera, the former Spanish tobacco monopoly and , the former French tobacco monopoly. Through its i ...

, it appears Quai d'Orsay is a part of Habanos SA like all other Cuban-made brands of cigars. Another oddity of the Quai d'Orsay line are its Corona cigars. Up until the late 1980s, Quai d'Orsay still manufactured its Coronas in two different wrapper shades: Claro and Claro Claro. As the fashion for lighter wrappers diminished (and supposedly as consumers noticed they were paying more for essentially the same cigar with the wrapper making a very minor difference) production eventually ceased of the Coronas Claro Claro. Though the box still says ''Coronas'' on it, the official production name is still ''Coronas Claro''.

''Vitolas'' in the Quai d'Orsay Line

The following list of vitolas de salida (commercial vitolas) within the Quai d'Orsay marque lists their size and ring gauge in Imperial (and Metric), their vitolas de galera (factory vitolas), and their common name in American cigar slang. ''Hand-Made Vitolas'' * Corona Claro - 5 5/8" x 42 (143 x 16.67 mm), Corona, a corona * Imperial - 7" x 47 (178 x 18.65 mm), Julieta No. 2, a churchill * Panetela - 7" x 33 (178 x 13.10 mm), Ninfa, a slim panetela * Hermosos No.2 - 6 1/8" x 48 (157 x 19.05 mm) Senadores 019 Limited Edition

References

* Nee, Min Ron. ''An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars'' (2003, Reprinted: 2005), {{ISBN, 3-9809308-2-3

External links

Official website of Habanos S.A.

Habanos S.A. brands

History

''Vitolas'' in the Quai d'Orsay Line

See also

References

External links