Matasa 30th Anniversary

For the wrapper, Manuel Quesada selected the highest primings—the topmost leaves, with the greatest concentration of flavor—of the Dominican Republic’s native tobacco, Olor Dominicano. He chose the binder and filler from bales of Honduran, Dominican, and Nicaraguan leaf that had been aging since 1995. Quesada’s daughter Raquel and Matasa production manager Lourdes Veloz de Rodriguez smoothed the rough edges of this powerhouse cigar by adding to the filler a hint of mild seco (from the center of the plant) and an earthy Nicaraguan Cuban-seed ligero. “We used the finest of old, noble leaf so that we would have the depth of some of the choicest aged Cuban-seed tobaccos, but without the hardened strength,” says Quesada. “What we got was a strong yet smooth cigar that reminds me of chocolate pudding.”