Quesada Oktoberfest Obskur

Normally the month of October means the beginning of fall, beer festivals, and of course Halloween. Well now you can add smoking the Quesada Oktoberfest to the list. Created by the maker of Casa Magna and Fonseca cigars, Manuel Quesada, this seasonally released cigar was created specifically to be paired with Märzen style beers which let us tell you is not an easy feat. With only a mere 500 boxes created each year, this limited production Dominican puro starts with a thick, oily, and toothy Dominican Cibao wrapper that hugs an all Dominican blend of criollos, visos, and ligeros long-fillers and a Dominican binder. This combination leads to cool notes of cedar, earth, and dark chocolate. This stogie is meant to be paired with a Märzen style beer like Berkshire Oktoberfest Lager but is great any time of day!

Though tobacco is indigenous to Hispaniola, the tobacco industry in the Dominican Republic existed in the shadow of Cuba’s dominance through the 1960s. When the exodus of Cuban cigar makers began in the wake of the revolution, many decided the Dominican Republic would be ideal for the resumption of their livelihoods. Unrest in Nicaragua in the 1980s fueled the Dominican cigar industry further. The country now makes more than half of the premium cigars imported into the U.S.

The Cibao Valley and the nearby city of Santiago are the center of cigar production in the Dominican Republic. Three main varieties are grown here: the mild and native Olor Dominicano; the intense Piloto Cubano, brought from the Vuelta Abajo of Cuba; and San Vicente, a milder and more acidic Piloto hybrid. Dominican puros were once unheard of as it was widely thought impossible to grow quality wrapper leaf on the island, but new growing techniques are now allowing some exceptional puros to be produced.