Quai d’Orsay

Quai d’Orsay is a Cuban cigar brand sold around the world by Habanos S.A. Cubatabaco, the Cuban state tobacco company, created it in 1973 for the French market only, at the request of SEITA, which then ran the French tobacco monopoly. It is named after the street along the Seine in Paris where SEITA had its offices.

For about 40 years Quai d’Orsay was sold almost only in France, with a small range led by the Coronas Claro. It was then relaunched with a new band and two new sizes, the No. 50 and the No. 54, and it is now sold in all Habanos markets. The leaf comes from the Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río. Habanos rates the brand light in strength, which makes it one of the mildest Cuban brands.

Quai d’Orsay was created after the 1959 revolution, and Habanos holds the trademark. There is no separate non-Cuban Quai d’Orsay. Cuban Quai d’Orsay cigars cannot legally be sold in the United States because of the U.S. embargo.