A robusto extra known as the Duke vitola.
The Quai d’Orsay brand has long had very limited distribution around the world, having been created in 1973 at the request of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, France’s Economy and Finance Minister at the time and later president, who wanted a cigar to pair with French staples, notably Champagne and foie gras. Not only did the line stay largely in France, but the Edición Regional releases that have used the brand have largely been made for France as well; of the seven released to date, five of them were for France.
This cigar, which is part of the 2018 class of Edición Regional releases but not released until 2021 due to unrest in Lebanon, became the first Edición Regional made for a country other than France since the very first one, the Quai d’Orsay Superiores, a robusto made for the Asia Pacific region and released in 2011.
When it did arrive in June 2021 alongside the also delayed Ramón Allones Phoenicio 40, it became the first Quai d’Orsay release—regular production or otherwise—to be released in 50-count cabinets, a format that has largely fallen out favor across the Habanos S.A. portfolio, Edición Regional or not. Phoenicia T.A.A. Cyprus Ltd., the distributor of Habanos S.A. products in the Middle East region as well as the bulk of African countries, commissioned 1,200 of those boxes for a total run of 60,000 cigars.
It became the 11th Edición Regional to be released for Lebanon, with eight of those released under the Ramón Allones marca, and single releases under the Bolívar and El Rey del Mundo marcas. Several of those have been the recipients of critical acclaim, including the Ramón Allones Phoenicio from 2008
As for the name of the cigar, it comes from a historical city in Lebanon, located approximately 53 miles northeast of Beirut and which has been continually for 8,000 to 9,000 years. Also spelled without the c, the city is a UNESCO World Heritage site and home to two notable Roman temple ruins which are part of the Baalbek temple complex.
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