Quai d'Orsay Coronas Claro

Quai d'Orsay is one of the lesser known Cuban brands, and is one of the few brands i haven't tried before. This is the Coronas Claro, 5.6 inches X 42 ring gauge. This brand was originally created for the French market, catering to the mild and light cigars preferred in France at the time (1973).

This is a fairly basic looking cigar with a slightly wrinkly wrapper and some splits at the foot (damage occured during shipping) with a nicely applied cap and simple mustard colored band. The predraw flavors are very light and grassy.

The flavor up front shows some grassyness, a slight tea characteristic, and a honeylike sweetness. This is definitely a mild, toasty cigar, great for early in the day. The tea and honey flavors are very pleasant. Sometimes that grassy flavor can be overwhelming in a cigar, but it really works with this mild blend. I do not smoke a lot of mild cigars, since most mild cigars tend to be a bit on the boring side. This one however, is not boring at all.

The further i get into this cigar, the more i like it! That honey sweetness is still there, with the grassyness fading away a bit and being replaced with a very tasty shortbread cookie like flavor. At the tail end of this cigar, a slight leathery flavor showed up that i really didnt expect, but definitely enjoyed.


This cigar was a pleasant surprise for me. Usually cigars marketed as mild (especially in the non-Cuban market) are very bland and a waste of time for me. The Cubans got it right with this one though. This is a light, mild cigar, and has very pleasant and intriguing flavors that definitely keep you interested throughout the smoke. This could possibly be one of the best morning cigars available. I know the thought of a cigar in the morning sounds awful to most people, but lighting this up after a nice breakfast with a cup of tea would certainly be a pleasant and relaxing start to any day.