Quai d'Orsay Grand Corona POS JUN 06 (PQWRC)

[Guest Nekhyludov]

Quai d'Orsay, largely because of my abiding love of Imperiales, remains my favorite of the Habanos marcas. Or, at the risk of sounding like a hipster, it was prior to the blend change in 2018. The current QdO are perfectly pleasant, but too woody and one-dimensional for them to stand with to my old favorites.

This Grand Corona is a beautiful example of the marca. The wrapper is perfect - free of blemishes or veins, with a light, tawny colorado color. The construction is excellent, firm and consistent throughout. The cold aroma, after 13 years, is light and papery, with a hint of cinnamon on the foot. It ignites easily and produces a perfectly firm draw and a dead even burn, with a flaky gray ash.

The Grand Corona opens with a profile of clean tobacco, light, dry wood, and a hint of the mineral twang that I frequently experience in Habanos from this era. By the end of the first third, the familiar QdO citrus note has emerged. But it isn't sweet at this stage, but dry and sharp. Surprising, given its age. The retrohale is rich with citrus, and a sweeter stewed fruit note that's really nice.

The performance has remained excellent.

The final third interesting. The wood aspect becomes deeper and richer, and takes on a more pronounced walnut note. But the citrus falls to the background in favor of a more generic stewed fruit. And surprisingly, the baking spice that I most associate with the marca never really materializes. The wood and fruit combination could - if you squint at it right - resemble something like a nut pastry, but there's nothing of the cinnamon and sorghum that I get from the Imperiales. One thing that does improve markedly is the dryness. The smoke becomes much oilier as the burn progresses. And of course, there's no hint of harshness, even down to the final inch, which is where I put it down.

Score: 95 sounds right.

[99call]

Great review dude.  This was the first upmarket CC I treated myself to back in 98-99.   Always a fond place in my memory