Quai d'Orsay Clemenceau Edición Regional Francia 2020
The resurrection of the brand's iconic vitola.
Founded in December 1970, the Coprova, the official and exclusive importer of Habanos in France, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a new cigar, represented by French icons: the Quai d'Orsay Clemenceau Edición Regional Francia 2020.
Supposed to launch in 2020, the year of the Coprova's 50th anniversary, this new Quai d'Orsay was only inaugurated late last year. It is the 19th cigar to be rolled exclusively for France. Succeeding the Quai d'Orsay Capitolio of 2018, which also arrived a year late, it is also the 6th cigar of the brand produced exclusively for the French market. With the Clemenceau, the Quai d'Orsay brand is further consolidating its popularity amongst French aficionados.
The vitola chosen by Quai d'Orsay for this new regional edition, is the Julieta No.2 (47 x 178 mm), the famous vitola originally rolled exclusively for Sir Winston Churchill and simply renamed "Churchill" in his honor by Romeo y Julieta.
Although the Churchill vitola was very popular at the time, today it is solely included in the regular catalogue of three brands: Cohiba, H. Upmann, and of course Romeo y Julieta.
Within the Edición Regional program, the vitola is rather rare as it has only been used three times so far.
For the Quai d'Orsay brand, the Julieta No.2 vitola is slightly more common, as it reigned supreme in its catalogue for more than 40 years, from the brand's creation in 1974 before being discontinued in 2015 under the name "Quai d'Orsay Imperiales". The Clemenceau Edición Regional Francia 2020 is therefore a great opportunity for Quai d'Orsay to reintroduce one of its most emblematic cigars from the 1970s, which was part of the original 5 cigars.
In France, the Imperiales was also called "Clemenceau" in reference to the Romeo y Julieta Clemenceaus, as well as Julieta No.2, introduced before the Cuban Revolution and abandoned in the 1980s. Churchill or Clemenceau, to each their own statesman, you might say.
Former member of the French Chamber of Deputies nicknamed "the Tiger" then "Father of Victory" at the time of the armistice of November 11, 1918, Georges Clemenceau enjoyed enormeous popularity. He was elected by acclamation to the Académie française just three days after the signing of the armistice. Born on 28 September 1841 in Mouilleron-en-Pareds and died on 24 November 1929 in Paris, he was a French statesman, president of the Council from 1906 to 1909 and from 1917 to 1920.
In addition to street, square and boulevards names, his name was also used for one of the most important pieces of the French Navy, the aircraft carrier Clemenceau. This exclusive regional edition for France pays tribute to the French statesman who, over a century ago gave his name to a Habano.
Like all regional editions, the Clemenceau is dressed in the so typical second wine-coloured band and stamped with "Exclusivo” followed by the country name in Spanish". However, it has been slightly revisited for the occasion to reflect the Coprova's 50th anniversary logo, as it has already been the case for previous anniversaries of regional editions such as the Ramón Allones Sr. Henry Edición Regional Alemania 2020, or the Ramón Allones Phoenicia 40 Edición Regional Líbano 2019. The first vitola dressed with such a band was the Punch Sir David Edición Regional Hong Kong 2018, named after Sir David Tang, founder of Pacific Cigar Company, who sadly passed away in 2017.
The production of the Quai d'Orsay Clemenceau is limited to only 15,000 individually numbered cabinets of 10 cigars.
Let's proceed to the tasting of this new French exclusive production.
In appearance, the Clemenceau has a Claro wrapper with a few veins showing. Despite this hint of rusticity, the wrapper is perfectly applied. The touch suggests a generous and perfectly homogeneous filling.
In its raw form, the Clemenceau plunges us into a slight taste of vegetation. There is also a hint of various herbs and condiments, without the spiciness. In the background we can sense some delicate light cocoa. Overall, it almost seems sweet.
The easy ignition reassures us about the tightness. We immediately notice a generous volume of smoke. The draw is excellent and offers just the right amount of resistance. The first puffs take us into a completely different register than the one we potentially could expect. We are in a more vegetal realm and its undergrowth will eventually come forth to be perceived as more humid, imagine moss.
The first centimeters of ash are surprisingly clear. Its good hold is a further testament to the quality of the torcedores outstanding craftsmanship.
In the beginning of the second third, the Clemenceau is relatively soft, easy to smoke and eventually changes its register once again. We now can recognize notes of toasted, roasted bread. A pastry universe, more greedy, and finally a little disjointed from the first third.
The last third is slightly more difficult to appreciate. If the beginning of the tasting was quite flamboyant, the end brings us back to reality and reminds us that Cuban cigars need time to mature! The final taste of slight bitterness and lack of persistence in the mouth tarnish the tasting that had started so well.
The Clemenceau clearly lacks maturity but one thing is very sure, it has all the attributes to become a very fine cigar worthy of receiving the name of quite an extraordinary leader. It probably will take 4 to 5 years to raise to the occasion of reaching its peak state.
For over 40 years, the brand remained exclusively for the French market and only now finally opened up to the world in 2017. With the Clemenceau, however, the brand is sticking to its roots by offering a new cigar exclusively for France that is sure to be a worthy to live up to its reputation for refinement and elegance.
QUAI D'ORSAY Clemenceau Edición Regional Francia 2020 - Box of 10
Vitola: Julieta No.2 (47 x 178 mm)
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