Cigar Review: Oktoberfest 2015 by Quesada

• Vitola: Kaiser Ludwig
• 6” x 49 ring gauge (box pressed)
• ~$9.50
• Purchased at Silo Cigars

Background

I’ve just been too busy…I’ve said it before on these pages, but I continue to be surprised by it because I just didn’t think I was going to be this overwhelmed. Seems like my responsibilities at the cigar shop keep increasing; after my California trip, I’m seeing a massive increase in the amount of graphic design work I have to do; my wife’s car got wrecked a couple weeks back (she’s okay, thanks for asking) and we had to shop for and buy a newer vehicle. (To top it all off, I’m posting this review almost 4 hours later than I had originally intended…yeesh!) In the midst of all that, I’ve missed a couple scheduled reviews in the last month or two and apparently missed out on October altogether. I honestly didn’t even see a Quesada Oktoberfest 2015 cigar until November!!!

So here it is a week away from rolling into December (and Old Man Winter is scratching around the door) before I finally get around to lighting it up. Quesada Cigars started doing the Oktoberfest release in 2011 and last year decided to identify each year in some way. They changed the banding in 2014 and for 2015 they are using a secondary band that declares “2015 Edition.” The basic blend for the Dominican Oktoberfest (they released a Nicaraguan version this year, as well, but I didn’t get any of those) uses all Dominican tobaccos: Cuban-seed Criollo and Olor Viso and Ligero in the fillers and a Cibao Valley wrapper (with the binder undisclosed except for “Dominican”). The Kaiser Ludwig size I picked up this year is new to me, and it appealed to me in terms of ring gauge and overall length. I bought mine at Silo Cigars in Knoxville. And a shout-out to Will Cooper, the first place I head to when I need hard news in the cigar industry…I found background details on this cigar THERE.

Prelight

In the bright late autumn sun, the wrapper of this 2015 Oktoberfest was a dark chocolate brown with a hint of red in it. The gold trimmed blue banding is still a handsome look, and I much prefer it to the white bands from earlier years. There was a decent amount of oil on the wrapper and when I sniffed it, I got mostly grassier notes with some natural tobacco and a touch of earthiness. The foot had a forest-floor earthiness, along with a touch of grass. The cold draw was good and featured a dense earthy flavor and more grassy notes.

Flavor

After lighting up the Quesada Oktoberfest 2015, I got immediate flavors of Dominican earth and mild coffee, along with secondary woody and grassy notes and a touch of bread on the finish. The retrohale featured more cedar and a touch of black pepper. The cigar opened up as medium-bodied and as I moved toward the second third, it ticked upward a bit to medium-plus, but no more.

In the second third, I tasted the bread notes become more dominant along with the coffee and earthy flavors. Wood and grass faded a bit and the pepper spice continued on just the nose.

The medium-plus body and bread notes continued through the final third. The only real change was the addition of some mild pepper on the palate.

Construction

I had to make a couple minor touch-ups to the burn line, but nothing of any real consequence. The draw was great and the ash was never flaky.

Value

The cigar is good, the price is reasonable, if not cheap.

Conclusions

I found the Quesada Oktoberfest to be a solidly “good” cigar, though not really “great.” It struck me more as an old-style Dominican smoke with good flavor and great construction, but not much more. If you’re a fan of traditional Dominican blends, it’s definitely a good one to select, but I just didn’t find it groundbreaking or challenging to the palate.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10