Quesada Cigars traces its manufacturing history to June 1974, when Manuel “Manolo” Quesada, his father Manuel Quesada Sr. and his brother Álvaro established Manufactura de Tabacos S.A. (MATASA) in Santiago. The Quesada family’s involvement with tobacco, however, reaches back to the late 19th century in Cuba, initially as tobacco-leaf merchants rather than cigar manufacturers. The family had already been purchasing and trading Dominican tobacco before the Cuban Revolution forced its permanent relocation to the Dominican Republic.

MATASA began on a very small scale in Santiago’s newly established free-trade zone, reportedly with approximately $100, a chair, a telephone and three rollers. Its first production was primarily contract manufacturing, including the Fonseca and Sosa brands. The factory expanded rapidly as additional contracts were secured, eventually moving from tens of thousands of cigars annually to more than one million.

A major milestone came in 1978, when MATASA began producing the non-Cuban version of Romeo y Julieta for Hollco-Rohr. The relationship provided the resources for the company to establish its own box factory, making MATASA one of the Dominican industry’s early examples of a manufacturer expanding beyond rolling into additional stages of production. Additional contract manufacturing relationships followed during the 1980s.

During the cigar boom of the 1990s, MATASA expanded substantially while maintaining a manufacturing model based on skilled Dominican labor and internally managed production. The company survived the subsequent contraction of the market and continued developing its own cigar portfolio alongside contract manufacturing. Quesada and MATASA were also among the founding members of ProCigar in 1992.

The factory’s identity gradually shifted from being primarily a contract manufacturer toward becoming the production center for the Quesada family’s own brands, including Fonseca, Quesada and Casa Magna. The operation also became associated with smaller production projects and collaborations. The factory remains relatively compact compared with some of the Dominican Republic’s largest manufacturers, but its production system includes tobacco aging, rolling and specialized processes.

One distinctive element documented at the factory is tercio aging, in which tobacco is aged inside bundles wrapped in palm bark rather than conventional bales. Quesada has used tercio-aged tobacco in products including Reserva Privada and Vega Magna. The practice reflects the family’s long emphasis on tobacco maturation as part of the manufacturing process.

In 2024, ownership transitioned to the fifth generation. Raquel and Patricia Quesada Vega consolidated ownership of the family business and assumed day-to-day leadership following a health episode involving their father, Manuel “Manolo” Quesada. The transition preserved Quesada Cigars as a family-owned Dominican manufacturer.

The factory is currently identified as TABADEX (Tabacos de Exportación) and remains in Santiago. Its present operation combines proprietary cigar production with selected outside projects and continues the manufacturing business established by the Quesada family in 1974. In 2026, the factory remained an active ProCigar member and hosted visitors during the ProCigar Festival.