The Davidoff Dilemma

[SanCristobal]

So as I'm sitting down to smoke a Davidoff Special 'R', I figured I'd type out some concerns I've had with Davidoff product the past few years, and have never been able to get a sensible answer out of seasoned smokers, reps or Davidoff retailers.

In the first inch or two of this cigar, I'm picking up on the following: toast, almond paste, a slight dry spice, a sour twang, and an incredibly overbearing taste I can only describe as walking past a campfire after a heavy rain.

The scent was on the wrapper, box, and I taste it in most Davidoff products, sometimes even intensified in cigars like Zino Crown and AVO signature. In Cigar Aficionado, almost every time a Davidoff cigar is rated, the tasting notes often if not always include mushrooms, wet hay, ect., and occasionally mentions the score being hurt by this. The only other time I pick up on this scent, or taste this flavor, is when I open up a box of over-humidified, moldy cigars or get the hankering for eating mildewed newspapers from the turn of the century...

Is this a blending choice? Maybe how Davidoff ages their cigars? Do they keep thief's out of their swiss cigar vaults with giant man-eating fungi?

Anybody have an opinion on this?

 

[SkinsFanLarry]

I have always referred to it as a "Kelner" trademark. All the cigars you mentioned have those traits. Alot of the PG's have similar traits too.

I refer to it as a muskyness, and yes, it turns off alot of the brothers here. You will find many posts about Davidoff, Zino and Avo's and brothers describing exactly what you are talking about in your post.

These are my opinions as it relates to the cigars you mentioned.

 

[njstone]

I've never smoked a Davidoff, but I've certainly had cigars where I like most of the flavors but there is one "weird" thing in there that I don't like. I have found that when I've tried those cigars again after a good rest (a year or so), that weirdness often goes away. But not always.

 

[SanCristobal]

I've never smoked a Davidoff, but I've certainly had cigars where I like most of the flavors but there is one "weird" thing in there that I don't like. I have found that when I've tried those cigars again after a good rest (a year or so), that weirdness often goes away. But not always.

I've seen that in some cigars, but with Davidoff, no aging effects this. I've had discontinued special 'B's that have sat for years and the more subtle flavors only dissipate clearing the stage for the trademark 'must'.

 

[tcampbel]

I don't know what it is, but I to often get this "unique" taste. Never have been able to figure it out though.

 

[Boosted]

That Kelner taste is pretty much in all his cigars. I smoke Davis and their other lines regularly, and I happen to love that musty Kelner taste. CA hardly ever gives Davidoff products high ratings, but their sticks are not for everyone. There are a lot of people that dislike Davidoff(Avo, PG, Zino Platinum, Winston Churchill) cigars because of that signature taste. Like I said, I'm a huge Davidoff fan, especially, with the Davi Puro, Millennium lancero and lonsdale, 702, Grand Cru #1, Zino Emperor, and so on.

 

[Soundwave13]

I agree with all that's been said here & yes - that 'signature-musty/powdered-mushroom'-like flavor can get a bit overpowering sometimes like in the Milleniums. I've had some aged millenium lonsdales that were great, but seemed only to increase in that profile. The special R is a great smoke though, as is the Companero, Winstons, etc. (A Box of Zino Traditions were my first box ever).

I guess it depends on my mood - sometimes I want that 'flavor', sometimes I don't, but I always am left with the verdict that the quality, construction and consistancy is top-notch.

 

[Alwayslit]

I guess it depends on my mood - sometimes I want that 'flavor', sometimes I don't, but I always am left with the verdict that the quality, construction and consistancy is top-notch.

.....I'll have to 2nd that. The construction is impeccable and the flavor profile is unique.

 

[BrandonJ]

I am a huge Kelner fan, as with any brands some times one cigar as better than another. I really like the AVO LEs right now... I find the flavors pretty complex.

One Davi I really, really... I am using the word hate here... Is the Maduro Robo... Cant stand that cigar..

 

[SanCristobal]

One Davi I really, really... I am using the word hate here... Is the Maduro Robo... Cant stand that cigar..

Incredibly inconsistent. And I actually got Tom Smith the Davidoff rep to agree with me!

 

[podman28]

I have been liking the Davidoffs but I like the Winston Churchills and Zinos better.

 

[SanCristobal]

yeah, while my thread does cast davidoff in a negative light...or rather that I'm not a fan of the signature flavor, but the Davidoff 1000 was my morning coffee cigar for years... probably because the coffee aftertaste was stronger than the musty...

 

[dpricenator]

I like em. That musty flavor works well in the AM with some coffe.

 

[tmoney2007]

I like all the davidoff stuff I've tried (huge avo whore) and I do get a certain earthy/mushroom note in it, but I like it. I also liked the davidoff maduro, but I've only tried it once and I've heard mixed reviews from others. I have one more to try. Inconsistency and davidoff are 2 things that you rarely hear together...

 

[SanCristobal]

Inconsistency and davidoff are 2 things that you rarely hear together...

A friend of mine would argue you on that. He only smokes the Davidoff 2000, and I mean only. He's a high strung architect, and he will open every box at Holt's Cigar Company just to find the lightest wrapper (they let him do this because he smokes two boxes a week, if not more) and gradually over the past few years the quality of Ecuadorian Connecticut-shade wrapper has declined, or rather gotten darker and darker. The local rep says that they save the lighter batches for the EU market, but I think he's blowing smoke up fred's ass...

 

[tmoney2007]

Who cares about the color, aside from OCD architects, haha

 

[JxBr]

I love that unique Davi taste but have to be in the mood for it. My favorite cigar to come out of that factory was the Avo LE05. Down to my last two boxes but interestingly I didn't find them to have the signiture mushroom taste that most cigars from that factory have.

As far as the maduro robo goes, I've smokes three. One was crap, one was ok, and one was spectacular. Really strange. My local rep says the same thing about the maduro, super inconsistent. But he said Henkie wanted nothing to do with a maduro so his (henkie's) son took charge of that cigar.

 

[Boosted]

I like the Davidoff Maduro Corona better than I do the Robusto. I've only smoked 2 of the Maduro Coronas so I can't speak to the consistency of those.

 

[Zen Cigar Man]

Kelner is a god.

No one makes a more consistent cigar year in and year out. All of his cigars age very well.