Davidoff Millenium Petite Corona

Size: 4 1/2″ x 41

Vitola: Petite Corona

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sun Grown Connecticut

Origin: DR

Age: 3 months

When I think of luxury and cigars I think of just one name – Davidoff.  To me there are few super premiums worth what you pay for.  I think Davidoff is one of those exceptions, especially the Millennium Blend.  This is one of Henke Kelner’s best blends.

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Passage of the SCHIP Bill – What will yo do?

We are looking at ~$0.40 a cigar tax on all premium cigars, which means an average of an extra $8-10 a box.  Will this change your cigar smoking habits?

Feel free to add you thoughts and comments in the comment section!

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New Davidoff Line – Puro d’Oro!

From CigarClyclopedia.com:

When Zino Davidoff introduced his Dominican-made line in late 1990, there were four styles: the Classic, the Thousand Series, Grand Cru and Special. And for many years, that was it.

Not any more!. At its company-wide sales meeting held in the Dominican Republic last week, Davidoff unveiled a brand new line to be called the Davidoff Puro d’Oro (“pure gold”), the company’s first all-Dominican cigar. It will feature a special wrapper grown specially for this line and it will be fully introduced later this year.

It’s the third addition to the Davidoff line since 1990. The popular Millennium Series debuted in 2001 and the Davidoff Maduro line was introduced last year. Now comes the Puro d’Oro, giving Davidoff lovers seven choices of blends wearing the familiar white label.

This sounds great!  Any new davidoff product is bound to get me excited!

Updated!!

From Cigarcyclopedia.com:

“Our number one priority is to offer our customers the finest cigar in the world,” said Davidoff U.S.A. president Peter Banninger. “The Puro d’Oro product has not yet met our expectations and reached Davidoff’s high standard of premium quality and excellence.

“We are confident that Davidoff will be prepared to introduce Puro d’Oro in Spring 2010.”

The all-Dominican Davidoff, featuring a specially-grown wrapper, was scheduled to debut in June of 2009, just ahead of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association convention and trade show in New Orleans in August. The blend, whose name means “pure gold,” was announced to the Davidoff sales staff at the national sales meeting in the Dominican Republic in January.

When introduced, it will be the eighth Davidoff blend, after the Aniversario, Classic, Grand Cru, Special Series, Thousand Series (the five original, Dominican-made lines that debuted in 1990), Millenium Blend (2001) and Maduro (2008).”

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AVO LE 2009 – The Companero!

From CigarCyclopedia:

It didn’t take long for more information about the new Avo “Companeros,” the 2009 limited-edition cigar set to debut in the next few weeks.

Edward Simon, the Avo brand manager for Davidoff U.S.A., noted that “I can’t unveil too much yet. Just that it is going to be a Toro shape cigar, 6 inches by 50 [ring gauge] with five different filler tobaccos [that] all underwent several special fermentations.
“It is going to be a stronger, very complex cigar, just in the tradition of past-year limited editions from Avo.”

The 2009 Avo L.E. will mark Avo Uvezian’s 83rd birthday and will be the ninth limited-edition cigar in the Avo line. A major launch program is planned, along with the now-annual Avo limited-edition tour across the United States.

The first Avo limited-edition, the Avo 75 from 2001, was so well received that it was included in the regular production line as the Avo Signature Series, introduced in late 2001. Offered exclusively in boxes of 10 since its introduction, the brand recently changed to boxes of 20 for all sizes. Simon explained that “The change in packaging for the AVO Signature Line was a market demand that we decided to follow. Since January 1st, 2009 the AVO Signature is shipped in boxes of 20 cigars.”
~ Rich Perelman

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Cuban Cigar Size Chart

The sizes listed below were pulled from the Habanos, SA website.  Since they make the cigars, these ARE the correct sizes and names (we hope).  Traditionally there have been fewer vitolas listed, but Habanos is now putting out a lot of different sizes.  In fact, they have a vitola for every possible size, even if the differences are in just a millimeter or even the presence or absence of a pigtail cap.

I have separated the vitolas into two sections, parejos and figurados (shaped cigars).  Habanos had all of the sizes arranged by ring gauge, but I am rearranging them by length.

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Three Blind Cigars Wrap-Up

Now what everyone has been waiting for… the results of the Blind Review Challenge that my buddy Matt of Matt’s Cigar Journal and I participated in.  Basically we gave each other three cigars, one inexpensive, one medium priced and one super premium and we had to try to guess as much as we could about the cigars.

The idea of this little experiment was to see if we could properly identify a cigar without the bias associated with the band (price, manufacturer, etc.).

Results:

What was so interesting about this whole thing was that we still found a way to bias our reviews and tastings.  I know Matt is a huge Pepin smoker, he loves everything the guy makes.  So as I was smoking his cigars, I often found myself thinking, “which Pepin cigar could this be?”.  Matt also incorporated bias into his reviews but in a different way.  He kept trying to pick out Pepin-like characteristics in the cigars that I gave him.

How is this?  Well, let’s share the results.

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Domestic Cigar Size Chart

The Domestic market uses Standard measurements: inches for length and ring gauge for width.  Ring gauge is measured in 1/64 of an inch.  Therefore if a cigar has a ring gauge of 49, it is 49/64 of an inch in diameter.

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What’s in a Shape?

Cigar Shapes and Sizes

At first I thought this would be an easy enough task.  Just list the range in cigar shapes and sizes.  But the more I thought of this, the more work it became.  But that’s okay.  I want to bring you the reader (all three of you) a comprehensive list of shapes and sizes from both the Domestic and International markets.

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Manufacturer Spotlight – Gurkha

Gurkha, the Rolls Royce of Cigars (self proclaimed), has an interesting history.  Gurkha (Beach Cigar Company) is helmed by Kaizad Hansotia, who is a man with a penchant for the flamboyant and luxurious.  Gurkha is known for the intricate humidors and product presentation, almost more so than their cigars.

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Blind Review #6

This is my first part of a series of blind reviews that I am doing with my buddy Matt from Matt’s Cigar Journal. We each exchanged three cigars and the goal of this little “experiment” is to conduct an unbiased review of these cigars and hopefully try to guess what it is we are smoking.  Plus, not to embarrass ourselves too much already. 

Blind Cigar Review #6

The last of the blind reviews!  The moment of truth is near, as Matt and I will soon see if we really know what we are talking about!

I definitely think I have smoked this cigar before…

This cigar has the lightest wrappers of all the cigars given to me.  It has a light brown wrapper that is somewhat oily and with just a few visible veins.  There is some inconsistency in the color of the wrapper down the length of the cigar.  There were also a couple of water spots.

The cigar has some slight give when pressure is applied, but is not too firm.  The cigar draws easily.  It did tunnel a few times, but it corrected itself quickly.

This is kinda Pepin-y, I get that taste in the back of my tongue, a subtle acidity that I get with most other DPG sticks.

This does not have a lot of the spice as I expected though.  There is also a slightly dry woodiness, leather and just a bit of light coffee.

I’m not entirely sure if I am letting the fact that Matt picked out the cigars affect my train of thought.  Matt’s a big Pepin nut, so I am beginning to wonder if I am predisposing myself to think he is giving me Pepin cigars.

I did enjoy this cigar but it really confused me.  We’ll see how off I am.

I am going to go out on a limb here and guess a DPG El Rey de los Habanos cigar.  Or not.  😉

Here’s the link to Matt’s review of the 3rd cigar I sent him.

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