Davidoff
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Davidoff is a popular Swiss brand of luxury products, most well known for its high-end tobacco products, including cigars, cigarettes, and pipe tobaccos.
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[edit] History
Zino Davidoff was born on March 11, 1906 in Kiev in what is now Ukraine, then a part of Czarist Russia. He was the eldest of four children born to Jewish tobacco merchant, Henri Davidoff. Even in his own autobiographical writings, the facts on Zino's youth are a bit hazy. His parents were either cigar merchants or cigarette manufacturers in Kiev. Fleeing the political turmoil and anti-Semitism prevalent in Russia, they emigrated to Geneva, Switzerland in 1911 and opened their own tobacconist shop in 1912. Finishing school in 1924, he went to Latin America to learn about the tobacco trade, spending time in such places as Argentina, Brazil, and finally Cuba where he spent two years working on a plantation and first encountered Cuban cigars.
Returning to Switzerland around 1930, he took over his parents' shop. What had originally been a modest smoke shop grew into a rich business during and after World War II. Switzerland, being a neutral country and spared much of the havoc being wreaked elsewhere in Europe, became a haven for wealthy tobacco customers. Zino was particularly successful in marketing the Hoyo de Monterrey Châteaux Series of Cuban cigars that had been created for Zurich cigar distributor A Dürr Co. in the 1940s and named after great Bordeaux wines. Around this time, Zino is also credited by many as having invented the first desktop cigar humidor, in order to preserve cigars at the same conditions of humidity and temperature under which they were rolled in Havana. Davidoff also had success writing several books on cigar smoking and Cuban cigar brands.
[edit] Cuban Davidoff cigars
In 1967, Davidoff was approached by Cubatabaco, Cuba's state tobacco monopoly after the Revolution, about creating a personal brand of cigars for his stores. The cigars were rolled in the newly-establish El Laguito factory in Havana, which had been established to roll Cuban President Fidel Castro's own private cigars, Cohíba. In 1969, the first productions of Davidoff cigars were released, which included the No. 1, the No. 2, and Ambassadrice (which all shared the same sizes as the early Cohiba line) and the Châteaux Series (now no longer under the Hoyo de Monterrey label, but exclusively made for the Davidoff marque).
In the 1970s, the Mille Series, a milder blend than the rest of the line, and the Dom Pérignon, named for the famous champagne, were released on the market. In 1986, a special limited release of 80 Aniversarios cigars were made to celebrate Zino's 80th birthday.
In 1982, the Château Yquem cigar produced by Davidoff was discontinued after the owner of Château d'Yquem wine protested their unauthorized use of the trade name. The Château Mouton Rothschild came out shortly after, though with a different blend and slightly different size than its predecessor.
[edit] The Cuban Davidoff Line
The cigars within the Cuban Davidoff line included...
- No. 1 - 7 1/2" x 38 (192 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 1, a long panetela
- No. 2 - 6" x 38 (152 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 2, a panetela
- Ambassadrice - 4 1/2" x 26 (115 x 10.32 mm) Laguito No. 3, a cigarillo
- Tubo - 6" x 38 (152 x 15.08 mm) Laguito No. 2, a panetela (same blend as the No. 2)
- Dom Pérignon - 7" x 47 (178 x 18.65 mm) Julieta, a churchill
Châteaux Series
- Château Haut-Brion - 4" x 40 (102 x 15.87 mm) Perla, a tres petit corona
- Château Lafite - 4 1/2" x 40 (116 x 15.87 mm) Franciscano, a tres petit corona
- Château Lafite-Rothschild - 4 1/2" x 40 (116 x 15.87 mm) Franciscano, a tres petit corona (name changed from above circa 1983)
- Château Latour - 5 5/8" x 42 (142 x 16.67 mm) Corona, a corona
- Château Margaux - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona
- Château Mouton Rothschild - 6 1/8" x 42 (155 x 16.67 mm) Corona Grande, a long corona
- Château Yquem - 6" x 42 (152 x 16.67 mm) ?, a long corona
Mille Series
- 1000 - 4 5/8" x 34 (117 x 13.49 mm) Panetela, a small panetela
- 2000 - 5 1/8" x 42 (129 x 16.67 mm) Mareva, a petit corona
- 3000 - 7" x 33 (178 x 13.10 mm) Ninfa, a slim panetela
- 4000 - 6 1/8" x 42 (155 x 16.67 mm) Corona Grande, a long corona
- 5000 - 5 5/8" x 46 (143 x 18.26 mm) Corona Gorda, a toro
Special Production
- 80 Aniversario - 9 1/4" x 47 (235 x 18.65 mm) Gran Corona, a giant or presidente
 The outside of a box of Davidoff No. 1 |
 A box of Davidoff No. 1 |
 A bundle of Davidoff No. 2 in a cabinet box |
 A bundle of Davidoff No. 2 wrapped in palm bark |
 Davidoff Tubos |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff 1000 |
 A single Davidoff 2000 in a cabinet box |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff 3000 |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff 4000 |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff 5000 |
 Davidoff 80 Aniversario |
 A box of Davidoff Dom Perignon |
 Outside of a Davidoff Dom Perignon 10th Anniversary box |
 Inside the Davidoff Dom Perignon 10th Anniversary box |
 The booklet inside the Davidoff Dom Perignon 10th Anniversary box |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff Château Haut-Brion |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff Château Lafite |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff Château Latour |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff Château Margaux |
 A cabinet box of Davidoff Château Mouton Rothschild |
Apparently after numerous disputes over quality and ownership rights over the brand, Zino Davidoff and Cubatabaco decided to end their relationship. Leading up to this, Zino had publicly burned over one-hundred thousand of his cigars that he had deemed unfit to sell and of low quality in August of 1989. The Cuban Davidoff line was official discontinued in 1991 and an agreement was signed that no more Cuban Davidoff was sold in Davidoff shop worldwide, a Dominican-made Davidoff cigar having already hit the market in November of 1990, where production of the same sizes formerly made in Cuba continues to this day.
Former managers at El Laguito have claimed that the Davidoff blend was very similar to Cohíba, except with a lighter wrapper leaf. The bands used on Davidoff cigars themselves are of the same format as personalized diplomatic cigar bands had been in previous years. Adriano Martínez, a former executive of Habanos SA, confirmed in Min Ron Nee's Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars that the Cohíba Línea 1492 was made to fill in the gap left by the discontinuation of Davidoff.
Zino Davidoff passed away on January 14, 1994 at the age of 87.
[edit] Davidoff Products Today
Davidoff continues to produce cigars in the Dominican Republic, under the direction of cigar blender Heinrich "Henke" Kelner. Since moving, Davidoff has added an Aniversario series, a Millennium series, and a Special series of figuardos to its lineup. Davidoff also produces a less-expensive Zino line of cigars and a line of cigarillos.
Davidoff lends its name to a brand of cigarettes produced by Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH, owned by Imperial Tobacco of the UK. The cigarette line include the Magnum, Supreme, Classic, Mild, Lights, Magnum Lights, Slims, Ultra lights, and Menthol. Due to legal issues, the sale of Davidoff cigarettes is prohibited in the United States, though the Dominican-made cigars are allowed.
Beyond tobacco products, Davidoff has expanded considerably to include under its brand such things as pipes, humidors, watches, neckties, wallets, briefcases, pens, cognac, coffee and cologne.
