Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit

It’s a bit odd to be writing about a cigar that celebrates the new year—Zodiac or otherwise—in late August, but due to a shipping hiccup and a handful of schedule challenges, here we are.

For the last 11-plus years, Davidoff has celebrated the Lunar New Year with a new cigar named for the animal associated with the coming new year. This started in 2012 with the Davidoff Cuvée Selection 2012 Year of the Dragon, a regional exclusive for Asia that looked more like a typical White Label release as opposed to the current red-and-gold designs, The Zodiac Series would more officially kick off the following year with the Davidoff Limited Edition 2013 Year of the Snake, and it has since grown to 14 releases:

The most recent release, the Davidoff Year of the Rabbit, is a 5 15/16 x 54 double perfecto finished off by a small pigtail, something rarely seen on perfectos. The cigar’s blend uses an Ecuadorian hybrid 238 wrapper over a Mexican San Andrés negro binder and five fillers. Four of those fillers are from the Dominican Republic—piloto seco, San Vicente ligero, San Vicente seco and Yamasá viso—while the fifth is seco from Estelí, Nicaragua. Davidoff says the average age of the filler tobacco is four and a half years.

It was released in November 2022, and arrived with the highest price of any Zodiac Series to date, with the MSRP set at $50 per cigar. As for production, it was limited to 6,500 boxes of 10 cigars for the U.S. market, with those boxes notable for a pattern on the exterior of the box that is made to mimic the hops that a rabbit makes. Inside the box, the cigar are arranged in a design that looks like a rabbit’s warren, the connecting burrows that rabbits dig underground.

The line also offers a matching Masterpiece Humidor, ashtray, cutter and pipe, though the Year of the Rabbit pipe tobacco was not offered at U.S. retailers.

And before we get into this review, if you’re thinking that you’ve already read a review of the Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit, you’re not wrong, as in January 2023, Charlie Minato reviewed the Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit Flagship Exclusive, a 6 x 56 toro gordo version that was only available at Davidoff of Geneva — since 1911 flagship stores. The cigar also came in dressed-up 24-count boxes, with just 600 of those boxes produced. That cigar also raised the mark for the highest-priced Davidoff Zodiac Series release, with cigars priced at $72 and boxes priced at $1,728.

• Cigar Reviewed: Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Cigars Davidoff
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Hybrid 238)
• Binder: Mexico (San Andrés Negro)
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Piloto Seco, San Vicente Ligero, San Vicente Seco and Yamasá Viso) and Nicaragua (Estelí Seco)
• Length: 5 15/16 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Perfecto
• MSRP: $50 (Box of 10, $500)
• Release Date: November 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: 6,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (65,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit comes in a very attractive perfecto vitola, with a subtle taper at the head and the more pronounced one at the foot, a shape that should definitely be appreciated before being smoked. The pigtail is small and a bit askew, given one flip and laid casually upon the head. On some cigars the tobacco pulls and strains a bit, creating the kind of visual seen on a garment that is just a bit too snug. There are some spots where I am convinced I am feeling toothiness on the leaf, but I don’t see any of the little bumps, which leads me to believe it’s just the dry texture of the leaf as there doesn’t seem to be much oiliness. The small opening of the foot doesn’t allow for a large surface area, but the aroma overcomes the challenge and offers freshly chopped, dry firewood along with nuttiness and a bit of peanut butter. The wrapper has a pronounced aroma of raw almonds, some sort of firewood and, in one of the cigars, I find it to be a better experience than that of the foot. The cold draw is very smooth on all three cigars, and especially impressive given the foot of this cigar. The flavor is mild, at times reminding me of a glazed old-fashioned donut, at other times repeating the raw almond flavor with a bit of black pepper.

The Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit starts off incredibly well, with creaminess counterbalancing some dry earth, cocoa powder and a bit of black pepper, hitting the taste buds by way of a medium-plus bodied smoke that is just thick enough to sit on the tongue for a moment before departing. Retrohales have a bit of charred wood and black pepper to them, the latter most noticeable for the sensation it elicits in my nostrils, while just a touch of creaminess helps smooth the smoke’s exit. While the flavor tends to be on the dry side, there are times when it reminds me of a warm beverage, almost black tea or some other varietal. After the first clump of ash drops, the flavor hits a real sweet spot, merging nuttiness, some campfire and related woodiness, along with a bit of pepper, into an absolutely beautiful harmony. There is also something that elicits the thought of creaminess, but it’s also distinctive, with the first thing that pops into my mind being a milk tea. Construction is about as close to perfect as I could want, with a smooth draw, even burn and plenty of smoke, though never an overwhelming amount. Flavor is medium-plus, body is medium-plus and strength is mild.

The aroma develops a bit more not long into the second third, and is now holding its own as well as being a solid contributor to the experience. It’s not necessarily stronger, but there’s black pepper, cake donut, and perhaps most importantly, just a bit of softness that allows for full retrohales to be taken without overpowering my senses. The second third adds a more traditional creaminess that is well-received as it provides a few moments where the brighter flavors can duck off-stage without costing the cigar almost anything in terms of enjoyability. Past the midway point, the black pepper turns a bit more robust, picking up just a bit of char similar to that of burnt ends of a steak—though there’s no meatiness here—and starts to drive the rest of this section. A very faint amount of chalk and mineral emerges at the end of this section, hopefully signaling just a transition to the final third, and not a wrong turn for the profile. This section sees flavor dials back to medium before ramping up to medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium minus. Construction remains nearly flawless.

As I noted in the previous section, a new expression of pepper has begun to emerge, and a little sharper version of the pepper starts off this section, which is about the only thing I take issue with, only because it bites my tongue and nostrils a little more than I would prefer. That said, it is just a hair or two over the line for me, meaning it could certainly be ideal for someone else. Flavor-wise, there are still some almonds and mixed nuts, a bit of a well-baked cake donut, a more relaxed black pepper, and touches of creaminess, all of which are impressively balanced in their complexity. I’ve compared cigars to music at times, and this is certainly an example of high-level harmony in a cigar, as no one flavor tends to dominate the other, and while all are easy to identify, they come together in a way that makes me think only of them as a singular entity. Flavor finishes medium-plus, body is medium-plus, and strength is medium-minus. Construction isn’t even a thought in my mind, as all three cigars burn without issue.

Final Notes

• This is a cigar that I have to imagine I would have an even more favorable opinion of if I wasn’t reviewing it, as the process sometimes forces us to be a bit too observant and critical of a cigar. But simply lighting this up without the burden of critiquing it would seemingly yield a very good result.
• The ash isn’t fragile, but it definitely doesn’t like hanging on for more than about half an inch. This is, quite literally, the cigar where the ash drops off the moment you have the thought, “I should probably knock the ash off so it doesn’t end up on my desk/laptop/lap/chair.”
• As someone who has done a number of rolling seminars and been able to try my hand at rolling a cigar, I can barely imagine the technique that must be mastered to make this vitola.
• We often talk about retrohales and their importance to getting the full experience of a cigar, but there are times when the retrohale is too potent to do so. The Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit is a great example of a blend tempering the intensity so as to allow for the person smoking the cigar to get a full retrohale without feeling like their nose is under siege.
• The Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit placed #8 on halfwheel’s 2022 Packaging Awards, earning praise for its lacquered exterior that has an etched pattern similar to how a rabbit hops, and that the 10 cigars in each box are laid out in a manner that is meant to mimic a rabbit’s warren, which are the connecting burrows that rabbits dig underground.
• I really wish this cigar would have been reviewed closer to its release date, as it is becoming harder and harder to find. It reminds me of a conversation that I had with Charlie Minato about his review of the Punch Dad Bod, a Father’s Day-themed cigar that was reviewed in late August. In order to maintain consistency in our review process, that means there are a few weeks that need to occur between when we buy the cigars and when the review runs. As noted above, this one also ran into some scheduling challenges—both due to my calendar and due to halfwheel’s review calendar—which eventually landed it on the schedule for late August. I would have loved to have both reviews run right as the cigars arrived on store shelves, but such is not the case.
• I didn’t find the Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit to offer any appreciable level of nicotine strength, which I give it credit for as an extension of the balance and complexity that the flavor offered.
• Davidoff advertises on halfwheel.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was two hours on average.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars Direct, and Corona Cigar Co. carry the Davidoff Limited Edition 2023 Year of the Rabbit.