Davidoff Maduro Robusto (2024)

In April 2024, Davidoff brought back its Davidoff Maduro line, which had previously been off the market for just about eight years.

Davidoff first introduced the Maduro in 2008, though it was discontinued in 2016 as part of a portfolio trimming that included parts of its Puro d’Oro and Aniversarion lines, as well as the Davidoff Classic No. 1 and No. 3; Grand Cru No. 1 and No. 4; and the Millennium Blend Lancero and Lonsdale.

Its return was first made by way of it being an auction item at the 2024 Procigar Festival in the Dominican Republic. The company contributed one of its Monolith Humidors, a container made from a single piece of moca creme limestone with an odorless wood interior, likely okume wood. Inside that humidor were 120 of the Davidoff Maduro Toro. The item sold for $35,000 during the festival’s auction.

The Davidoff Maduro returns with a new blend, using an Ecuadorian maduro wrapper, a Mexican binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic. Getting more into the details, Davidoff says it “doubled the fermentation period of Maduro’s wrapper leaf, thus creating a natural temperature increase in the fermentation pile tailored to the leaf.” That extended the time period to 16 months in total. Additionally, the wrapper is described as a higher-priming “Corte #7” leaf, meaning it is higher up on the plant and receives more sunlight, which also tends to mean an increased flavor and strength profile.

“Time makes all the difference in our new Maduro line. We refrain from adding any external heat sources and allow nature and time to perfect the leaves in our expertly maintained fermentation pile,” said Edward Simon, chief marketing officer at Oettinger Davidoff, in a press release last month. “This labour- and time-intensive process, accompanied by extensive testing and followed by a long ageing phase, has resulted in a wonderfully refined cigar with a flavour profile and body that will be highly sought-after in the market. I am sure that our new Maduro, in which we have invested so much dedication and knowledge, will fill our aficionados’ time beautifully.”

The company has not made a statement about how many cigars are being produced other than to call it “limited production.”

• Cigar Reviewed: Davidoff Maduro Robusto (2024)
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Cigars Davidoff
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Corte #7 Maduro)
• Binder: Mexico
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Robusto
• MSRP: $50 (Box of 20, $1,000)
• Release Date: April 4, 2024
• Number of Cigars Released: Undisclosed
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Davidoff Maduro Robusto looks great, both from a rolling perspective and how the clean, classic bands complement the color of the wrapper leaf while providing both contrast and similarities to each other. Two of the three cigars are firm, with just a little bit of give in certain spots, while the third cigar is softer on the whole and equal to the soft spots on the other two cigars. The wrappers are on the dry side with a bit of tactile texture for my fingers. Veins are small and noticeable, I don’t see much if any toothiness, and the colors are very even. While I might expect a darker cigar to have a heavier aroma, the Davidoff Maduro Robusto (2024) disproves that suspicion, as the foot has aromas that are initially light and bright, with a pepper that quickly captures my attention. The first smell reminds me of a light, airy blueberry that is quickly supplanted by a fuller aroma that I can’t place in the first cigar, but on the second makes me think of putting my nose in a bag of wheat bread. The third cigar is bright but a bit fuller with its aroma as the wheat bread is fuller. One thing I can say about the prelight aromas is that they are all very soft on my nose and almost suck me in a bit, much like settling into a comfortable piece of furniture. The cold draw is smooth and well-calibrated, maybe a touch loose when not perfect, with a bit of chocolate or cocoa being the first thing to register on my taste buds. The secondary notes are a bit less distinctive, reminding more of dry tobacco than anything.

The first puffs of the Davidoff Maduro Robusto are attention-grabbing, and in the first cigar, not in the most pleasant of ways as there’s a disarray of sharp flavors and some funkiness that bombard my taste buds. The sensation in the first cigar is quite pronounced, the second a bit less so, and the third the least of the bunch, but not without some of it. The flavor sorts itself out slowly over the first inch as little specks of ash flake off the cigar, with some creaminess serving as the lifeline that the profile latches onto. There are still some dry notes to the cigar, making me think of hay, toast and cereal, as well as a sprinkling of black pepper that hits the front of my tongue. Retrohales help to guide the flavor as well, as they seem to dodge whatever funkiness is in the flavor, leading the march forward with some bright, crisp pepper. Flavor is a pretty lively medium-full, body is medium, and strength is mild. Construction is pretty solid on the whole, with two cigars getting a quick cosmetic touchup to even out the burn line, which is more a personal preference than a technical issue.

The mouth-drying sensations offered by the Davidoff Maduro Robusto continue, yet I’m not bothered by them as I might think I would be if they were being described to me be a salesperson. While I tend to think of maduro cigars as generally being richer and heavier flavor profiles, especially when compared to their “natural” counterparts, I don’t find the Davidoff Maduro Robusto to be particularly heavy on my palate. That said, it is heavier and more lively than what I would expect from a standard Davidoff blend without a maduro wrapper. There are touches of earthiness that set the base notes, while pepper is the most attention-grabbing. In between, I find some sweetness that reminds me of grape juice or grape jelly, depending on the cigar. Retrohales continue to be dominated by a bright black pepper that delivers an intense, quick tingle to the nostrils. The sweetness departs as this section comes to a close, bringing the profile back to its dry profile, with some dry wood filling in the space between the earth and pepper. Flavor is a slightly less vibrant medium-plus than what the first third offered, body is still medium, and strength is still mild. The draw in the second cigar is particularly good, as it is essentially effortless to get plenty of smoke out of both ends of the cigar. The third cigar really struggles with combustion, needing multiple relights to get through this section.

The final third introduces a mouth-drying flavor that cuts through the profile with a mission of hitting the top of my throat. I’d call it somewhere between very dry wood and well-toasted bread and quite vibrant and focused. The earthiness has lightened up a few ticks, enough to the point that I wouldn’t call the cigar earthy any longer, other than maybe there is some terroir lingering around, as I can’t find a better word to describe the parts of the profile that aren’t pepper. What there is still plenty of is stimulation of my taste buds, as each puff is determined to deliver a tingle. Retrohales slowly begin to introduce some creaminess, a welcomed change that gives that experience of the Davidoff Maduro Robusto some more complexity and a slightly softer sensation. The final inches bring about a heavy pepper in the profile, almost like the final spoonfuls of a decently seasoned bowl of soup where that seasoning falls to the bottom of the bowl. Flavor finishes at a fairly gruff medium-full, body is still medium-plus and strength has stepped up into medium. Combustion in the first two cigars is good if not totally perfect, while the third needs a handful of relights to get across the finish line. That said, the burn line, draw and smoke production are all very good.

Final Notes

• Given that a maduro blend seems to be a staple part of so many companies’ portfolios, it does seem a bit interesting that Davidoff’s White Label line would not have had one for eight years.
• In the second cigar, the first puffs created an audible sensation of tobacco burning, much like the kind of Foley effect that would be used in TV or film to accompany the image of paper burning.
• Parts of this cigar were so mouth-drying that it got me thinking about a lesson I learned many, many years ago about why bars would serve free snacks like pretzels and peanuts: they are cheap foods that are easy to eat without thinking that also happen to dry out your mouth so you order more drinks.
• As mentioned, one cigar needed a handful of relights in its second half to stay burning, a problem that I am finding in an increasing number of cigars from all sorts of manufacturers. Given that none of the cigars had apparent construction issues, such as a plugged or overly loose draw, it leads me to wonder about the tobacco inside. I will never know if it might have had too much moisture in it or just been an unlucky draw of leaves. That one cigar also happened to be the softest of the three in terms of density.
• Only one cigar hit me with any kind of appreciable nicotine strength, and it was that same cigar that had the softest density.

• The company lists these as a 5 x 50 robusto. The numbers above are the measurements we found for the three cigars used for this review.
• Davidoff advertises on halfwheel.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was two hours on average for two cigars, while the one with combustion issues took two hours and 50 minutes.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars Direct, Corona Cigar Co., and Famous Smoke Shop carry the Davidoff Maduro Robusto (2024).