Davidoff of Geneva 25th Anniversary

While my favorite Davidoff from last year got plenty of attention, my favorite Davidoff from the year before seems to have never caught on. That cigar was created in honor of Davidoff of Geneva’s 25th year in the U.S. market—the Davidoff of Geneva 25th Anniversary.

Here’s what I said about the cigar back in August of 2013:

I have mentioned in the past that there are Davidoff cigars I really like—perhaps more than the rest of this site—I just hadn’t reviewed any of them. This is Davidoff at its finest: a flawless draw, layers upon layers of complex flavors and a price tag that we so oftentimes associate with the Davidoff name. While I don’t get the anniversary, I more importantly get the cigar. There have been Davidoffs reviewed on this site that I have found good, but never—up until this point—great. At $22 per cigar it’s going to be frustrating, but I’ll splurge on a few for when my palate needs this sort of cigar, because even for Davidoff, this kind of finesse is not a common occurrence.

The cigar eventually shipped in October—one of a plethora of new releases from Davidoff in late 2013—and seems to have done okay at retail, although fortunately for me, I seem to still be able to find a few retailers with ample supply. I ended up buying a box of them for my personal use last year, one of two boxes of cigars I purchased for myself in 2014.

• Cigar Reviewed: Davidoff of Geneva 25th Anniversary
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Cigars Davidoff
• Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Yamasa)
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Size: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 56
• Vitola: Robusto Gordo
• MSRP: $22 (Boxes of 10, $220)
• Date Released: October 2013
• Number of Cigars to be Released: 3,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)*
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 1

The Davidoff of Geneva 25th still looks great with a slightly oily peanut color wrapper. Out of the cellophane, I’m a bit surprised as to how much leather there is, accompanied by just a bit of nuttiness. The foot is full and diverse: cinnamon, cocoa, leather, pepper and an overwhelming nutty flavor. There’s some leather, a bit of a paint taste and some mild nuttiness from the cold draw—not exactly a great sign.

Fortunately, the Davidoff of Geneva 25th Anniversary starts with some incredible floral notes, a hearty cedar and some pepper underneath. As the smoke leaves the nose there’s sweet vanilla, leather and earth underneath. The draw is slightly open, but the flavor is great. The floral flavor remains on the tongue joined by lemon juice, black pepper and a big roasted coffee flavor through the nose with a bit of creaminess towards. Through the end, there’s a bit of the muskiness that Davidoff is oftentimes known for, but it’s much sweeter. Things get toastier in the second third, but it is still quite sweet and diverse. A larger change takes place in the final third with the Davidoff of Geneva 25th Anniversary retaining its lemon flavor, but the creaminess and coffee are now on the tongue and mixed together. There’s a slight bit of leather, pecans, walnuts and grassiness.

While I found the cold draw to be a bit open, the actual draw tightened just slightly. Strength-wise, it’s still medium-full, what I found the cigar to be when I first smoked a prerelease sample nearly 20 months ago. While the strength is not a typical Davidoff, the construction is—solid and even ash, great smoke production and the aforementioned draw.