One of the names that has appeared a fair amount on this site in 2022 is Eladio Diaz, a person who I don’t think I would have expected to appear in so many articles and headlines.
That’s because Diaz largely stayed out of the public eye during his 35-year tenure with Davidoff, which came to an end in 2021. He has since gone on to open his own factory, Tabacalera Diaz Cabrera, and is now producing cigars for several companies.
But for this review, we have to go back to Diaz’s time with Davidoff, in particular his time as the company’s former blend and quality control chief. Diaz created a series of cigars for himself every year for his birthday, and while the cigars were never sold, a portion of the limited quantity did get shared with family, friends and colleagues. Among those with whom the cigars were shared, they gained a reputation for being stronger and fairly different from the typical Davidoff profile of the time.
Those cigars would go onto become the basis for a new line from Davidoff called The Master Selection, which debuted in 2017 with six cigars, named for the years in which the original blends debuted. Five years later, two more cigars joined the line, the seventh cigar being The Master Selection Series 2012 that debuted in August 2022, while the eighth is this cigar, the The Master Selection 2014, which was released on Sept. 1, 2022.
The blend features a Dominican wrapper, an Ecuadorian 702 binder, and a mix of Dominican-grown fillers that includes piloto ligero and visus, a hybrid olor, and then ligero, visus and seco leaves from the San Vicente region. The company calls it a medium-strength blend.
Note: The following shows the various Davidoff The Master Selection Series vitolas. Some of these cigars may have been released after this post was originally published. The list was last updated on Dec. 20, 2022
- Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2013 (6 x 52) — June 2017 — 2,300 Boxes of 10 Cigars (23,000 Total Cigars)
- Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2016 (6 x 52) — June 2017— 1,200 Boxes of 10 Cigars (12,000 Total Cigars)
- Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2010 (6 x 52) — August 2017 — 2,750 Boxes of 10 Cigars (27,500 Total Cigars)
- Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2011 (6 x 52) — August 2017 — 1,200 Boxes of 10 Cigars (12,000 Total Cigars)
- Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2007 (6 x 52) — September 2017 — 2,100 Boxes of 10 Cigars (21,000 Total Cigars)
- Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2008 (6 x 52) — September 2017 — 1,200 Boxes of 10 Cigars (12,000 Total Cigars)
- Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2012 (6 x 52) — August 2022 — 7,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (70,000 Total Cigars)
- Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2014 (6 x 52) — September 2022 — 2,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (25,000 Total Cigars)
92
Overall Score
While I go into each cigar review with an open mind and as little of a preconceived idea as to what a cigar will offer, knowing a bit about the reputation of the cigars that Eladio Diaz has created does create a bit of expectation. And quite simply, this cigar delivered. Borrowing a line from Charlie Minato’s review of the Viaje Skull and Bones M?stery (2022), it was an easy to understand the excellence of the cigar. The profile was an easy and enjoyable introduction to the profile, and from there the cigar went on a steady progression of fantastic flavors with few if any bumps along the way. It also offers a fantastic interaction between puffs and retrohales, as they complement each other consistently throughout the cigar. Combined with near-flawless construction, the Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2014 is quite simply a fantastic cigar that is very easy to enjoy from the first puff to the last, assuming you’ve got the time to do so.
As with all the previous cigars in The Master Selection series, it is offered in a 6 x 52 toro vitola, has an MSRP of $35 per cigar and $350 for a box of 10 cigars. A total of 2,500 boxes of 10 cigars have been produced, which are available through Davidoff’s online store, Davidoff of Geneva — since 1911 retail stores, and other Davidoff appointed merchants.
- Cigar Reviewed: Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2014
- Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
- Factory: Cigars Davidoff
- Wrapper: Dominican Republic
- Binder: Ecuador (702)
- Filler: Dominican Republic (Piloto Ligero and Viso, Hybrid Olor, and San Vicente Ligero, Visos and Seco)
- Length: 6 Inches
- Ring Gauge: 52
- Vitola: Toro
- MSRP: $35 (Box of 10, $350)
- Release Date: Sept. 1, 2022
- Number of Cigars Released: 2,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (25,000 Total Cigars)
- Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3
Once out of the cellophane, the Davidoff The Master Selection 2014 is a fairly standard looking cigar, bands notwithstanding. The wrappers are smooth on the fingers but still offer a bit of texture, while color-wise they are on the darker side of medium with a few lighter spots around the handful of veins on each of the wrappers. My first inclination is to call the shade a nutty brown, though there is more earthiness to the color, and at times it reminds me of the color of some coffee beans. The cigars are all rolled to a very firm density but still have just a bit of give, and they certainly look good from a visual perspective with flat seams and tidy heads. The feet of all three of the cigars offer an aroma of a freshly opened jar of room temperature peanut butter, with just a touch of oiliness as well as some effervescence in how it hits the nostrils. Behind that is what smells like the cut-off crusts of a more organic, whole grain bread. The cold draws also have a bit of the peanut butter flavor, though it’s milder and smoother on the taste buds than the aroma was in the nostrils, almost on par with the peanut butter you’d find spread between a pair of crackers. Air flow is quite good across all three of the samples. Neither the aromas or cold draws offer much in the way of pepper.
The Davidoff The Master Selection 2014 opens with a dry and seemingly peppery first puff, the first part reminding me of a bit of toast, while the second sensation provides a gentle yet somewhat extended tingling of the taste buds. There’s also a very light bit of earthy terroir, and I find some of the peanut butter sensation from the pre-light aroma. One cigar also has the oiliness that one tends to find in peanut butter that has begun to separate, adding another dimension to the start of the cigar. Retrohales have a distinct black pepper to them, subtle but with a bit of char that is quite enjoyable and a pleasant accent to the flavor. I’d peg the start at medium-minus and very approachable, building into a medium intensity flavor by the one-inch mark. The ash is a bit flakier than I would like, though on the whole it holds on well until suddenly dropping on my desk. After that, there is a bit more pronounced pepper in the profile, as my taste buds tingle, as do my nostrils following a retrohale. While I wouldn’t call the cigar sweet, the oiliness does seem to have something that registers as sweet on my palate, and for a moment the thought of an almond liqueur enters my head. The first third is generally in the medium range, body is medium, and strength is mild. Construction has been fantastic thus far, and I’m particularly pleased by the plentiful smoke production of the cigar.
As the second third gets underway, the cigar picks up a very enjoyable richness and cohesion of flavors; it almost has me thinking of a smoked custard at some points, with a creamy vanilla base flavor entering the profile. It not only adds a very enjoyable richness, but helps to smooth out the textured profile in the first third. Retrohales are still packed with black pepper, and taking one will help pull out the pepper on the profile as well. Sprinkled in among this section are bits of light salted dry pretzels as well. When it’s really dialed in, the first half of this section really shines with a rich complexity and enough pepper to provide a satisfying tingle. The flavor begins shifting towards an earthier, peppier profile, peeling off the sweeter layers from earlier one by one. By the end of the this section, I realize that the creamy custard has seemingly completely disappeared, replaced by a more savory note of warmed nuts with a sprinkle of smoky seasoning, which then leads into a finish of dry chopped firewood. Flavor tops out at medium-plus, body is medium-plus, and strength is medium-minus. Construction has been very good, with an easy draw, even burn line and plenty of smoke.
The final third starts off as the most robust profile the cigar has offered thus far, further developing the woodiness and black pepper, which nudges the nuts into the background. While I wouldn’t describe the profile as being creamy, some creaminess begins to emerge on the finish, which gets me hopeful that it will return to the main flavor on subsequent puffs. The pepper has a punchier effect on my nostrils, though it also has more body to it, almost like being hit with a firm pillow. The final inch or so hold onto the robustness, with a bit more earthiness in the profile and the pepper leaving a bit more of a heat-driven tingle that gets me spacing out my puffs a bit more. This, in turn, leads the cigar to need the occasional relight, the only time that aspect has been an issue. The earth makes one final pivot to add a bit of minerals Construction has otherwise been fantastic and near flawless. Flavor finishes up medium-full, body is medium-plus, and strength is medium.
Final Notes:
- In 2018, Davidoff added a line called Master Blend Selection, which is made up of 15 numbered cigars that are inspired by Eladio Diaz’s travels. The line certainly bears a similarity in name to The Master Selection, though they drawn on different sources for their creation.
- There have also been other assorted Master Blend Selection cigars available through the Davidoff of Geneva — since 1911 flagship stores in New York City, though they were not always in the same 6 x 52 toro vitola of the Master Blend Selection referenced above.
- As mentioned above, the line draws its roots to Eladio Díaz, and the boxes used to bear the name and signature of Diaz. This cigar now features Julio Martinez’s name and signature, who has been billed as one of the company’s master rollers, but whose name was not included in the press release or on Davidoff’s website where the cigars are available for sale.
- While it builds from start to finish, the Davidoff The Master Selection 2014 didn’t hit me with much in the way of a nicotine punch.
- The Davidoff of Geneva webstore lists this as a cigar that will take 60 minutes to smoke, something that—as usual—I did not find to be the case.
- Final smoking time was three hours on average.
- The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
92
Overall Score
While I go into each cigar review with an open mind and as little of a preconceived idea as to what a cigar will offer, knowing a bit about the reputation of the cigars that Eladio Diaz has created does create a bit of expectation. And quite simply, this cigar delivered. Borrowing a line from Charlie Minato’s review of the Viaje Skull and Bones M?stery (2022), it was an easy to understand the excellence of the cigar. The profile was an easy and enjoyable introduction to the profile, and from there the cigar went on a steady progression of fantastic flavors with few if any bumps along the way. It also offers a fantastic interaction between puffs and retrohales, as they complement each other consistently throughout the cigar. Combined with near-flawless construction, the Davidoff The Master Selection Series 2014 is quite simply a fantastic cigar that is very easy to enjoy from the first puff to the last, assuming you’ve got the time to do so.
I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the G-League's Valley Suns, and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.