Davidoff Unveils Yamasá

After a month of teasing, the Davidoff Yamasá, the formal name for the company’s newest cigar, has been unveiled.

The new line, which will debut at the 2016 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, takes inspiration and tobacco from Yamasá, a region in central Dominican Republic located about 20 miles north of the capital, Santo Domingo.

It will use a wrapper from Yamasá, San Vicente binder from Yamasá and filler tobaccos from Condega and Estelí, Nicaragua as well as Dominican piloto and mejorado tobaccos.

Davidoff has been growing tobacco for two decades in Yamasá, a region not known for being friendly to tobacco. While the company employs scientists, notably Manuel Peralta, to help understand much of the tobacco growing process, sometimes the Swiss company and its Dominican growers go with their gut.

The company realized it needed to raise the pH level of the soil in Yamasá and did so by hand on a plant-by-plant basis. It then worked to find the best three seeds amongst 30 and opted to use only 21 of the 100 hectares available as part of the operation. The company says that part of this strategy was done based on Henke Kelner’s intuition.

But even after all that, the Yamasá tobacco’s special treatment didn’t end. The company built climate controlled storage areas for the tobacco as it was removed from the field, hung and dried.

The new line is offered in four sizes: Robusto (5 x 50, $19.70), Toro (6 x 52, $22.70), Pirámides (6 1/8 x 52, $23) and Petit Churchill (4 x 48, $12.90). The three larger sizes come in boxes of 12 while the Petit Churchill will be packaged in boxes of 14. In addition, all four sizes are offered in four-packs.

Davidoff will begin shipping the cigars in late July.