A few weeks ago, word came out that Dunhill—an iconic name in the world of high-end tobacco products—is planning on ceasing the sale of its cigars and pipe tobacco. More specifically, British American Tobacco—owner of the Dunhill brand—plans on stopping the sale of Dunhill cigars and pipes.

Dunhill is best known for its work with Cuban cigars; first, with commissioned cigars made by the famous Cuban factories and later with a private label brand produced by Cubatabaco.

In 1991, Dunhill’s affair with Cuban cigars came to an end and the brand reemerged with Dominican-made cigars. Two years ago, the company decided to honor the 80th anniversary of the legendary Selección Suprema series with a special cigar. Selección Suprema was the name given to the program where Dunhill commissioned unique sizes from various Cuban factories which were then sold exclusively by Dunhill.

As for the commemorative cigar, it was called the Dunhill Signed Range Selección Suprema, a name created as a combination between the legendary series and the Signed Range, Dunhill’s most famous cigar since leaving Cuba.

It was offered in a single 6 x 50 toro size using a Nicaraguan wrapper and made at General Cigar Dominicana.

Here’s what I said last year when I reviewed it:

Much like the last time I talked about a non-Cuban cigar tasting quite Cuban, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have created the best cigar in the world. This is not a replica of the better Dunhill Seleción Supremas from the 1950s or 1960s, but there really isn’t much that is. I, like many, thought that while honoring the 80th anniversary of the legendary series was a great idea, it was almost a laughable task to create a cigar as good as some of the Selección Supremas were. While I don’t think this is that kind of caliber cigar, it’s an outstanding cigar in its own right. The hype is real; I’ll feed the machine one more time.

Dunhill Signed Range Seleccion Suprema 1

  • Cigar Reviewed: Dunhill Signed Range Selección Suprema
  • Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
  • Factory: General Cigar Dominicana
  • Wrapper: Nicaragua (Jalapa)
  • Binder: Broadleaf
  • Filler: Brazilian Mata Fina & Nicaragua (Estelí & Jalapa)
  • Length: 6 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 50
  • Vitola: Toro
  • MSRP: $20 (Boxes of 8, $160)
  • Release Date: October 2015
  • Number of Cigars Released: 2,500 Boxes of 8 Cigars (20,000 Total Cigars)
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 1

There’s a slight bend in my redux sample, which I would assume that is my fault though I’m curious as to how it happened as this has presumably sat untouched for the past year in a desktop humidor. Because the cigar was stored outside of cellophane, I’m not sure there’s much point describing the faint wrapper aroma. The foot provides some woods along with a Dr. Pepper cherry sweetness and cotton candy. It’s a similar story on the cold draw, albeit a bit more acute and without some of the cola flavors, though the artificial cherry remains.

The Dunhill Signed Range Selección Suprema begins with some Corn Pops along with a lot of earthiness. It’s very rich, but lacks almost all the sweetness, particularly the defined sweetness, I found in the retrohale. The first third takes a while to get burning, even with an extreme amount of smoke production, though the burn rate picks up after 30 minutes. While there’s a good mixture of creaminess, the familiar cherry sweetness, woods, peanuts and breads—the flavor is only medium-plus in intensity. Construction is impeccable throughout the first half with the draw being as good as any cigar I’ve had in recent memory, bend and all.

dunhill-signed-range-seleccion-suprema

As the cigar hits the halfway mark, the sweetness is largely disappeared. There’s a deep Worcestershire sauce flavor joined by some deep earth and an array of nuttiness. I pick up faint hints of lavender which help to break up the savory parade, though do little in the way of sweetness. A touch-up is made to the burn with two inches left; I probably could have kept smoking it, but it didn’t fully correct itself after an inch, so I decide to give it some assistance. Flavor-wise, it’s still quite savory with a meatiness, wet earth, buckwheat and some hay funkiness that reminds of fresh Yellow Rose, an IPA produced by Lone Pint Brewery in Magnolia, Texas. The Dunhill Signed Range Selección Suprema remains generally medium all the way throughout with medium-plus flavor, medium body and medium in strength.

92 Overall Score

While it’s certainly difficult to watch a brand like Dunhill go, I’m not sure there are that many people mourning over the disappearance of the actual cigars. Of course, if there were—maybe it wouldn’t be getting the axe. The Dunhill Signed Range Selección Suprema is different. It remains a fantastic cigar, the best cigar I’ve had from a General Cigar Co.-owned factory in years. Selfishly, I do hope we get to see these on clearance so the $20 price tag becomes easier to stomach.

Original Score (March 2016)
92
Redux Score (February 2017)
92
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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.