Davidoff Puro d’Oro Gordito (Prerelease)

Earlier this month, Davidoff announced it was nearing the eighth release of its Puro d’Oro line, the Gordito. The cigar begins shipping to retailers this week, meaning the 3 3/4 x 58 vitola will begin arriving in stores just before March. 

Davidoff’s press release covered the basic details:

Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” Gorditos: a new addition to the series
February 11, 2013 (Basel, Switzerland) — For the first time in its history, Davidoff will soon be launching “Puro d’Oro” Gorditos : a rich and bold , short, 58 ring gauge format cigar for pleasurable escapes…
“Puro d’Oro” is synonymous with bold richness. The Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” Gorditos, a new additional format to the series, provide strong, intense smoking pleasure in just 30 minutes. This innovative short and thick 58 ring gauge format suits the needs of the urban aficionados who lead hectic business lifestyles, allowing them to kick back and relax or enjoy short breaks with intensely pleasurable draws.
As with all Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” cigars, the Gorditos are made with 100% Dominican tobacco. The tobacco leaves are carefully selected before being stored for at least five years and perfectly blended. The Yamasá wrapper is a particular feature of the “Puro d’Oro” series.
It is dried and fermented for an exceptionally long time, which gives it its darker colour, oily appearance and intense aromas. Due to the cigar’s shorter length, the notes of coffee, spices, roasted flavour and the series typical hint of sweetness develop faster. The result: a full body cigar boasting strong to intense flavours and rich aromas. As the Spanish diminutive form suggests, Gorditos are short and thick, with a ring gauge of 58 and a length of 3 ¾″. The golden bands on the head and foot of the cigar which wraps around the dark brown Yamasá wrapper with its elegant shimmer, are the special trademark of this exceptional series.
Short inspirational escapes, uncompromising boldness, luscious richness: three elements of the new Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” Gorditos
A must-have and a trendsetter for everyone who loves the luxury of intense pleasure.
A perfect companion for the enjoyment of a Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” in a relatively short time.
This new product is produced in packs of 4 and boxes of 25, will be available at selected tobacconists from March 2013 .
Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” Gorditos
Format: Short Robusto
Length: 9.4 cm, 3 ¾″
Diameter: 2.3 cm, 58 RG
Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Yamasá)
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: $350.00- (Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” Gordito 25’S)
$56.00- (Davidoff “Puro d’Oro” Gordito cello 4’S)

When the Puro d’Oro line was introduced in 2010, the line was touted for two particularly unique features. First, it was Davidoff’s first Dominican puro, something made clear by the name. Secondly, the vitolas were actually blended differently with only the Yamasá wrapper remaining consistent between the sizes.

Over the last few years Davidoff has added additional sizes to the line and introduced a gold main band for the line at IPCPR 2012 to accompany the line’s original foot band.

The eight vitolas that make up the Puro d’Oro line are:

• Eminentes (6 x 52)
• Notable (5 5/8 x 46)
• Deliciosos (4 7/8 x 43)
• Magnificos (5 1/8 x 52)
• Sublimes (4 1/2 x 38)
• Momentos (4 x 41)
• Super Robusto (5 1/2 x 56)
• Gordito (3 3/4 x 58)

The Puro d’Oro Gordito is offered in three different formats:

• Boxes of 4 Cigars — $56.00
• Boxes of 25 Cigars — $350.00
• Short Pleasures Assortment — $45.00

The boxes of four look like this:

• Cigar Reviewed: Davidoff Puro d’Oro Gordito
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Cigars Davidoff
• Wrapper: Dominican Yamasá
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Size: 3 3/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 58
• Vitola: Petit Gordo
• MSRP: $14.00 (Boxes of 25, $350.00)
• Release Date: February 2013
• Number of Cigars to be Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

I wouldn’t describe myself as a fan of foot bands or excessive use of gold, but this doesn’t look awful. Given the 58 ring gauge, the golden Davidoff band is gigantic and very gold. It’s a bit smaller than the typical NUb, or at least it feels that way, but this is still a short and fat cigar. I enjoy the use of the precisely-applied pigtail, although on one of the samples it didn’t survive. The Yamasá wrapper is not the finest example of wrapper I’ve seen from Davidoff, but despite the spots you can’t help but admire how well it’s applied. Aroma from the cigar is a combination of sweet nuts, cedars, leathers and raspberry. Cold draw of the Gordito features some earthiness, sweet cedars, leathers and a pungent black pepper—all somehow balanced.

The first third of the Puro d’Oro begins with some big Dominican cedars accompanied by some sweet and creamy notes. It’s medium, delicate and smooth and ends up leading to my mouth salivating heavily. Flavors of leather and aged tobacco become present, but the core  is relatively the same as the beginning: cedar, sweet and creamy. From the get go, the idea of smoking this in 30 minutes seems ambitious. As much as I try, the burn is neither fast, nor straight. Smoke production peaks slightly above average, but it takes work.

Into the second third and a plethora of citrus notes present themselves on the nose. Up front, it’s a bit earthier, but otherwise the same as the second third. The Gordito is a cigar that proves the value of retrohaling quite easily. I’d peg the Davidoff at medium plus to medium-full, surely not the full that Davidoff’s press materials advertise, but it’s definitely one of the stronger White Label offerings. Once again, the construction is not ideal, coming up slightly short in every category.

I only got to the final third once undamaged by the cold. There’s more creaminess on the nose, but the transition from the second third to the final portions is difficult to really peg. Elsewhere, little has changed. Despite what the picture shows, the Gordito was still smokeable, I just had to stop somewhere to grab a picture and I was fearful anything more would have led to nothing left.

Final Notes:

• From the moment I read the press material I was concerned. Marketing a cigar for winter just seems dangerous. Cigars in general don’t perform well in the cold, it’s just not ideal. One of the three Gorditos I smoked managed to survive unscathed, it was the one I smoked in 50 degree weather. At the high 30s/low 40s that I smoked the photographed example, the wrapper showed obvious signs of stress early on and it got worse as the cigar burned. I get that this might be a good size for short in times, but it’s hard to say this is a good cigar for the cold when the end result looks like the above.
• That being said, the flavor between the three examples was pretty consistent. The only major difference was the amount of work it took to get the cigar to burn at a high rate of smoke production. As long as smoke pours from the Gordito, the flavor is good.
• One day Davidoff will make a band that isn’t a pain to photograph.
• On two of the cigars I smoked some of the filling fell out of the bottom, this wasn’t particularly exciting.
• A lot of manufacturers have tried to make these NUb-like cigars. I don’t think anyone has come close to the success that Oliva has had. I think the biggest difference between Oliva and examples like Altadis and this is that the former decided to make lines of NUbs whereas the latter have decided to include NUb-sized cigars in lines.
• This is a medium plus cigar to me. Even smoking as quick as possible, the cigar was never beyond that level.
• Davidoff gets a lot of complaints regarding price, $14.00 for a 3 3/4 inch cigar is not going to help.
• I love the pigtail. It looks about as well done as you could have applied it.
• The cigars for this review were sent by Davidoff.
• Much like Oliva with its NUbs, Davidoff published a suggested smoking time for this size, this time 30 minutes. The cold didn’t make reaching that time easier, but I doubt I personally ever could reach those times.
• Smoking time ranged from 40 minutes to one hour and 10 minutes.
• Site sponsor Cigar King (1.800.669.7167) is a Davidoff appointed merchant. The Gordito is shipping to retailers this week, so they should have it in stock soon. Don’t forget to tell them halfwheel sent you.