Each Thursday, we’ll be asking those closest to the industry what they keep in their humidor and what their smoking habits are…because we all want to know, right?!
Today we are joined by Michael Herklots, General Manager of Davidoff of Geneva, New York. As you’ll soon see, Michael is an avid cigar collector and aficionado. You can follow Michael on Twitter, and visit his store online. On his website, you can sign up for Davidoff newsletters and view their archived newsletters.
What’s in your humidor?
Wow – It depends on the humidor. I’ve been involved in cigars since 1998, and have cigars in my collection since I began. For example, I have a couple original CAO Maduros from the original Tambor Factory… back when “Don Douglas” was the “Don Pepin” of the 90′s and no one knew who “Don Pepin” was. I’ve got a couple Opus X “A’s” from an event I did in Boston with L.J. Peritti’s in 1999. I also have a few Zino Platinum Crown Series from 2004 when I hosted a number of events around the U.S. for the brand.
Although I am a retailer, I’m a cigar enthusiast, so I really enjoy smoking a lot of different things and collecting things. I have cigars from every limited edition Davidoff and Avo since 2001. I’ve got some other limited editions from years past, like Padron Millennium, MATASA 30′ths, etc…
What kind of humidor (and size) do you use for your personal storage?
Being a retailer helps here a little bit. I’ve got cigars stored in both stores in various desktops in my offices and in our storage humidors. At home, I have a small cabinet humidor, as well as several desktops, and a couple Humi-packs too… and it’s still never enough. It’s the curse of being a collector, there’s never enough space.
How many cigars are in your humidor right now?
I’m really not sure, but I’d have to guess that I own somewhere around 5,000 cigars or so.
How many cigars do you smoke in a typical day, when you’re not blend testing?
It’s funny, I’m smoking less than I used to these days. I tend to favor the Zino philosophy more and more… “Smoke less but better”. My patience for inferior cigars is dwindling since my time to enjoy a cigar is also dwindling. Inferior doesn’t mean inexpensive, but if I fire something up that doesn’t excite me or hold my attention I just won’t bother continuing with it. I’d say on average I probably enjoy one or two cigars in a day. One of my favorite times to enjoy a cigar, weather permitting, is on my walk from one store to the other. Of course, it’s a different experience smoking and walking… but I generally select more direct, linear cigars to enjoy outside… ones I don’t need to really pay a lot of attention to the nuances or aroma of.
I generally don’t smoke while I’m working, since my attention is on my work not on what I’m tasting… but if I’m tasting for work… I may light as many as ten, 12 or more… But of course everyone tastes differently. If I’m smoking samples for blend development, no more than an inch is necessary since I’m not sampling for the “journey” of the cigar, but rather the overall “theme” of the cigar and very important the “first impression” of it. If I’m smoking “final products” to determine whether to bring them into our inventories, I’ll certainly smoke more as it’s important to understand the cigar’s story. Like a complex book or movie, sometimes you don’t understand the beginning until you get to the end. Then when you go back and watch it again, the whole thing makes more sense and you like it a lot more. Cigars are very much the same. But sometimes… it’s just bad and you don’t get it. And that’s fine too.
What are some of your all time favorite cigars?
A lot of my favorite cigars have moments associated with them. The Avo 22 from 2002 is an all time favorite, not just because the cigar was absolutely incredible, but because I got to meet and get to know Avo while smoking my first one… talking about our background in music, etc. The La Aurora Excepcionales is also an all time favorite. I had the privilege to work on this blend with La Aurora’s blending/production guru Manuel Inoa in Santiago over the course of a few visits… It was a one-time release available only to Manhattan retailers, but it’s just a wonderfully balanced rich smoke. Also the Davidoff #2, the cigar Davidoff was built on… I’ve always been able to turn to that cigar and enjoy it. It’s the only cigar I lit on my wedding day… because I didn’t want to risk anything less than perfection.
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