At the last Mossback Herf, Papajohn handed my ass to me with a selection of truly fine smokes: A Davidoff 100th Anniversary Robusto, an Avo LE 2007, an Avo 787, a Winston Churchill Marrakesh by Davidoff, and a La Gloria Cubana lancero!
He mentioned to me that not very many people like the Winston Churchill cigar but wanted me to post a review of it anyway.
The Winston Churchill: Wow, I really liked it. It wasn't what I was expecting - for one thing, it was far more full bodied than I thought it would be!
It had that signature stale-mildew style aroma that Hendrik Kelner always seem to be able to sign his cigars with. Its one of the things that (for me) sets a Davidoff-made cigar apart. I absolutely love it!
As I was smoking it, I couldn't help but to be overwhelmed by the Nicaraguan style flavor that seemed to prioritize itself above all the other flavors in the cigar. I doubted my own tastes though because I smoked a very powerful all-Dominican cigar earlier in the day and figured that perhaps it was just some very Nicaraguan-tasting Dominican tobacco (which is fine and dandy!). Later, I looked up the filler blend, and sure enough, Nicaraguan tobaccco was indeed a component.
It definately built in strength as it progressed and it certainly had complexity. The flavor profile, while I found very interesting, was actually very good. Even though Kelner ages his stuff for years on end before rolling the tobacco into sticks (Davidoffs anyway), I wondered if this could do with maybe another year on it.
I ended up enjoying it for an hour and 45 minutes, nursing it along. All in all, an interesting, flavorful smoke! This will certainly be one of my future box purchases
:-)
Thanks again to Papajohn!!!
[Reply]
Thanks for the review - I am a bit of a Davidoff 'ho myself, with one humi of only Davidoff rolled cigars. I had heard of the Marrakesh, but have not had one or smoked it...
That said, you are very specific on the "mildew-style aroma". I have found this same aroma in other Davidoff rolled cigars, especially the Paul Garmirians and some Zinos - but never in the Davidoff branded line itself. I have actually had people tell me that the PGs smell like mildew and bad p0t before! The standard Davidoff line (e.g. thousands, millenium, etc) always had a nice cedar, paper / pine aroma when burning. Granted, I have not yet smoked the Davidoff Maduro - its on my purchase list.
Either way, I am adding this one to my list as well, and will post my thoughts in the next couple weeks. Thanks for the inspiration!
:-)
[Reply]
