Davidoff
A Geneva tobacconist's name that became a Cuban brand in 1968 and, after a public break with Havana, a Dominican house owned by Oettinger Davidoff.
Zino Davidoff built his reputation as a Geneva merchant before his name went on a cigar. In 1946 he introduced the Chateau series, named for Bordeaux estates and made in Havana by Hoyo de Monterrey, and in 1968 Cubatabaco began producing white-banded cigars carrying the Davidoff name at the El Laguito factory. The Oettinger group of Basel had already bought the business in 1970, keeping Davidoff himself as the brand's public figure.
Relations with Cuba collapsed at the end of the 1980s over quality. Davidoff publicly destroyed a large quantity of cigars he judged substandard in 1989, and production formally moved to the Dominican Republic in 1991 through the Tabadom operation near Santiago. The Dominican line was built with Hendrik Kelner and established the mild, precisely constructed house style that the brand is known for.
Oettinger Davidoff AG remains privately held and also owns AVO, Camacho, Cusano and The Griffin's. The Davidoff line has since widened well beyond its original mild register with Nicaragua, Escurio and Yamasa blends, alongside the Grand Cru, Aniversario, Millennium and Winston Churchill families. Zino Davidoff died in Geneva on 14 January 1994. The company is also a substantial retailer, operating branded shops and lounges in major cities, which is unusual among cigar manufacturers.
Davidoff Nicaragua Box-Pressed Toro
The box-pressed format of Davidoff's first all-Nicaraguan-tobacco line, drawing filler from four separate Nicaraguan growing regions.
Davidoff Winston Churchill
Named for the British statesman and Davidoff devotee; a five-country blend built around Mexican San Andres binder under an Ecuadorian Rojiza wrapper.
Davidoff Yamasa Robusto
Built around wrapper grown in Davidoff's Yamasa valley, a region the company spent years developing before it could reliably produce usable leaf.