Aged & Rare: Davidoff Art Edition 2014

• Vitola: Figurado
• 5.9375 x 54 ring gauge
• $36.99
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

I didn’t even think twice about not buying the Davidoff Art Edition 2014. When it hit the shop at $37 a stick, I deemed it much too expensive, even by Davidoff standards, and skipped it. I heard almost no feedback on it until more recently when a customer told me how good they were and then I read William Cooper take on the 2016 Art Edition…and he gushed on and on about how great the 2014 was. So I decided maybe I should break down and buy a 2014…and it’s a good thing I decided to when I did. I got the last stick at Burns’ Downtown location. The list price is $37 and I did get the employee discount, but it’s still nothing compared to the $42 or so that the 2016 version cost.

Here are the details: the Art Edition 2014 was released by Davidoff in early 2014. There were two band and box styles with two distinct pieces of artwork by Dominican artist, Quisqueya Henriquez. The release represents and supports Davidoff’s commitment to helping emerging artists in the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean countries. The blend is all Dominican leaf with non-specified varietals for the wrapper and binder, but using Piloto Viso, San Vicente Mejorado Seco, Piloto Mejorado Seco, San Vicente, Mejorado Viso, Vicente Mejorado Viso for the fillers.

As noted, I bought one of these at Burns. I lit it up on Thanksgiving evening, after a nice big dinner with plenty of turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing…and all that other stuff. For the most part, autumn has turned out pretty warm in east Tennessee; at the time I lit up (about 6:00) it was still in the mid-60s outside. I got information for this background from Cigar Coop’s review of the cigar. I paired this smoke with some Kalifornia Bourbon.

Notes

What is there to say about appearance? It’s a Davidoff…it’s pretty much perfectly designed. Standard white label plus a secondary band with part of the art piece on it. A stupendous looking wrapper leaf devoid of defect or flaw and wrapped using a perfect balance of art and science. Am I overstating this? Perhaps, but it is really pretty spectacular.

The aroma from the wrapper was a mixture of hay and manure-rich earth.

I avoid torpedo-tipped cigars most of the time because of the stronger possibility of a tight draw, followed by the larger possibility of having to re-cut and then seeing the stick unravel. Does Davidoff employ the best rollers in the world? Well, I cut the cap and took a draw, expecting it to be fairly tight because of the shape…figurados like this almost always start off a little tight before lighting. But this was just dead-on perfect. The cold draw tasted of hay and cool cedar, with touches of honey and graham.

Just the barest amount of flame got the cigar fired up really quickly, delivering initial flavors of cedar, cinnamon, red pepper, and earth.

As I got the burn line up to the fattest part of the figurado, I was getting a very nice mix of sweet, salty, and savory flavors…some hay and citrus, light touches of earth and leather, graham and black pepper. Notes of baking spice played a background supporting role. The retrohale was nutty with a bit of tea in the mix and not a bit of pepper, making it one of the smoothest retrohales I’ve experienced.

The cigar burned very slowly but didn’t go out readily when I set it down for 45 to 60 seconds between puffs.

I didn’t get to take notes as closely as I had intended, but I can say that the Davidoff 2014 Art Edition is truly a remarkable and tasty cigar. It went well with the Kalifornia Bourbon, which is light enough that it doesn’t stomp on the medium body of the cigar. Great way to end Thanksgiving! Get these cigars if you still can!