Vitola: Toro
Size: 6″ x 52 ring gauge
Price $32.00 MSRP
Gift from Andrew at Small Batch
Background
I hadn’t heard about this vault release from Davidoff before Andrew (thank you Andrew!) handed me this cigar for review. From the signature on the band it looks like a special blend from Eladio Diaz, and Davidoff’s website confirms this. The name, Gusto, is what he blended the cigar towards. It is comprised of a filler of Dominican Piloto Volao, Piloto Damajagua, San Vicente Mejorado, Hybrid 133 Visus Yamasa, with an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 binder and an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. These came in 10 count bundles and were a very limited release. Dave did a review of this cigar here. This was the first one of this cigar I smoked.
Prelight
The wrapper is a medium reddish brown in color with lots of oils and a good amount of tooth to it. One oddity, to me at least, is that the top band wasn’t marked “Limited Edition” as I’m used to seeing on cigars from them. The second band has the blend name with Eladio Diaz’ signature on it. Giving it a squeeze there as a slight amount of give and no soft spots. Putting my nose to the wrapper I noted the aroma of leather with barnyard coming from the foot. After a clipping it and taking a cold draw on it I got a good draw with some sweetness and woody flavors.
Flavor
The cigar starts off with a blast of spice on the tongue and retrohale, not something I used to getting from a Davidoff cigar. After a few more puffs flavors of leather, wood, copper, cinnamon and sweetness started to come through. The cigar starts off at medium strength. When I moved into the second third the spice was still very present with the strength building as well. There were lots of cinnamon flavor along with wood and leather thrown in. The final third saw similar flavors as the previous third with the primary still being cinnamon, with wood, leather and coffee thrown in as well. The strength built to full in the final third. I did get some nicotine hit by the end as well.
Construction
As you’d expect from Davidoff I had no issues with the draw or burn throughout.
Value
Like Dave mentioned in his review the above $30 price tag for this cigar was worth it to me since it was a very enjoyable and different (for Davidoff) cigar.
Conclusions
By the time I finished this cigar I was wishing I had a couple more so I could enjoy it again. Oh well, I’m not one to pay secondary market prices for most things so I probably won’t get another chance. It was one of the strongest cigars I’ve had from Davidoff and definitely lives up to it’s name. While they don’t have this cigar in stock if you’re looking for Davidoff cigars head on over to SmallBatchCigar.com as they have a very large selection.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
