Cigar Review: Dunhill 1907

Vitola: Robusto
Size: 5” x 52 ring gauge
MSPR $8.50
Samples provided by General Cigar

Background

A short time ago, General Cigar announced a new line for one of its lesser-known brands, Dunhill. When I say “lesser known,” I mean specifically to the cigar business. And that would be an earned reputation since there has not been a new Dunhill blend since 2001, when the Signed Range was produced. The last I heard of Dunhill cigars, they were being distributed in the U.S. by CAO, so apparently they were swept up in the merger of the parent companies a few years back.

I was sent a few samples of this cigar by General Cigar (Thank you!) and they sent a press release along with them that had this to say:

Yves Politi, head of British American Tobacco Ltd.’s Dunhill cigar division said, “In the century since opening its flagship tobacco shop in London, Dunhill has remained synonymous with exquisite cigars in elegant packaging. 1907 celebrates the Dunhill brand’s time-honored tradition of tobacco mastery, while incorporating elements that speak to the modern cigar smoker’s passion points: a fuller taste profile, accessible pricing and classic sizing.”

To that last point, the 1907 is produced in 4 sizes: besides the Robusto I am reviewing today, there are Rothschild, Churchill, and Box-Press Toro vitolas. They all retail for between $8.25 and $9.00 each, so they definitely addressed the second point. As for the first point of above (“fuller taste profile”)…that’s something you’ll have to read further to see.

The blend is made up of Dominican ligeros and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers, a Dominican Olor binder, and a Honduran Olancha wrapper (a wrapper type also used on General’s first CAO blend, the OSA Sol). This review stick was my second Dunhill 1907.

Prelight

When I think Dunhill, I think of one of the premium luxury brands…maybe not as high up the food chain as Davidoff, but definitely around the Nat Sherman or Ashton category. The simple fact is that all these brands have had to make concessions at one time or another to keep some costs down. Yes, they still sell very expensive luxury labels (Davidoff’s White Label or Ashton’s ESG, for example) but they try to compete at the lower end of the market as well, usually with a different branding attached (Davidoff’s Zino Classic or Ashton’s classic white label). Here we have “Dunhill” attached to a band that looks like it should be on a $8 cigar. Not that the band is bad…and really the band is appropriate to the price…but if they had done a little extra work, I think the presentation would be better. A coat of arms, 1907, and “by Dunhill” are all printed in what looks like a dull foil or metallic ink on top of a printed “parchment” background, along with a light emboss. The design is solid, but to give it a more upscale look, they should have used real parchment paper, heavy and matte finish; then hit it with a deeper emboss on the dark bronze foil. It may have cost a few cents per stick more…it may have had the effect of driving the MSRP by $.25…and it would have been worth it because it would have made the cigar look like it should cost $2 or $3 more than it does. Again, I don’t think it looks “bad”…I just think it was a lost opportunity.

The wrapper was a milk chocolate shade of brown with a tinge of red here and there and some darker mottling in places as well. It felt moderately oily under my fingers. It had a mildly earthy, slightly leather aroma to it. The foot had a stronger earthiness and a bit of forest. The pack of the filler was fairly firm, but the cold draw was good, with just a slight bit of snugness that I didn’t think would cause a problem. The flavor was grassy with just a bit of a chemical note that wasn’t all that pleasant.

Flavor

Firing up the Dunhill 1907, I got cedar, earth and mild pepper spice notes on the palate, along with a slightly peppery nuttiness on the retrohale. Overall, it started off as a nice smoke, though not the most distinguished. By the end of the first third, the Dominican Olor binder had started to show itself a bit, with some foresty goodness. The flavor profile had taken on a mildly sweet, almost pear-like note over the first third and was getting more enjoyable as it went.

In the second third, I started getting a distinctive flavor that I can only remember in one previous cigar: the original Foundry release. In that cigar, this flavor was original but overwhelming, to the point that I really hated it. In a show that just about any flavor can be fine when balanced well, here it was much better. The overall blend in the second third was still one of mildly sweet fruit on top of earth and cedar, with just a dash of pepper spice.

The final third was much the same, although the pepper spice died away and the burn got progressively hotter.

Construction

Build quality was top-notch, with a solid ash, even burn line and good draw that was just tight enough.

Value

I would call the asking price for this cigar experience a fair value.

Conclusions

I haven’t had previous Dunhill cigars so I can’t speak to whether or not this has a “fuller flavor profile” than those, but it definitely was at the high end of medium in body and it was full flavored. I enjoyed it enough that I might buy a few more, maybe in a different size to see how the flavor works in those. In the end, I would say this is yet another good step for General Cigar in producing unique cigars that will have more appeal to today’s leaf enthusiasts than the majority of their classic blends.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10