Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 50 ring gauge
- $30
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
When Davidoff reintroduced the Winston Churchill line several years ago, part of the marketing was that each size reflected a different aspect of Sir Winston’s personality: the Aristocrat, the Artist, the Statesman, the Commander, the Traveller, and the Raconteur. For 2019, a new Limited Edition based on the venerable Winston Churchill blend was released, focusing again on his traveling:
Winston was a wayfarer. An explorer. A voyager.
First as a correspondent and then as a leader, all the time widening his horizons and his mind whilst adding depth and color to his character. The wider world has had the same effect on the blend of the latest fine cigar in the Winston Churchill collection.
Inspired by Winston Churchill’s sense of travel, this new Robusto cigar boasts flavors from three distinct regions of the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Nicaragua, to create a rich and complex blend. To represent this worldly blend, the icon applied to the cigar boxes reflects some of the key places that marked Sir Winston Churchill’s path: cities like London and Washington that built the Commander and the Statesman, and places that inspired his art like Marrakesh.
The Winston Churchill 2019 Limited Edition is made in only a Robusto size, which comes in a box of 10. The box doubles as a travel humidor, with the cigars sitting on a wood rack above a Boveda humidification pack. The blend uses 3 types of Dominican fillers (Piloto Mejorado Visus, Criollo Seco, and San Vicente Mejorado Visus) and 2 types of Nicaraguan (Esteli Visus and Semilla A Visus), a Mexican San Andres binder, and a Dominican wrapper leaf. That is similar to the original blend in the binder and a little of the filler (although the fillers seem to be chosen from different primings), but is different enough to warrant this being called a limited edition.
I purchased several of these from Burns Tobacconist so I could get the travel humidor box. Site sponsor, Small Batch Cigar, has these available at the time of this writing.
Prelight
image courtesy Davidoff Cigars
Overall packaging was top-notch, which is typical for Davidoff. The travel humidor box is “leather inspired” which basically means they put a fake leather grain on it, but the look and feel of the box is still exceptional. It is a thing of beauty that I hope to actually use as a travel humidor at some point…just to show off. 🙂
The cigar uses the same main band as the original Winston Churchill blend, along with a secondary band that I can’t say I’ve seen before. It is a dark blue color (matching the box) with gold foil type and looks very stately next to the original band and laid over the dark mahogany wrapper leaf. The wrapper had notes of earth and leather, wet wood and anise. From the foot of the stick I got an aroma of earth, along with touches of coffee and cocoa powder.
After clipping, the cold draw was excellent and tasted of damp earth, wood, and a little citrus.
Flavor
The Winston Churchill LE 2019 started off medium-plus in body and with a tremendous amount of flavor. I got leather and oak right off the bat, with secondary notes of earth, anise, espresso bean and black pepper. The retrohale had hazelnut, cedar, and red pepper. A minor quibble, I had to touch up the burn line a couple times in the first third. They didn’t specify what type of wrapper this was—just “Dominican”—but it tended to burn slow and uneven. The flavor, though, was dynamite—as complex and rich as you would expect for a cigar with this kind of price tag.
image courtesy Davidoff Cigars
The second third had more citrus zing and some of the expected Davidoff funk, while the leather and woodiness faded into the background. There was still a mild peppery hit on the palate, but it had gone away on the nose, leaving just a roasted nuttiness.
In the end, the Winston Churchill LE 2019 had a steady citrus and funk profile with the leather notes making a comeback. Cedar hun around in the background and there was a little peppery heat from time to time.
Construction
The wavy burn line was mildly irritating, but it didn’t actually extend much beyond the first third. The draw was fantastic and the ash was rock solid.
Value
$30 is a lot to pay for a Robusto. I’m going to the say cigar alone isn’t quite worth that price tag, although if you include the travel humidor box and imagine that typical of Davidoff, they would charge about $75 for it by itself (a lot, but not beyond the reason in their product line), the cigar comes out to closer to $22.50, which is very much worth it. So…only worth the price if you buy a whole box.
Conclusions
I really enjoyed this Winston Churchill Limited Edition 2019. It was rich and complex, bringing to mind some of the flavor aspects of the regular Winston Churchill line, while going to other places, as well. The only problem is the price tag, which is just too high for the experience, in my opinion. I’ll reiterate…if you like the regular Churchills and want these, just buy the whole box so you’ll get the travel humidor in the process.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 9/10
