Davidoff Cigars unveiled its first Nicaraguan cigar line, Davidoff Nicaragua, at a New York City pre-launch event back on June 20, 2013 —so far the biggest cigar news this year. After a long wait, the Davidoff Nicaragua finally hit the stores. The Davidoff Nicaragua is a premium cigar made solely from Nicaraguan tobacco —wrapper, binder and filler— but still rolled in their factory down in the Dominican Republic.
Last week we finally had the opportunity to try this amazing cigar during a small get together at the most legendary cigar shop in Chicago, Up Down Cigar. A cigar and tobacco sanctuary founded by the iconic Diana Silvius almost 50 years ago.
Diana Silvius is perhaps the most renowned female cigar aficionada in the world, an icon in the cigar industry and the first woman to be featured on the cover of Cigar Aficionado magazine. Not only she was elected the first female president of the Retail Tobacco Dealer of America in 1991, but she's also known to be very close to Hendrick 'Henke' Kelner —who is to Dominican cigars what chefs Alain Ducasse and Joël Robuchon are to French cuisine— and the Fuente Family, whom she approached to asked them to help her develop her own line of cigars, now sold throughout the world as the Diana Silvius Diamond Vintage.
Really there could've not been better hosts than Diana —along with her close friends, staff members— and our dear friend Phil to throw such a fantastic evening with amazing cigars, craft beers, watches, fine rums and everything that the good life is about. To kick-off our editorial, here's a picture of Ms. Diana Silvius having a great time with us.
After our short preface, let us now walk you through our evening in the usual fashion, please come experience it with us.
As we walked to the back of Up Down Cigar where an intimate smoking garden is located, we were greeted with a nice Davidoff bag with a great assortment of cigars. Davidoff Gold Band Awards 2012, the Davidoff Robusto Collection box —included the amazing Robusto 100 made honoring Zino Davidoff's 100th anniversary of his birth—, Davidoff Belicoso Supremo and of course the newly launched Nicaraguan blend cigars.
After getting our cigars, we decided to start enjoying the evening with other watchlifestylers in the company of some amazing craft beers from Goose Island —Chicago's most famous brewery. Our friends from Goose Island shared a nice selection of limited edition Bourbon County stout beers —with an alcohol content of 14.3-14.5%—, their 25th anniversary ale and even the rare Halia a sour peach saison aged in wine barrels.
Our personal favorites were the Bourbon County beers and especially the coffee stout brewed with Intelligentsia coffee. Who would've thought that beers and cigars go that well together. Well, let's rephrase that, stout beers and cigars go well together.
Finally, after a few beers we decided to honor the new Davidoff Nicaraguan cigars and we started burning one. The first cigar we decided to try was a Nicaragua Robusto, that was spectacular from beginning to end. It started with some peppery notes that evolved into a smooth, creamy cigar very similar to the taste of Habanos like Romeo y Julieta or H. Upmann.
After trying the new Nicaraguan selection, we're not sure we can go back to the Dominican Davidoffs as much as we used to. This cigar was exceptional, with a few occasional burnouts but with a nice draw and a long and thick ash.
As the evening progressed, we gather around other 'watchlifestylers' to talk about watches, cigars and the good life. Some of the nice watches that were around us that evening including Tutima, Rolex, Panerai, Cartier, Audemars Piguet and Tag Heuer. We even ran into what we'll refer to as a 'questionable' Steve McQueen Explorer that of course we won't be posting here, regardless, it was a great crowd with some awesome timepieces.
As we were enjoying our first cigar, we decided to pair it with some Clément 'Rhum Vieux Agricole' —dry rum from Martinique. In 1887, Homère Clément pioneered a natural style of rum from fresh pressed sugarcane juice known today as 'Rhum Agricole'. Clément is available in seven varieties that include: Sirop de Canne, Première Canne, V.S.O.P, Cuvée Homère, X.O. Rhum, Créole Shrubb and Clément 10 Years. A fantastic rum than can almost compete with some of the best Cuban and Venezuelan rums but that will never be close enough to a Zacapa Centenario from Guatemala. Sorry Clément!
After finishing our second cigar outside, we finally headed inside the shop to smoke a third cigar and shop around. We always discover nice little goodies to take home as this shop is the only store in the city that carries Elie Bleu and Eloi products.
As we were smoking our third cigar, we ran into a beautiful Eloi cigar cutter from France that was a perfect match to he bezel on our Audemars Piguet Royal Oak ref. 15400ST. We couldn't control ourselves and we had to buy it that night —soon we will be publishing a short review of this cutter for our Audemars Piguet fans.
As the evening drifted away and one thing lead to another, we left this sanctuary of the good life thoroughly satisfied with the new Davidoff Nicaraguan blend cigars. Available in three different sizes —toro, robusto and short corona—, this is a cigar that you need to try no matter what.
Sticker Price on the Eloi cigar cutter $395 USD, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and box of Davidoff cigars not included.
For more info on Davidoff click here, Goose Island Brewery here, Clément Rum here and Up Down Cigar here.
