Davidoff is presenting its limited edition in the form of an elegant “White Edition” for the second time. The cigar’s dark wrapper leaf gives the perfect contrast to the white band with classic Davidoff lettering in gold. In addition to the main band, the cigar bears a white band at the foot with a discreet mother-of-pearl inscription “2012”. The special Robusto Gordo format also lends the cigar a harmonious appearance.
A strong and full-bodied taste is the hallmark of the Davidoff “White Edition” 2012. Filler tobaccos from a number of different growing regions in the Dominican Republic were matured over six years before finally being brought together to form this special vintage. Due to the addition of the Piloto binder leaf and choice Dominican Criollo wrapper leaf, smokers will be delighted by the aromatic and complex notes in the finish.
A cigar of such noble character deserves an exceptional packaging to match. The Davidoff “White Edition” 2012 comes in a white enamelled box of which just 8,000 individually numbered specimens will be offered for sale worldwide. The Davidoff “White Edition” 2012 will be available at authorized tobacconists in the US from August 1, 2012.
What started last year with the inaugural Tweetup event at Burns Tobacconist (@burnstobacco99) and was put together by the hard work of David Jones (@dmjones1009) tikibaronline.com has grown into the massive event that is expected to converge on Chattanooga on August 24th and August 25th. To commemorate the united voice of cigar smokers on Twitter Emilio Cigars and Miami Cigar & Co. have joined forces to release a limited edition set.
The cedar box of 2 cigars will contain a cigars made just for this historic event. The Añoranza in a box-pressed Churchill, and the debut of La Musa Melete from Emilio cigars in the same format. These sizes will be limited to 300 boxes of 2.
Gary Griffith (@emiliocigar) states, “We are delighted to be releasing this joint project with Miami Cigar and Co., dear industry friends, on behalf of Burns Tobacconist, one of the finest retailers in the country. We chose this opportunity to release this special size of the new La Musa Melete blend, and as the first appearance of the blend on the market.”
In their second year supporting the Tweet-Up, Jason Wood (@miamicigar) VP of Miami Cigar adds, “Cigar smokers on twitter have become a driving voice in the industry. These aficionados are passionate about our craft, and we wanted to share with them something special.”
If you can’t make it to Chattanooga, you can follow the festivities via the twitter hash-tag #CHATweetup2012.
It seems that, in spite of how enthusiastic the Scottish are about their alcohol, the most recent attempt at a Guinness record for “longest whiskey tasting” is a failure, but not for the typical reason. The group of Whiskey aficionados did in-fact break the world record – but no Guinness officials showed up to witness the event, stripping the team of their world record.
The team of Whiskey lovers traveled to eight cities and eight whiskey shops over the 24-hour period, traveling over 643 miles.
Andrew Torrence from the Whiskey Shop (one of the event organizers) explained the development of the idea saying,
“I heard someone talking about the world’s biggest whisky tasting and I felt that it was a record that should be held by Scotland but it wasn’t. I got to thinking and had the idea that if we couldn’t do the biggest we should do the most, so that’s how it developed.”
The tastings focused on three core Compass Box whiskeys:
Great King Street Blend
Peet Monster
The Spice Tree
The DailyMeal writes that
“The officials from Guinness contacted the team a few days after the event to let them know it would have broken the record. However, they could not officially count it because they were not able to attend.”
I don’t know about you, but I’d be pretty pissed if I traveled to eight cities in 24 hours and didn’t get the record because some lazy Guinness reps didn’t show up. But in any case, hats off to such a dedicated group of whiskey aficionados.
Since coming under the management of Michael Herklotz (formerly of Davidoff), the Nat Sherman Townhouse has become something of a second home to me. The selection is fantastic, there is more seating than ever before (minus access to the Johnson lounge downstairs), and the staff is knowledgable and friendly. So when I asked what was new, a gentleman kindly pointed out the new Bench Collection cigars. The first such cigar up for review is the L-IDD, which, from La Aurora, sports a unique Indonesian wrapper that I’m excited to smoke.
La Aurora, the Dominican Republic’s oldest cigar factory, has teamed up with Nat Sherman to offer two very special cigars to the Tobacconist’s loyal customers at their Flagship Townhouse Store.
These cigars were manufactured in 2007 in their Dominican factory. The blends were part of the development of the La Aurora Excepcionales, a cigar made exclusively available to a small group of New York City retailers.
“We had three blends we really liked”, said Michael Herklots, who worked closely with La Aurora’s Manuel Inoa on the project. “Ultimately we chose a blend for the Excepcionales, but there were two other blends that we really liked and decided to make a very small production of them to use sometime in the future.” On a recent visit to La Aurora, Herklots inquired about the small production of the other two blends. And, fortunately for Nat Sherman, they were resting in the company’s vast aging room.
La Aurora agreed to make the small amount of cigars avialable for Nat Sherman’s exclusive Bench Collection- a series of small production cigars that use harder-to-get tobaccos in more artisenal style blends.
Both cigars are available in limited quantities boxes of 20 cigars
Blend Specifics
Vitola: Lancero
Size: 6.5″ x 40
Wrapper: Indonesian
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Appearance & Construction
This is not the most beautiful cigar my eyes have ever beheld. There are a few blotches on the Indonesian wrapper, and the color is (unsurprisingly) not quite like most cigars – sort of a light brown with a slightly reddish hue. The band, with the traditional Nat Sherman color scheme, says Nat Sherman “Bench”.
Otherwise, the construction is pretty much flawless, there are minimal viens, the wrapper is slightly oily, and the city is springy to the touch. After using a straight cut on the triple capped head, I find the draw to be about average.
Flavor & Smoke Characteristics
Before lighting this cigar, I take a whiff of the foot of the cigar. Apparent is a sort of woody smell, and something else that I can’t quite put my finger on and am hoping shows up a bit more discernably when I light.
The second the smoke touches my lips, I’m tasting a very unique and powerful sweetness that I haven’t experienced in any cigar I can remember. It is also, delicious, with tinges of milk chocolate, butter, and the slightest tanginess on the retrohale.
As I hit the second third, a few things are apparent. First, the ash has a hard time staying put – it burns perfectly straight, but tends to fall quickly. Second, the wrapper is delivering lots of flavor with this vitola. The strength of the smoke continues to build, making sure I don’t get bored with this cigar.
The final third sees the body and strength of the smoke increase, and the retrohale gets significantly more spicy.
Conclusion
The Nat Sherman Bench L-IDD is a cigar worthy of the Nat Sherman name. I found it to be complex and very flavorful, mostly thanks to the lancero vitola. It isn’t a cigar I would smoke every day, partially because the flavor profile isn’t one that I typically smoke, but it is a great morning cigar. Pick up a few of these before they are all gone!
I’m not sure whether there’s any kind of academic, peer-reviewed research to prove this, but everyone knows it anyway: there’s something about cigars that just fosters greatness. They deliver not only a pleasing aroma and an excellent taste, but a certain state of mind that oozes with panache and savoir-faire.
Whatever the reason, great men tend to smoke cigars. Here are some of the great things they’ve said while smoking them:
1. “I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time” – Mark Twain
2. “You should hurry up and acquire the cigar habit. It’s one of the major happinesses. And so much more lasting than love, so much less costly in emotional wear and tear.” – Aldous Huxley
3. “Lastly (and this is, perhaps, the golden rule), no woman should marry a man who does not smoke.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
4. “I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form.” -Winston Churchill
5. They had no good cigars there, my Lord; I left the place in disgust.” ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet, returning from Venice
Who has a favorite cigar quote? Leave it in the comments!
