Today we take a look at the Davidoff Yamasá in the 6 x 60 size. The Davidoff Yamasá made its debut in 2016 and gets its name from the fact that it incorporates tobacco from the Yamasá region of the Dominican Republic. It’s a region in the Dominican Republic where Davidoff has been growing and cultivating proprietary tobacco. The region was not known to produce a lot of cigar tobacco until Davidoff decided to invest resources in it. While this tobacco has been used on several other Davidoff releases, the Davidoff Yamasa represents a blend built around tobaccos from this region. As for the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60, it is a part of four limited-production 6 x 60 line extensions to its “Discovery Pillar” (i.e. Black Label) cigars that made their debut in 2017.

The four 6 x 60 line extensions were made to the Davidoff Escurio, Davidoff Nicaragua, Davidoff Nicaragua Box Pressed, and Davidoff Yamasá lines. While the Davidoff brand is not known for 6 x 60 vitolas, this is not the first Davidoff branded 6 x 60. That honor goes to the  Davidoff Year of the Horse was released late in 2013.

Recently departed Davidoff CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard pushed a theme of innovation during his years at the helm at Davidoff. The products of the Davidoff Discovery Pillar were a big part of that innovation strategy. This included the first all-Nicaraguan Davidoff (Davidoff Nicaragua), the first Davidoff to feature a Brazilian-centric blend (Davidoff Escurio), the first Davidoff-branded box-pressed offering (Davidoff Escurio), and building a blend around the difficult-to-cultivate Yamasá region tobacco (Davidoff Yamasá). In addition, the 6 x 60 offerings were also a part of that strategy in that the 6 x 60 size had not been used as a line extension beforehand.

Without further ado, let’s break down the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60 and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The Yamasá tobacco is used for both the wrapper and the binder. In particular, the binder is San Vincente grown in that region. Along with Dominican tobacco, there is also some Nicaraguan tobacco in the filler.

Wrapper: Yamasá (Dominican Republic)
Binder: San Vincente from Yamasá (Dominican Republic)
Filler: Nicaragua (Condega, Estelí),  Dominican (Piloto, Mejorado)
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic (TABADOM)

Vitolas Available

The Davidoff Yamasá has been produced in six sizes. The 6 x 60 comes packaged in 12-count boxes.

6 x 60: 6 x 60
Petit Churchill: 4 x 48
Robusto: 5 x 50
Toro: 6 x 52
Piramides: 6 1/8 x 52
Culebra: 6 1/2 x 33

 

Appearance

The wrapper of the Davidoff Yamasá had a medium to dark color with a colorado red tint to it. Upon closer examination, there was some darker mottling on the surface. There was a light coating of oil on the surface of the wrapper. I found this wrapper to be slightly bumpy. It did have some visible veins, but any wrapper seams were on the thinner side.

The Davidoff Yamasá has two bands. The primary band uses the same band design as the rest of the Discovery Pillar cigars. This is a black and silver-colored version of the Davidoff White Label design. The background is black with the font text and surrounding trim in silver. The Davidoff scripted logo is on the front. To the left of the logo is the text “6 x 60”. (Note: each of the vitolas have text with the vitola name in this location). To the right is the text “GENÉVE” (on all of the vitolas).

There is a secondary band just below the primary black and silver Davidoff band. It is red with black trim. On the band, it says “YAMASA” in silver font. To the left and right is the black Yamasá star logo.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

I used a straight cut to remove the cap before lighting the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60. After clipping the cap, I moved on to the pre-light draw phase. The dry draw delivered a combination of earth, cocoa, and a slight tingly spice. Overall I considered the pre-light draw of this cigar to be satisfactory. I then lit up the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60 and prepared to enjoy the smoking experience.

Flavor Profile

The Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60 started out with notes of cocoa, earth, cedar, and lemon. Early on the cocoa notes moved into the forefront. The earth, cedar, and lemon notes moved into the background where a slight black pepper note entered the equation. At the same time, there was black pepper and a subtle lemon note on the retro-hale.

By the latter part of the first third, a natural tobacco note surfaced in the forefront. There was a slight bitter component to this natural tobacco note. Meanwhile, the cocoa receded into the background joining the earth, cedar, lemon, and pepper in the background.

Just past the midway point of the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60, the cedar notes transitioned to more of a classic wood note and joined the natural tobacco in the forefront. There still was some bitterness that came from the natural tobacco notes.

The last third didn’t see many changes in the flavor profile. There was a slight increase in black pepper on the tongue and the lemon notes were pretty much gone. This is the way the cigar experience of the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60 came to a close. The resulting nub was firm to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

I found the burn line of the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60 to be quite jagged. I applied frequent touch-ups to the cigar as I felt there were some points the burn path could get off track. While these touch-ups did the trick, I found this cigar needed more touch-ups than I preferred. The resulting ash wasn’t overly firm, but it wasn’t loose or flaky either. The burn rate and burn temperature were both at an ideal level.

The draw did perform extremely well. I liked that it had a touch of resistance to it. At the same time, this cigar produced a nice amount of smoke along the way.

Strength and Body

In terms of both strength and body, I found the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60 started out on the lower end of medium. I did find both attributes to gradually increase in intensity along the way. While there was definitely more strength and body toward the end of the cigar, the needle only moved to the upper end of medium.

The strength and body of the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60 balanced each other out with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

Final Thoughts

6 x 60 cigars often get a bad rap. I’ve always said when it comes to 6 x 60s, there is no blanket rule whether a blend will work in that size or not. The recent releases of the Davidoff Nicaragua 6 x 60 and Davidoff Nicaragua Box-Pressed 6 x 60 are examples of blends working extremely well with the 6 x 60 format. With the Davidoff Yamasá 6 x 60, I’m not quite as high on this blend translating into the big ring gauge format. This isn’t a dismissal of the Yamasá line, it was just not preferred offering. There still was enough going on with this cigar where I’d encourage anyone to try it.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Cocoa, Wood, Cedar, Pepper, Lemon
Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium+
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Good

Rating

Assessment: 2.5-Try One
Score: 87

References

News: Davidoff Adds 60 x 6 Line Extensions to Discovery Pillar Series
Price: 23.90
Source: Davidoff
Brand Reference: Davidoff

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop except where noted.