Today, we look at the Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary Limited Edition. As the name indicates, it is a limited edition cigar meant to commemorate ten years of the Davidoff Nicaragua line. It was back in 2013 when Davidoff launched Davidoff Nicaragua. One can argue that Davidoff Nicaragua is one of the most important releases in Davidoff’s history and one in the cigar industry as a whole. When it was developed, Davidoff Master Blender Henke Kelner took on the challenge of creating a Nicaraguan puro and producing it in the Dominican Republic. The result was met with flying colors. Now, we fast forward and examine the 10th-anniversary cigar that pays it homage.

Davidoff Nicaragua ushered in five years of innovation for Davidoff. It was the first “Black Band,” a.k.a. “Discovery Pillar” cigar. More Black Bland releases would follow, including the Brazilian-toward blend Escurio in 2015. A year later, Davidoff Yamasá featured tobacco from the Yamasá region of the Dominican Republic. The Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary falls under the Black Band series but is a limited release.

Let’s go ahead and break down the Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary without further ado and see what this cigar offers.

Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary Limited Edition

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

First up, the Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary is not a Nicaraguan puro. It utilizes an Ecuadorian wrapper that looks similar in color to the original Davidoff Nicaragua. The remainder of the blend utilizes Nicaraguan tobaccos. Notably, the Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary Limited Edition is not a Nicaraguan puro. The cigar features a wrapper from Ecuador over binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua.

The filler features Estelí seco filler tobacco, aged in rum casks for six months. Davidoff has also stated the wrapper, binder, and filler tobaccos have a total age of 45 years.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian
Binder: Nicaraguan (Jalapa Seco)
Filler: Nicaraguan
-Estelí Seco Fassgereift (Rum)
-Estelí Semilla B Visus
-Estelí Semilla A Ligero
-Jalapa Visus
-Condega Seco
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: Cigars Davidoff

Vitolas Offered

The Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary Limited Edition is available in one size—a 6 x 56 Gran Toro. Each is presented in 12-count boxes.

Appearance

As mentioned, the Ecuadorian wrapper of the 10th Anniversary is similar in color to the original Davidoff Nicaragua—one with that slight orange-like tint. The wrapper didn’t have much in the way of oil on it, but it did have a slightly silky texture. There were some visible veins and some thin, visible wrapper seams.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

A straight cut began the cigar experience of the Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary. Once the cap was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered notes of coffee and a sweetness that resembled marshmallow. Overall, this was a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to toast up the 10th Anniversary cigar and proceed into the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The 10th Anniversary cigar opened up with notes of coffee, cedar, wood, and marshmallow. The marshmallow notes were more pronounced, and imparted some sweetness. Early on, the coffee and wood notes moved to the forefront. The marshmallow and cedar settled into the background. On the retro-hale, a mix of wood and black pepper was present.

The second third of the 10th Anniversary cigar continued to feature coffee and wood notes in the forefront. During this phase, the marshmallow notes began to diminish. Simultaneously, some mineral notes emerged in the background and slowly increased in intensity. The background notes also saw the cedar remain present.

By the end, the mineral notes displaced the wood notes in the forefront and joined the coffee notes. The wood and cedar notes settled in the background. Touches of marshmallow sweetness remained, but most of the creaminess that was present early was gone. This is how the 10th Anniversary cigar came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The burn of the cigar required more maintenance than I preferred. There were points where the cigar meandered off the burn path and had some jaggedness on the burn line. As a result, this cigar required more touch-ups than I preferred. The resulting ash was silver-gray in color. This wasn’t a loose ash, but it wasn’t an overly firm ash, either. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both maintained ideal levels.

Draw

The draw of the 10th Anniversary cigar performed quite well. It had a touch of resistance to it, which I like. At the same time, there were no problems deriving flavor from this cigar.

Strength and Body

The 10th Anniversary cigar started out with medium strength and medium-bodied flavors. Both attributes slightly increased in intensity, but in the end, they remained in the medium range of the spectrum.

The body maintained a slight edge throughout the smoking experience when looking at strength versus body.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES

When it comes to packaging, Davidoff delivers time and time again. With the 10th Anniversary, Davidoff comes through again. Like the original Davidoff Nicaragua, the 10th Anniversary has the Davidoff black band. The secondary band is different than the original Davidoff Nicaragua. While it has the same copper and black color scheme as the original, the secondary band of the 10th Anniversary denotes it is the 10th Anniversary. Of course, the box presentation is excellent as well.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

When it came to the Davidoff Nicaragua 10th Anniversary, I liked how Davidoff incorporated some of the Nicaraguan tobacco aged in rum casks. On the other hand, I was disappointed this cigar was not a Nicaraguan puro. The original Davidoff Nicaragua was so groundbreaking in terms of a Nicaraguan puro that it would have been nice to pay homage to what was accomplished with this cigar.

That being said, the fact this wasn’t a Nicaraguan puro or had impressive packaging did not factor into the score. The flavors in the 10th Anniversary were simply not as good as any of the vitolas in the original Davidoff Nicaragua. Plus, the burn needed to be better. At $36.00, I can’t see myself coming back to this cigar.

Summary

Key Flavors: Coffee, Wood, Mineral, Cedar, Marshmallow, Pepper
Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Good