As the subject suggests, it’s been a bit of a Davidoff week for me 🙂 Our whisky and cigar tasting evening at Robert Graham Ltd – Cambridge was a great success with a capacity crowd enjoying 3 single malt whiskies and the first ever tasting of the new Davidoff Winston Churchill range of cigars. Robert Graham Ltd managing Director Steve Johnstone had made the trek down South to enjoy the evening in our sampling lounge too!
Our guest of honour was Henke Kelner, Managing Director of Davidoff Dominican Republic. Henke is a bit of a legend in the cigar industry having been with Davidoff for around a quarter of a century and I understand the man responsible for the new range of Davidoff cigars in D.R. when the company left Cuba.
Henke is ‘The’ master Blender and it was a great pleasure to learn plenty from him during the evening when he made his presentation as well as took a Q&A from the event attendees.
We smoked the Petit Corona and the Toro from the new range. The Petit Corona was pretty intense due to the slender ring gauge and the Toro was a very smooth smoking experience if not an absolute pleasure, a complete kaleidoscope of complex and balanced flavours with an even burn and cool draw. There was not a hint of harshness or aggression and I really think Davidoff have nailed it with this blend.
It’s a complicated recipe to say the least! The tobaccos in this range of cigars come from Nicaragua, Mexico, Ecuador, and the Dominican Republic.
The cigars are available in the following sizes:
Churchill 6 7/8” length and 47 ring gauge
Petit Corona 4 ½” length and 41 ring gauge
Robusto 5 ¼” length and 52 ring gauge
Toro 6” length and 50 ring gauge
These cigars are highly recommended for the experienced cigar smoker.
We had a further presentation from Henke and Davidoff at the splendid St James Court Hotel the next day. It was lovely to see Albert Manzone, senior VP of Davidoff Europe and my thanks to the UK Davidoff team for an excellent afternoon.
I’ve been working on creating a new and unique cigar for the last 3 years and have finally been able to release the first batch of 500 boxes of Inca Secret Blend to the US market in two sizes.
Its unique because it’s the only 100% Peruvian cigar on the market. 100% Hand made with premium long filler aged tobacco.
As 1000’s of my clients will know, I launched a similar Peruvian cigar to the UK market 3 years ago and it is now our best-selling New-World brand in the UK. The UK range is however a different blend and different sizes (different markets do have different requirements!)
As a successful cigar retailer and owner/operator of 11 specialist cigar shops in the UK believe me when I say I fully understand that humidor shelf space is at a premium and we have enough range to last us a lifetime! But Inca – Secret Blend cigars fill a range gap in the humidor because it is unique being a Puros from Peru. I would hope that with 22 years of experience in the cigar trade that I know what I am doing by now!
I’m not trying to make a zillion cigars and a load of baseball caps to sell them with! I’m not trying to compete with anyone. I’m just trying to give the consumer a different choice that during extensive market research sampling across the USA makes me confident that this boutique brand will be well received and very popular.
Take a look at our website with more details here: Inca – Secret Blend USA
The two sizes that we are introducing are:
Inca – Secret Blend – Imperio 6 “ length and 60 ring gauge, cabinet of 20 cigars Retail price $205.
Inca – Secret Blend – Tambo 6 “ length and 50 ring gauge, cabinet of 20 cigars Retail price $190.
So, if you are in the USA and want to try something delicious and unique ask your local tobacconist for Inca – Secret Blend and if you have trouble finding them drop me an email at [email protected]. We won’t sell them direct to consumers but we can point you in the direction of a local stockist or cigar shop that will give you a mail order service.
In other news this week… I had a great day with Marc and Hal Sinden who were directing me in my new acting role for some C.Gars promotional videos! I can honestly say I am the commensurate professional at walking three steps with a cigar (100 takes later!) thank you Marc and Hal 🙂 If you are following me on Facebook no doubt the marketing team will be putting up some clips in the next few weeks.
Next week I’m off to La Casa del Habano – Chester for another whisky and cigar tasting the finest Havanas and single malt whisky… My kinda night 🙂 Looking forward to seeing the Chester crowd.
That’s me done for another week and if the weather holds up, this weekend is a BBQ herf on the deck with a baggie filled with Inca Secret Blend and Davidoff Winston Churchill cigars 🙂
Have a smokey weekend.
Peaceful puffing,
Mitchell
