Cigar Review: Nicaragua Box Pressed by Davidoff

• Vitola: Box-pressed Toro
• 6” x 52 ring gauge
• MSRP $17.20
• Sample from local rep

Background

Davidoff has been a very busy, fast-moving company the past few years. Considering just what has happened under the flagship brand of the company, in the past 5 years, a whole new line of Chinese Zodiac annual limited editions was launched, the first Davidoff using only Nicaraguan tobacco was introduced, multiple anniversary and lounge limited editions or exclusives were produced, and the Escurio made a splash as the boldest regular line ever offered under the esteemed name. This month, the original Davidoff Nicaragua is being joined by a box-pressed off-shoot.

The Davidoff Nicaragua Box Pressed is being described as bolder and spicier than the original Nicaraguan puro. This is undertaken with an Oscuro wrapper replacing the Rosado, as well as more Ligero being used in the blending process. In total, the fillers are from Ometepe, Condega and Estelí, the binder is a Habana grown in Jalapa, and the wrapper is a Habano Oscuro. They are producing this new blend in Robusto and Toro sizes, each of which will be available in 12-count boxes and 4-count sleeves. Per stick pricing is $14.50 and $17.20.

Our local Davidoff rep dropped off a sample of the Toro with my boss last week, telling him to forward it to me for reviewing, so…here it is! Thank you, Garrett! I raided Will Cooper’s website for some of the above background information on this new blend. Let’s smoke!

Prelight

I’m not sure if I’ve expressed it before (probably is the answer), but I do love the twist on the traditional Davidoff label that is used here. First used on the original Nicaragua, the band’s background is black instead of white, with silver foil instead of gold. It’s simple and classy, maintaining the look and elegance of the Davidoff name while still giving the strong signal that this is different from the Davidoff you may have grown accustomed to. The second band says “Nicaragua Box Pressed” with the “Nicaragua triangle” logo on either side of that.

The pressing is not a sharp shape, but is also not totally soft and nebulous, either. It has definite corners that are all pretty close in radius and a slight bend to each of the “straight” sides, as well. Knowing this company, they probably played around with different variations of the shape and settled on this exact one as being most pleasing to the eye or feeling in the hand…or both. Typical of Davidoff also is the damn-near perfect wrapper leaf used and the precision and skill it was applied with. Although there are some slight stretch and pucker marks from the box-press mold, the wrapper was undamaged and beautiful to look at with it’s almost cinnamon-colored reddish-brown hue. It had a nice amount of oiliness under my fingers and an aroma of clean earth and wood. The foot had a slightly stronger, more pungent earthiness, along with notes of grass, cedar and pepper.

The cold draw was excellent and featured flavors of semi-sweet chocolate and medium-roast coffee mixed with hay, cedar and a dash of white pepper.

Flavor

Initial puffs of the Davidoff Nicaragua Box Press Toro had a dried berry sweetness mixed with espresso bean up front, earth and cedar following close behind, and white pepper on the finish. The retrohale had a full roasted nut note along with notes of black and red pepper. As I continued to puff, I had to just marvel at the mix of sweet and bitter, the interplay of fruit and pepper, and the creaminess and oiliness of the thick smoke. It’s subtle and nuanced, as a Davidoff should be, but the Nicaragua Box Press definitely doesn’t take as much attention to really appreciate those subtleties and nuances like some of their other cigars. As I continued through the first third of the cigar, I did note that it definitely had more body than the regular Davidoff Nicaragua, but I also felt like it had better focus to the flavors and a better balance to the profile.

The second third continued to produce a delightful mix of sweet and spicy flavors…chocolate, dried fruit, black pepper, earth, cedar. I said it just a couple lines ago, but it’s hard to put into words just how well-balanced this cigar really was.

The last third had more coffee flavor than anything else, with a mild semi-sweet chocolate note following it up. The spice notes had subsided to white pepper and the balance was still great.

Construction

Davidoff’s construction standards are the best in the world, so it’s no surprise that I had a flawless draw, solid ash and almost perfectly even burn line.

Value

While the price is a bit steep, it’s worth every penny, in my opinion.

Conclusions

I think I’ve found a new favorite Davidoff. Honestly, I was shocked at how great this cigar really was. I like the regular Nicaragua release, but don’t smoke it very often, but this is one I can see picking up again and again. It had a great flavor profile throughout, a pleasing amount of complexity and, as I’ve mentioned a time or two, fantastic balance. This is one you won’t want to miss.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 10/10