If You Ever Have A Chance...

to partake in something from Davidoff Cigars called a Tongue Tasting.  Don't delay do it!  This event, held at Ambassador Fine Cigars West, was hands down the best event I had ever been to.

Jeffrey Stone, the National Brand Ambassador for Davidoff,  took us on a journey as to what goes into the blending process, the history and the philosophy of a Davidoff Cigar.

Here's how it worked.  Each attendee received 5 cigars.  The Cigar's were labeled  No. 1, No.2, No. 3, and Complete, the fifth cigar we would find out about later.

Right off the bat, we learned that the parts of the tongue sense or taste different things. The tip sweetness, the sides salt, the sides towards the back of the tongue will pick up acidic tastes, and the back of the tongue will taste bitterness (see chart below).

And the goal of a  Davidoff Cigar is to hit all those area's of the tongue.

With that we cut, using a double guillotine, and toasted Cigar #1.  The blends here accounts for 20% of the final blend.  Fairly quickly we picked out some saltiness, a bit of acidity, and some bitterness.  About 1" into the cigars we put it down and cut and toasted Cigar #2. which accounts for 40% of the final blend.

Cigar #2, the saltiness in the first cigar was no longer present, but the acidity and the bitterness remained.  As with Cigar #1 after we smoked about 1" we put this Cigar down, cut and toasted Cigar #3, which accounts for the remaining 40% of the final blend.

Cigar #3 the saltiness, from Cigar #1 was no longer present, and the acidity and the bitterness that appeared in all three cigars was gone too!  all that remained with the sweetness at the front of the tongue. This Cigar was also the strongest of the three.

OK this was cool,  so it was time to cut and toast Cigar #4 or the Compete Cigar.  Instead of cutting it with a guillotine, we used a punch.  In this cigar the Sweetness, the Saltiness,the Acidity, and Bitterness worked together to create a very well balanced, somewhat complex, cigar.  After the first inch, or so, we applied the Guillotine cutter to the cigar, and the experience on palliate changed.

The fourth cigar was paired with a Knappogue Castle 12 yr old Irish Whiskey. which shared many of the same characteristics of the "Complete Cigar"

We learned that the Complete Cigar was the actually the Grand Cru #3. The Grand Cru #3 uses a combination of  Olor, San Vicente, and Piloto Cubano tobaccos to achieve this flavors.  In fact Cigar #1 was from Olor tobacco, Cigar #2 was San Vicente tobacco, and Cigar #3 was Piloto Cubano tobacco. 

Ah the fifth cigar, was unbanded, and came pre-punched.

Here is what we know. The cigar was the same blend as the Grand Cru #3 but the wrapper was different. The wrapper was a sun grown Yamasa leaf.  The same leaf that is used as the wrapper in the Davidoff Puro d Oro. Sadly this particular blend is not going into production! Why?  That is question for Hendrink, Henky, Kelner, the mastermind behind the Davidoff blend.

As I said if you ever have the opportunity to partake in a Davidoff Tongue Tasting.. Do It. It is well worth the time, and any nominal fee, you invest.

Until Next Time

#KeepATightAsh