Best of the Best 2016: Leisure | Cigars: Davidoff Escurio

After decades of producing ultra-premium cigars from the Dominican Republic, Davidoff recently began experimenting with tobaccos from other parts of the world. This year, it blended Brazilian leaf—known for its rough texture and harsh taste—with tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and Ecuador to produce the Escurio, a sublimely smooth smoke. Its chocolate-brown wrapper is velvety and slightly oily to the touch, and after the first few puffs, the cigar settles into a creamy, sweetly spiced flavor. · Robb Report

Richard Carleton Hacker

Updated Sat, Jun 11, 2016, 12:00 PM

After decades of producing ultra-premium cigars from the Dominican Republic, Davidoff recently began experimenting with tobaccos from other parts of the world. This year, it blended Brazilian leaf—known for its rough texture and harsh taste—with tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and Ecuador to produce the Escurio, a sublimely smooth smoke. Its chocolate-brown wrapper is velvety and slightly oily to the touch, and after the first few puffs, the cigar settles into a creamy, sweetly spiced flavor.

For the Escurio, Davidoff uses Brazilian leaf grown in the state of Bahia, on the country’s northeast coast. The cigar includes a strong, spicy Brazilian Cubra seed for the binder and dark Brazilian Mata Fina tobacco in the filler. Piloto and Olor tobaccos from the Dominican Republic are also blended into the filler, and the wrapper is made with a finely veined Ecuadoran Havana-seed leaf.

Davidoff produces the Escurio in three sizes: a 3¼ × 50 petit robusto, a 4½ × 54 robusto tubo, and a 5½ × 58 gran toro.
The company’s Escurio accessories line includes a butane-jet lighter ($110), a zinc-alloy punch cutter ($100), and a buffalo-leather cigar case (from $120). Each is decorated with swirls of tropical green and yellow.

Davidoff, davidoff.com ($8.50–$17.90)