Davidoff is a Swiss premium
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
of
cigar
A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...
s,
cigarette
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...
s and smoker's accessories. The Davidoff cigarette brand has been owned by
Imperial Brands after purchasing it in 2006.
[Imperial Tobacco buys Davidoff brand]
/ref> The non-cigarette portion of the Davidoff tobacco brand is owned by Oettinger Davidoff AG, which is based in Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
.
Oettinger Davidoff AG manufactures a broad portfolio of cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobaccos and smoker's accessories under the brands Davidoff, Camacho and Zino Platinum. The cigars are produced in the Dominican Republic and Honduras, and tobacco is sourced from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras and the United States of America.
Name
The brand name Davidoff originates from the surname of its Ukrainian-Jewish-born founder, Zino Davidoff (born Sussele-Meier Davidoff; 1906, Novhorod-Siverskyi – 1994, Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
), who ran a tobacco specialist shop in Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, Switzerland, from 1926 to 1994. He was known as the "King of Cigars".
History
After the Second World War, Zino Davidoff decided to acquire a license to produce his own series of cigars. As he had discerning international customers, he named the various formats of this "Château" cigar series after famous Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
vineyard estates. The first in the series was the "Château Latour" in 1946.
In 1967, Zino Davidoff was approached by Cubatabaco, Cuba's state tobacco monopoly, about creating a line of cigars carrying the "Davidoff" name. The cigars were rolled in the newly established El Laguito factory in Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. , which had been established to roll Cuban President Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...
's own personal cigars, named Cohíba.
In 1968, the first cigars carrying the name "Davidoff" were released. The first formats were the No. 1, the No. 2 and the Ambassadrice. In 1970, Oettinger AG, located in Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
, Switzerland, acquired the rights to the Davidoff trademark.
In 1971, the Davidoff "Mini Cigarillos
A cigarillo (from Spanish language, Spanish ''cigarrillo'', meaning "cigarette", in turn from ''cigarro'' ("cigar") + ''-illo'' (diminutive suffix), pronounced in parts of Latin America or in Spain) is a short, narrow cigar. Unlike cigarettes, ...
" (short fillers made of 100% tobacco) and, in 1972, the first Davidoff pipe tobaccos were released. As of 1975, the cigars of the Château series were delivered in cabinets bearing the Davidoff logo.
In 1976, the "Mille Series" and, in 1977, the “Dom Pérignon” cigar, named after the champagne, were released. In 1986, a limited release of "Anniversario" cigars were produced, to celebrate Zino Davidoff's 80th birthday.
The Zino Davidoff Group was spun out
''Spun Out'' is a Canadian television sitcom created by Jeff Biederman, Brent Piaskoski and Brian K. Roberts for CTV. It premiered on March 6, 2014 and ended on October 3, 2015, with a total of 26 episodes over the course of 2 seasons.
Premise
T ...
of Davidoff in 1980 to exclusively market non-tobacco luxury goods
In economics, a luxury good (or upmarket good) is a good for which demand increases more than what is proportional as income rises, so that expenditures on the good become a greater proportion of overall spending. Luxury goods are in contrast to n ...
such as watches, leather goods, pens, fragrances, eyewear, coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
S ...
, and cognac. Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
researchers have suggested that this was in order to engage in trademark diversification (also known as "brand stretching
Brand extension or brand stretching is a marketing strategy in which a firm marketing a product with a well-developed image uses the same brand name in a different product category. The new product is called a spin-off.
Organizations use this ...
") to promote the tobacco products, because it allows for advertising the brand in the face of restrictions on the direct promotion of tobacco products.
After numerous disputes over quality and ownership rights, Zino Davidoff and Cubatabaco decided to end their relationship. Leading up to this, in August 1989, Zino had publicly burned over one hundred thousand cigars that he had deemed of low quality and unfit to sell. All Davidoff products produced in Cuba were officially discontinued in 1991. An agreement was signed that no more Davidoff cigars from Cuba would be sold.
In 1990, after discontinuing Cuban-made products, Davidoff started to produce cigars in the Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...
. After numerous test runs, Zino Davidoff found a partner in the local producer “Tabadom”, owned by Hendrik Kelner.
In 1991, the first Dominican-made Davidoff cigars were launched, continuing the product lines and cigar formats of their Cuban predecessors. With the move to the Dominican Republic, the Château series was renamed "Grand Cru", and the individual formats were numbered instead of carrying the names of vineyard estates.
In 1991, the limited release called "Aniversario" became an ongoing cigar series, called the "Aniversario" series. In 1992, the "Special" cigar series was released, with the format "Special R" as the first product. In 1994, the 87 year old Zino Davidoff died in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2001, the "Millennium Blend" cigar series was launched. In 2010, Davidoff Cigars released the "Puro d'Oro" series.
In 2013, Davidoff Cigars released the “Nicaragua” series, which was the first product line of Davidoff to incorporate tobaccos from Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
into the cigar blend, and the first series since the Davidoff Cuban products which made use of tobaccos not sourced in the Dominican Republic. Moving forward, Davidoff Cigars started to make use of tobaccos sourced from other countries than the Dominican Republic to diversify their product portfolio.
In 2015, Davidoff Cigars released the "Escurio" series, which contained tobaccos sourced from Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. In the same year, the cigar line "Winston Churchill" was launched. In 2016, Davidoff Cigars released the "Yamasa" cigar series.
Davidoff products today
Current tobacco products
Over the years, Davidoff Cigars made changes to its product lineup. These are the cigar series currently on the market:
Cigars
* Davidoff Signature
* Davidoff Grand Cru
* Davidoff Aniversario
* Davidoff Millennium
* Davidoff Colorado Claro
* Davidoff Nicaragua & Nicaragua Box Pressed
* Davidoff Escurio
* Davidoff Yamasa
* Davidoff Winston Churchill & The Late Hour
* Davidoff Special Releases (Chinese New Year, Royal Release, 702 Series)
* Davidoff Primeros
* Davidoff Dominicana
Cigarillos
* Davidoff Mini Cigarillos Silver
* Davidoff Mini Cigarillos Gold
* Davidoff Mini Cigarillos Platinum
* Davidoff Mini Cigarillos Nicaragua
* Davidoff Mini Cigarillos Escurio
Cigarettes
Imperial Brands has owned the Davidoff cigarette brand name since purchasing it in 2006.[
* Davidoff Silver
* Davidoff Gold
* Davidoff Classic
* Davidoff Ice Green/Menthol
* Davidoff One/White
* Davidoff Supreme
* Davidoff Blue
* Davidoff Magenta
]
Pipe tobaccos
* Davidoff Flake Medallions
* Davidoff English Mixture
* Davidoff Danish Mixture
* Davidoff Scottish Mixture
* Davidoff Blue Mixture
* Davidoff Red Mixture
* Davidoff Green Mixture
* Davidoff Royalty
Smoker's accessories
Davidoff Cigars produces a number of smoker's accessories, including humidor
A humidor is a humidity-controlled box or room used primarily for storing cigars, cigarettes, cannabis, or pipe tobacco. Either too much or too little humidity can be harmful to tobacco products; a humidor's primary function is to maintain a ste ...
s, lighters, cigar cutters, ashtrays, cigar cases, pipes and pipe accessories.
See also
* List of cigar brands
This is an alphabetical list of cigar brands. Included is information about the company owning the brand name as well as a column allowing easy viewing of the source of that information.
If a brand name begins with the English word "The" or its S ...
* Zino Davidoff Group
Footnotes
Further reading
* Min Ron Nee, ''An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Post-Revolution Havana Cigars'' (2003, Reprinted: 2005).
* James Suckling, "In Search of Davidoffs: Connoisseurs are Buying Up Stocks of the Swiss Cigar Maker's Discontinued Havanas," ''Cigar Aficionado,'' vol. 2, no. 1 (Autumn 1993), pp. 46–55.
* Dieter H. Wirtz, ''Davidoff - Legend, Myth, Reality'', Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH, Berlin 2006
External links
* (may be inaccessible for UK and French internet users because UK and French legislation bans tobacco advertising and promotion)
Oettinger Davidoff AG
– company website
{{Authority control
Cigar brands
Cigarette brands
Luxury brands
Swiss watch brands
Perfume houses
Tobacciana
Tobacco companies of Switzerland
Manufacturing companies established in 1906
Swiss brands
Design companies established in 1906
Swiss companies established in 1906