Davidoff Winston Churchill Late Hour (RotR25)

[eaglebear29]

Davidoff Winston Churchill Late Hour 

 

I’ve had these resting for a little over a month.

Size: Robusto 5in (127mm) x 52mm

Wrapper: Ecuadorian

Binder: Mexican 

Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan (The Nicaraguan is mineral rich volcanic soil from Condega and Esteli. The Condega visus tobacco is aged in original Scottish first fill single malt whiskey casks) 

Initial light up:

Creamy oak with milk chocolate. Beautiful wrapper. So very well balanced. Slight bit of creamy nuts. Building quickly to a shot of espresso with cream. Wow. Slight hazelnut with a hint of chocolate vanilla liqueur. 

End of first 3rd: 

So much flavor going on here. It tastes so refined and smooth with many years of age, or maybe that’s just the way of the blend. Very molted toothy wrapper. How long have these been on the shelves? This chocolate vanilla liqueur is building and it tastes so great with the espresso dancing in and out. 

The espresso has so much flavor must be that rich volcanic soil as the notes remind me of the 100% Hawaiian Kauai coffee you’d buy off their website. Not the cheap stuff with the same label on Amazon that only has 10% Hawaiian and 90% Arabic. (The good stuff by the way has good actual natural flavors where as the Amazon same label stuff is chalked full of artificial flavors. This tastes like the real deal. Medium in strength. 

End of second 3rd:

I can’t stop smacking my lips it’s so good. More chocolate is building along with a second shot of espresso. Wow. Just before the end of the second 3rd it built even more in flavor. The pure smooth Kauai double shot espresso with a balance of creme is paired now with homemade chocolate chip cookie batter with a dash of cocoa powder and an extra shot of homegrown/made vanilla extract. Strong vanilla flavor. Eating that raw with my coffee is heavenly. It’s not heavy, it’s hard to explain. The best way I can put it is; it’s basically one of the smoothest medium plus at times just under full body smokes I’ve had so far. Prob in the top 10 of late.  For being so rich, it is incredibly smooth. Very well balanced. Medium+ overall in strength. 

End of final 3rd: 

2 shots of vanilla extract in the raw cookie dough that has transformed into rich chocolate torte. One of my favorite desserts. (Similar to chocolate cake recipe but w/ out flour and more eggs making it more rich in texture and flavor) As it builds, throw in a few random raw cocoa nibs here and there. 3 shots of espresso with 2 shots cream. Full in strength but again so very smooth I don’t find it overwhelming at all. 

Nub/Pipe-worthy: 

I didn’t have the corn cob nubber on the walk today, so I got to scorch the fingers and throw it in the pipe a little sooner. It was flavorful, rich at the end and cooled down nicely in the pipe. I was recommended this a few times by a few different folks, and now I can see why. I’ll have to recommend it myself now.

 

Final thoughts: 

Phenomenal crescendo cigar. In flavor and strength everything elevated so beautifully. Definitely picked a good one this time. My first Davidoff and I know the brand is a big name and can be pricey. While I can’t speak on other sticks from them, this one was great. So rich but not too heavy, very smooth and flavorful; how it just takes even strides increasing in flavor all the way to the end is amazing. I’d like to see this cigar rested even longer and check on its progression. 

Smoke time: 1 hr 22min in the S.E. Alaskan sunshine; with a mix of snow, rain, and sleet today.

Score: 96/100

[mikejh]

😳

[SonicStag]

What a fantastic review, makes Halfwheel seem like amateurs. Wish I could pick out all the tasting notes, but to me it’s either a good or bad cigar, light, medium or strong.

[MrFolgers]

The Churchill vitola of the Late Hour is top 3 NC for me. Always have a box in the humidor. 

[eaglebear29]

 

11 hours ago, SonicStag said:

What a fantastic review, makes Halfwheel seem like amateurs. Wish I could pick out all the tasting notes, but to me it’s either a good or bad cigar, light, medium or strong.

Thank you for the kind words.

It was the same for me, I could slightly pick out at the beginning if it was either Nicaraguan or Honduran. I only started to get more notes within the last year as I've only been smoking 2.5 years now and I feel it's taken many cigars and a lot of time for my pallet to build. If I remember correctly, Steve Saka in an interview said it could take some people something like 16 years to build one and get more tasting notes?! Who really knows though. I heard that a little while back and was hoping it wouldn't take that long but we're all different and someday I hope you can get something like a chocolate cherry bomb that really hits. Mine, besides coffee and slight chocolate was, if memory serves, sweet honey with creme and chocolate off a puff of my first Monte 4. Blew me away. Seemed like a year after that before things developed more. I also 

11 hours ago, MrFolgers said:

The Churchill vitola of the Late Hour is top 3 NC for me. Always have a box in the humidor. 

I'll have to give that one a try then thanks, especially since this one was so good.