Over the last three years Davidoff has released a cigar inspired by the Chinese Zodiac. In 2012 it was the Year of the Horse and last year it was followed up with Year of the Snake. This year Davidoff introduced Year of the Sheep at the Davidoff Mandalay Bay on November 8th, and the cigars have begun to ship to retailers packaged in eight-count boxes, and only 3,000 boxes to the U.S.
According to the Chinese Zodiac person born under the Year of the Sheep is said to be, gentle, elegant, smart, assertive, artistic, creative, curious, shy, determined, and compassionate. Can be indecisive, pessimistic or moody. Tend to run away from problems instead of facing and fixing it.
Cigar: Davidoff Year of the Sheep
Size: 6.5 x 54 (Piramide)
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic (Yamasa)
Filler: Dominican Republic (Hybrid Corojo/Olor Visus, San Vicente Visus, Piloto Visus, San Vicente Mejorado Visus
Strength: Mild-Medium
The Look: The Davidoff Year of the Sheep Piramide is a gorgeous looking cigar with an oily looking Ecuador Habano wrapper. The wrapper has a thin network of veins and is rolled with no seams visible. There is a two band system with the classic Davidoff white label and a secondary band of red and gold denoting Year of the Sheep. The cigar has nice weight to it, and is firm to the touch.
The Notes: The cold draw of the Davidoff Year of the Sheep offers up the notes you would expect of barnyard (hay, earth) and a slightly savory buttery note. The foot of the cigar offers up more of a buttery aroma with the barnyard being in the background. When we light the cigar I am amazed by how smooth it is with almost no spice.
Working into the first third of the cigar I would say it embodied the sheep zodiac sign well coming off as gentle and elegant. There is a subtle earthy component and a butter note that is velvet like.
Working into the second third of the Year of the Sheep, the cigar teeters on medium bodied but I am still calling it mild however on the higher side of the classification. The butter notes continue and some pepper notes develop through the most but they aren’t overpowering.
As we enter the last third of the Davidoff Year of the Sheep the cigar fully embraces the medium strength category. The earthy notes of hay are joined by a little more pepper and a buttery richness remains through the finish.
The Burn: The cigar burns like you would expect a Davidoff to burn. A razor-sharp thin burn line with a light to medium color gray ash holds for nearly half the cigar before falling off on its own into my ash tray. The draw of the cigar was impeccable and the end result was clearly Davidoff.
The Finish: This one is for the true collector. To be honest,when you take this cigar and sit it next to a Special T I am not sure if it is worthy of the extra money spent. It was an enjoyable smoke that fit what the Year of the Sheep stands for, but I was hoping for something a little bit more. I will be picking a couple up however to place in my humidor alongside the previous editions.
Score: 88
Price: $35.00
Davidoff Year Of The Sheep
Davidoff Year Of The Sheep Foot
Davidoff Year Of The Sheep Burn
