Every Step Davidoff Takes to Make Its Vaunted Royal Release Cigars
Though a fine cigar is an ephemeral pleasure, producing one requires years of effort and expertise. At Davidoff, the Swiss manufacturer known for its well-blended smokes, only one in every 10 tobacco seeds makes it from the greenhouse to the planting field. The crops good enough to incorporate into its Churchills, primeros, and other formats are aged for as long as a presidential term before the rolling process even begins. Along the way, over 300 experts—from agronomists and farmers to trimmers and torcedores, the dexterous technicians who shape the dried leaves into their final form—interact with the plants.
But for its most vaunted line, the Royal Release, the timeline is much, much longer. First offered in 2016, the collection “arose from the desire to create something truly exceptional that would showcase Davidoff’s expertise,” says Hamlet Espinal, head of global production at Oettinger Davidoff, the brand’s parent company. The result delivers balanced flavors of “cream, white chocolate, toasted almond, and cedar,” he adds.
Crucially, though the company’s subsidiary Tabadom Holding employs over 500 rollers at its production facility in Santiago, Dominican Republic, only eight are entrusted to make these celebrated cigars. Beyond a minimum of 15 years’ experience, Espinal looks for qualities that can’t be measured: “Leadership, emotional tact, and that almost artistic sensitivity to feel when the cigar is ‘perfect,’ ” he says. These intangibles mean that while some Davidoff cigars cost about $100 a box, a case of 10 Royal Release will set you back up to $1,500. Here’s how they make it from crop to shop.
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1. Seeds
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff Each Davidoff cigar begins as a seed grown from the company’s own tobacco plants, which can produce about 225,000 seeds each. Only 10 percent of these make it to the field—the vast majority are rejected for showing signs of environmental sensitivity, irregular size or shape, or uneven texture.
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2. Cultivation
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff Each seed is cultivated for 30 to 45 days in a formulated substrate imported from Canada, chosen to help seedlings develop strong roots. “It’s not better because it comes from Canada, but because it is a controlled system that maximizes what Royal Release tobacco leaves need,” Espinal says. Once planted, the resulting crops age more evenly, producing a more balanced smoke.
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3. Harvesting
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff When tobacco plants begin to bow toward the soil in the Royal Release plots, harvesting commences. Farmers cut only two leaves at a time—to minimize shock to the plant—and only select leaves that show a specific level of oil content, elasticity, and moisture.
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4. Hand-sewing
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff Each leaf is handsewn to a bamboo stick and hung to dry in a curing barn, also called a rancho, for approximately 45 days. This step reduces water content and encourages development of the tobacco’s taste profile.
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5. Leaf Sorting
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff Cured leaves are sorted into different categories—filler, binder, and wrapper—before an initial fermentation lasting between two and five months. This step lowers the amount of nicotine in the leaves that can prevent the fine flavors from shining through.
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6. Aging
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff The leaves are packed into bales and aged in a climate-controlled warehouse, allowing time for the tobacco to deepen its taste and aroma. For Royal Release cigars, this step usually lasts a minimum of eight years, with constant checks performed by a master of aging. This individual “listens to ‘the voice of the tobacco’: its aroma, its elasticity, and the way it breathes inside the bales,” according to Espinal.
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7. Second Fermentation
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff The central rib of each aged leaf is removed and composted into fertilizer. A second fermentation of about three months and another aging period of up to three years helps to refine the flavors even further.
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8. Balancing Act
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff Achieving uniform flavors across batches requires that each Royal Release cigar uses precisely the same recipe and varieties of tobacco. To achieve this balance, blenders weigh every leaf before passing bundles onto the cigar rollers.
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9. Inspection
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff The eight torcedores entrusted to craft the Royal Release line are evaluated throughout their careers to measure their technique and mastery of sensory consistency. “Each cigar created by them must be indistinguishable in draw and shape,” Espinal says. After a final quality-control inspection and weighing, the finished product rests until it’s ready to be packaged and sold.
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10. Last Check
Image Credit: Courtesy of Davidoff The cigars undergo a final check before being placed in their distinctive piano-finish lacquer box. Each example must have the same color, size, and shape before being sent to one of Davidoff’s retailers.
