By Gary Korb
Why This Cigar’s Wrapper Leaf Makes It So Remarkable
I love it when tobacco growers experiment with seeds to create more intriguing blends. Take the exclusive “702 Habano” hybrid wrapper Davidoff uses on this 702 Series Aniversario Special R I partook of this weekend: It’s a hybrid of three Cuban seeds grown at Davidoff’s San Juan farm in Ecuador’s Cotopaxi province where eons of volcanic activity has spawned some of the richest soil on Earth.
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Size: 4 7/8″ x 50
Strength: Medium-Full
Wrapper: Proprietary Ecuador 702 Habano hybrid
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
My Experience: I reviewed this cigar in greater detail last February, just around the time when this new 702 Series was released, and I’m glad I saved a couple of these 702’s. With a year of aging on them, my expectations were pretty high, and I wasn’t disappointed. Remembering the Davidoff 702 Aniversario Special R as being sweet, even the pre-light on this year-old model gave me a hint of what was to come. The early puffs issued distinctive notes of cedar, oak, and sweet cream. As the cigar progressed I picked up notes of coffee, dark chocolate and caramel. Moreover, having smoked it out on the porch, the aroma exuded a soothing floral character. Add the underlying creaminess and for a medium-full cigar, this is one helluva relaxing Sunday morning constitutional – especially with coffee.
The original Aniversario Special R is rolled in an Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper which is thinner and lighter in flavor. Most interesting for me is that the 702 Habano version, which uses the same core tobacco blend, clearly demonstrates how this dark, hybrid wrapper has such a dramatic effect on the cigar’s flavor profile.
Suffice it to say. . . the Series 702 Aniversario Special R is a definitive Davidoff. The construction, burn, and balance of flavors are first-rate all the way. The smoke noticeably shifted into the full-body gears by the latter stages, yet even with that extra octane boost, the smoke remained sweet and creamy down to the nub.
A single 702 Special R will cost you about $21 and a pack of 4 will cost you about $82, but I’m going to suggest that you go for the latter; reason being, the cigar is excellent right out of the box, plus you’ll have at least a few more to squirrel-away. And if your “home aging” experience turns out as well as mine did, you’re in for what I call “a perfect cigar,” and the Davidoff Series 702 Aniversario Special R is right up there.
If you’ve had an experience with this cigar, please share it by leaving a comment.
Executive Editor
Gary Korb has been writing and editing content for CigarAdvisor.com since its debut in 2008. An avid cigar smoker for over 30 years, he has worked on the marketing side of the premium cigar business as a Sr. Copywriter, blogger, and Executive Editor of Cigar Advisor. A graduate of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, prior to his career in the cigar business, Gary worked in the music and video industry as a marketer and a publicist.
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