Davidoff Millennium Blend Staff Review
Today’s an occasion when I get to smoke a pretty pricy cigar – Davidoff Millennium Blend. And I’m smoking a 5.25-by-50 Robusto, which, at $27.70 apiece or just under $700 for a 25-count box, I’d have to take a second mortgage out my house to buy. That’s not shocking, though, because all Davidoff cigars are expensive.
Founded by Zino Davidoff in 1947 in Europe, the illustrious Davidoff brand was originally made in Cuba before Zino moved production to the Dominican Republic in 1991. To this day, Cuban Davidoff cigars are some of the most expensive and sought after in the world. However, the brand’s Dominican-made White Label cigars have been prized among aficionados for over thirty years. White Label cigars enjoy a predominantly mild reputation, but Millennium is considered a solid medium-bodied cigar. I’ve always thought of Davidoff as a great smoke for the golf course because of their approachable flavor and aroma.
The Millennium blend is noticeably darker than other White Label cigars like the Signature and Grand Cru, despite the fact that all three are dressed in an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper leaf. The company claims their master blenders blended 300 unique cigars before arriving at a specific leaf, labeled hybrid 151, that met their demanding criteria for the Millennium blend. This varietal is grown under direct sunlight, and underneath it lies a leathery core of premium Dominican long-filler tobaccos.
When I choose a nice and oily Robusto from a new box and slip the cellophane off, a mossy, herbal bouquet emanates with sweet hints of leather as I rotate the cigar directly under my nose. Davidoff cigars are meticulously well made, and the Millennium Blend Robusto shows off all the hallmarks you should expect from a cigar that costs nearly thirty bucks. The wrapper leaf is seamless; the cap is perfectly applied; and every single cigar in the box looks exactly the same.
After clipping the cap, notes of oak and pepper leave the first impression on my palate when I spin the cigar around in my mouth a few times. The draw is perfect too, offering an ideal airflow from head to foot. The Robusto ignites effortlessly when I start toasting it, and silky clouds of white smoke stream into the air over my desk. Of course, my expectations are elevated due to the price tag and prestige associated with Davidoff cigars.
The Millennium Blend delivers a healthy dose of coffee bean and leather in the first minutes. And there’s an unmistakable peaty taste that some may find off-putting. It’s an underlying tasting note I mostly only get from Davidoff cigars. As the cigar progresses, it fades into an overall profile of almond, prune, and dark cocoa powder.
Davidoff Millennium serves up a complex chapter after twenty minutes have gone by. Licorice, leather, and moss resonate over my taste buds with an interesting undercurrent of oak and spice. If you enjoy pipe tobacco, the Millennium Blend bears some overlapping flavor, particularly with perique and latakia tobaccos. It’s subtle, but it’s there.
After the bands are off and I’m homing in on the nub, the Robusto becomes tangy and chewy with notes of leather with a bitter spice. The finish is nutty and dense at the same time and resonates with hints of oak and coffee bean from the first few minutes. Millennium Blend is a solid, well-constructed cigar that performs like a champ and exhibits smooth composure from the first draw to the last.
Is Millennium Blend one of the best Davidoff cigars you can buy? Probably, considering that all Davidoff cigars cost a pretty penny, making it a level playing field. It’s not as intense as the Davidoff Nicaragua or Davidoff Winston Churchill Late Hour we’ve previously reviewed, but it’s stronger than other White Label cigars.
In the larger landscape of all premiums available today, though, I’m docking a few points from my final appraisal of Millenium Blend strictly based on the price. It’s a good cigar, but it’s tough to convince me to spend over $27 on a Robusto that burns for fifty minutes when I know I can smoke an equally satisfying cigar for half the price.
