Davidoff Escurio

By Tony Casas | August 10, 2015

So I ruined my streak by missing my review last week. I was on it too. Life has just been a bit crazy lately. Luckily  I was able to find time this weekend to waltz out back with a Davidoff Escurio and a bottle of Evil Twin Aún Más A Jesús.

The Good Stuff:

It seems like just yesterday that Davidoff threw us all a curveball releasing their all Nicaraguan blend. A blend that featured more strength and body as well as a cosmetic makeover with all black packaging. This was quite a departure from the Davidoff norm, and a welcomed one. Well, they are at it again releasing another bold, “black” blend, the Escurio. The Escurio isn’t a puro, but features some great tobacco focused around Brazil. The blend starts with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around a Brazilian Cubra binder which is also found in the filler tobaccos along with a Mata Fina from Brazil, and San Vincente, Piloto, and Olor/Piloto Seco from the Dominican Republic.

The Davidoff Escurio is offered in 3 sizes: The Gran Toro (5.5 x 58), the Robusto (4.5 x 54), and the Petit Robusto (3.25 x 50).The two larger formats are packaged in boxes of 12 while the Petit Robusto comes in a box of 14 running between $8.50 and $17.90 a stick. One note is the Robusto format actually comes in singular tubos. I picked up a handful of these over from our friends at Smoke Inn.

Size: 4.5 x 54
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Brazilian Cubra
Filler: Dominican (San Vicente, Piloto and Olor/Piloto Seco) / Brazilian (Cubra and Mata Fina)
Body:  Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $15.90
Pairing: Evil Twin Aún Más A Jesús (Imperial Stout 12% ABV)

Prelight:

As stated before, I am smoking the robusto format which comes packaged in very dense, thick, aluminum tubes. Once out to the tube the Davidoff Escurio features of a very meat, rugged, rustic looking wrapper. It’s incredibly dense, hard, and carries a good amount of both tooth and oil. The wrapper is a medium brown with lots of darker areas as well as some lighter areas around the tobacco leaf’s webbing and the smaller veins running through the cigar’s short body. The Davidoff Escurio is polished off with a round double cap. The cigar carries a double band, one is the black and silver version of the classic Davidoff band, the second is a smaller band featuring the words “Escurio” and the cigars green and yellow eclipse logo.

The wrapper of the Davidoff Escurio gives off almost no aroma outside of a slight cedar while the foot of the cigar smells very mossy, with lots of earthiness and natural tobacco. The cap cut very clean and easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produced a really bold mixture of sweetness, oak, and honey with lots of mossiness.

First Third:

The Davidoff Escurio started out with a nice little black pepper bang that I’m not used to in Davidoff cigars. After the pepper subsided the cigar let loose some strong espresso, dark chocolate, malt, and that awesome grassy/mossy flavor that I have grown to love. The draw is a bit loose but still kicks out some massive clouds of thick smoke. There really isn’t much stationary smoke at all as the cigar rest in my ashtray. The burn line is dead solid and razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white and light gray ash which held on for a little under an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Davidoff Escurio and the flavors remain real bold leading with a ton of espresso and dark chocolate which is backed by a bit of sweetness, oak, and the earthiness I find in all Davidoff cigars. As I smoked more, it seems the black pepper gets replaced with a cayenne pepper which shows up just long enough to tease my lips and mouth before disappearing again. It has happened a few times through the second third. The retrohale is a lot sharper than I expected coating my nasal passage with a deep oak and lots of spice and pepper. The draw at this point has tightened up and is flowing flawlessly now as the burn line continues it’s perfect streak. I close out the second third with no signs of nicotine although this cigar does have a bit more strength than I was expecting.

Finish:

As I close in on the final third of the Davidoff Escurio, the flavors and strength begin to really ramp up. The cayenne pepper is still coming in going while the Escurio leads with the espresso and dark chocolate, some soft spice, malt and a ton of oak and moss. It took me almost an hour and a half to take this cigar down to the nub and I experienced absolutely no harshness or extended heat. I smoked this bad boy down until I could no longer hold it without burning the tips of my fingers and it left with me only a little nicotine kick.

Overview:

Davidoff shocked me with the Nicaraguan release. It was everything I loved about Davidoff plus everything that I craved with them. The Escurio follows along the same line and next to the Nicaraguan is probably my favorite blend they’ve made. The flavors are bold, tasty, and complex yet still the Escurio keeps it’s Davidoff character. There is just something in every Davidoff cigar that carries this great mossy flavor. I know, that sounds like a turn off, but it really isn’t and I’ve learned to appreciate it each time I light one up. The only draw back to this cigar has to be the price. It’s up there. But then again, so is everything that Davidoff makes. Would I smoke it again? Absolutely. Would I buy a box? Eh, that’s where I’d draw the line. I’d probably split a box, but it’s just a lot of coin to drop. Luckily some of these come in 4 count boxes which is much lighter on the wallet.

Pairing:

I knew going into this cigar that I had to pair it with a beer that was bold enough to keep up, as well as something that had a ton of complimentary flavors. That’s where the Evil Twin Aún Más A Jesús, my favorite gypsy “brewery” comes into play. The Evil Twin Aún Más A Jesús is a 12% ABV Imperial Stout brewed at Companyia Cervesera del Montseny SLL, Catalunya, Spain. The Aún Más A Jesús leads with a ton of espresso, malt, and chocolate with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with even more espresso and cocoa with a nice spice on the aftertaste. It seemed like these two were made for each other. The flavors were nearly identical, if anything beer added an extra level of sweetness to the cigar that I didn’t really pick up without it. This cigar would also pair great with any dark stout, smoked porter, or a cup of espresso.