Second Opinion: Davidoff Millennium Blend

Robusto, 5.25" x 50 ring gauge, approx. $17
A year and a half ago, in one of my first reviews for the Tiki Bar blog (this version, anyway) I got the need to try a Davidoff out of my system and thoroughly dissed the experience. In the time since, I've had few good things to say about Davidoff. Seriously, they think so much of themselves that they sell leather and gold cigar bands for $1200 and gold-trimmed desktop humidors for $16K. I find it hard to regard anything they do as anything more than a status-symbol. Since I am not insecure about my station in life, I feel no need to be seen with a 20-year-old trophy wife, Italian supercar, or Davidoff cigar. I try to be fair, though, and when given the opportunity (read: I didn't have to pay for the stick) I wanted to give their cigars a second chance to impress me. I like to think that with all the cigars I've smoked and rated in the past year and a half, my palate has matured a bit and I am better able to appreciate milder, more nuanced smokes as well as those that just slam me in the face with power.

The Millennium Blend was brought out in 2001 as Davidoff's "full-bodied" cigar and it features Dominican filler and binder along with an Ecuadorian sun-grown wrapper. The appearance of this particular stick is less than I would expect for a cigar from Davidoff: the wrapper was stretched and wrinkled in places--I've seen $8 sticks wrapped better. There were a few medium-sized veins but nothing to worry about. The color was very even. The aroma from the wrapper was strong, sweet alfalfa along with a little barnyard; the foot had a grassier smell but was still very pleasant. The prelight draw had flavors of hay and caramel; the draw itself was excellent.

Initial puffs featured the same caramel and hay flavors that I got in prelight. They created this to be full-bodied, but the only way that label applies is if you add "for a Davidoff" when you say it. It definitely started off in the mild-to-medium range. I experienced all the flavors of a classic, super-premium, mild cigar in the first third: caramel, hay, cream, honey--all of these with just a little more body than you might typically expect in a mild stick. The construction was just exquisite: an almost perfectly straight burn line, perfect draw and ash that held on for an inch or more. It was very easy and smooth on the retrohale with just a little nutty aroma.

During the second third, the stick achieved medium-body status. There was a definite roasted nut flavor that came on more strongly, but still some creaminess and sweetness, although the caramel and hay had faded quite a bit. Much as I tried to resist, I found myself liking this stick an awful lot.

The final third was nutty, with a touch of leather. There was some caramel underneath, with a little pepper on the finish. With all that going on, there is no point in denying that this is a fantastic smoke. It had all the best qualities of a mild cigar with more oomph. It was good smoking all the way down to the nub--lots of flavor and no sourness anywhere. The construction was flawless, as you would expect. So, the bottom line is this: I really, really enjoyed this stick. Surprisingly, especially to me, I could see myself purchasing one of these in the future for a "special occasion" stick...not something I ever expected to say.

Body: 5/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 9/10

P.S. 9/10 represents a dramatic improvement over my initial review of this stick where I only gave it a 7.5/10