Playing hide-and-seek in tobacco bales. Tagging along to cigar expos with your dad (if your dad happens to be Davidoff’s master blender Henke Kelner, that is). Smoking reject cast-off Davidoff Oro Blancos. (That’s a $500 cigar, BTW.)
Imagine having so many Davidoffs on your desk that you have to clear a path just to get some work done! Ah, the life of a cigar brand ambassador. Let’s hope those cigars all over Klaas’s desk are in humidity-controlled Boveda Humidor Bags. (If not, Boveda can set you up, brother.)
“What’s it like growing up in the Dominican Republic as a farmer‘s son, if that farmer is a tobacco farmer for probably one of the biggest tobacco companies in the world?”
REVISIT YOUR OTHER FAVORITE DAVIDOFF MOMENTS
- What’s to love about Davidoff 2019 Limited Edition Robusto Real Especiales 7 cigar. (0:38)
- How many different tobaccos are combined to make a cigar? (01:17)
- What Davidoff cigar features 9 tobacco varietals? (05:40)
- What’s it like to grow up on a tobacco farm? (0:12:20)
- What’s it like being mentored by a master blender who’s also your father? (0:24:35)
- How Davidoff impacts today’s cigar culture for the newest generation of cigar aficionados? (0:50:13)
- How FDA regulations and smoking bans hurt cigar hobbyists. (0:54:45)
- How has social media changed the cigar industry? (0:59:45)
“…HE [HENKE KELNER] WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT I WASN’T DOING THIS BECAUSE EVERYBODY ELSE IN MY FAMILY WAS DOING IT. HE WAS JUST MAKING SURE THAT I WAS DOING IT BECAUSE I REALLY LOVED IT AND I WAS GONNA BE HAPPY DOING IT.”
CAPTURING THE COVER is Henke and Klaas Kelner, the feature story in the new magazine for Spanish-speaking cigar lovers, Latin Aficionado.
“Every day on the tobacco farm is different and every day you have to do something different depending on the weather and what God is delivering to you.”
Tobacco farming is a future’s game. “…you plant the seed, you don’t see it on a cigar for at least five years,” Klaas explained. “Five years, we know that far, what soil it is and what seed we’re using. We’re planning for the future.” (And that doesn’t even factor in the years that cigar makers age their tobacco.)
Farming will always be the most beautiful part of the cigar business, Klaas mused. Because premium cigars are crafted by hand from a living organism, cigar makers have a philosophical attachment their product.
And real cigar aficionados respect the craftsmanship and hard work that goes into this luxury product.
“They could put a cigar in your hand and make you enjoy it.”
Under the tutelage of Zino Davidoff, Davidoff of Geneva became the world’s leading cigar boutique. For more than 50 years, Davidoff has also manufactured premium cigars. Klaas said Zino would approach cigar smokers and say, “This is my cigar, try it, enjoy it.” Then he’d explain why that blend of tobaccos, that construction, that aging produced such a satisfying smoke. Today, shoppers can enjoy similar one-on-one service at the company’s cigar boutiques. Make a Davidoff tobacco shop a cigar destination in cities such as NYC, Vegas and Atlanta.
During this Box Press cigar podcast, Klaas and Rob smoke Davidoff Limited Edition Robusto Real Especiales 7 cigars. Blended with seven different tobaccos, the original Especiales 7 cigar garnered a 99 from halfwheel.
As the premier cigar brand touted, this 2019 limited edition is “a second chance to experience a cigar ‘first’.”
