Davidoff has unveiled a new limited-edition cigar humidor
crafted by the renowned French marquetry artist Rose Saneuil.
Conceived as an ode to Davidoff’s Caribbean terroir in
the north west of the Dominican Republic, the new Masterpiece Humidor Damajagua
follows the successful Cave de Paille humidor, created for Davidoff by the
Paris-based artist Lison de Caunes, known for her straw marquetry technique.
“We are thrilled to partner with an exceptional French
marquetry artisan Rose Saneuil to develop this unique Damajagua Humidor
Masterpiece,” said Charles Awad, Senior Vice President – Chief Marketing
Officer at Oettinger Davidoff AG.
“Rose Saneuil has been greatly inspired by Davidoff’s
Caribbean heritage, the magical forest of Damajagua and our skill at nurturing
fragile tobacco plants to transform them into exceptional cigars. Her
Masterpieces are breathtaking as the artist mixed 25 selected materials to
create them, using tobacco leaves picked from Damajagua, for the very first
time in marquetry,” he added.
Davidoff has been cultivating filler tobacco in the
fertile region of Damajagua since 2002. Thanks to the humid climate and
PH-balanced soil, the tobacco leaves become red while being cured and have a
sweet aftertaste. As they tend to be less exposed to sunshine, the leaves are
very thin and of medium strength, giving a sweet and creamy tobacco.
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| Davidoff's new cigar humidor depicts a vibrant vermilion bird |
A symbol of benevolence
Saneuil’s drawing shows a vibrant vermilion bird, a
symbol of benevolence, swooping protectively over a mystical Caribbean forest
and encouraging the tobacco leaves beneath to thrive.
The interior of the humidors is made of Gabon wood, known
as okoumé, from central west Africa. It is odourless and tasteless, thus
avoiding flavor transfer to cigars. The okoumé is hand varnished to seal the
humidity more effectively so that it will not be constantly absorbed by the
wood.
With a capacity for 190 to 250 cigars, each humidor is
equipped with three Davidoff De Luxe regulators which guarantee the stable
humidification between 70% and 72%.
The Damajagua Masterpiece Humidors will be available at
Davidoff flagship stores and selected merchants in late April 2017.
The first Masterpiece Humidor of the 20 limited editions,
number 1/20, was offered at the auction of the Procigar Festival 2017 in
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. It came with a Master
Blender’s selection of 50 Toro Damajagua cigars made of 30% Damajagua tobacco. The
starting bid was $25,000.
The charity auction benefited three organisations helping
children, the elderly and preserving the Dominican Republic heritage: the
Voluntariado de Jesús con los Niños (non-profit organisation for ill children),
the Hospicio San Vicente de Paul (retirement home for low-income elders) and
the Monumento a los Heroes de la Restauración.
