Dunhill 1907 Rothschild

Dunhill is brand that you may have heard of through their full line of luxury gentlemen accessories and pipes but not necessarily for their cigars which have flown way under the radar. The brand has a rich history; Alfred Dunhill opened his first cigar shop in London in 1907, which had numerous marketing and selling rights from various Cuban manufacturers, including several exclusive cigars from top cigar makers such as Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo. Over the years, Alfred Dunhill began to gain notoriety and became the tobacconist of choice for King George VI and Sir Winston Churchill – who even stored his private collection in the store’s humidor! In the 1980s they produced their first cigar under the name Dunhill and today their cigars continue to impress.

The Dunhill 1907 pays homage to the year the company was founded. Handcrafted in the Dominican Republic, this stunner comes dressed in a Honduran wrapper and a Dominican binder, and is filled to the brim with a blend of Dominican ligero and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers. Medium in body, light ‘er up and you’ll find rich and complex notes of tobacco and pepper with hints of cedar, leather, and spice. Pair this smoke with a cabernet sauvignon after dinner.

Though tobacco is indigenous to Hispaniola, the tobacco industry in the Dominican Republic existed in the shadow of Cuba’s dominance through the 1960s. When the exodus of Cuban cigar makers began in the wake of the revolution, many decided the Dominican Republic would be ideal for the resumption of their livelihoods. Unrest in Nicaragua in the 1980s fueled the Dominican cigar industry further. The country now makes more than half of the premium cigars imported into the U.S.

The Cibao Valley and the nearby city of Santiago are the center of cigar production in the Dominican Republic. Three main varieties are grown here: the mild and native Olor Dominicano; the intense Piloto Cubano, brought from the Vuelta Abajo of Cuba; and San Vicente, a milder and more acidic Piloto hybrid. Dominican puros were once unheard of as it was widely thought impossible to grow quality wrapper leaf on the island, but new growing techniques are now allowing some exceptional puros to be produced.