Davidoff of Geneva: 150 Years, Two Factories and the White Band

Davidoff is the most Swiss thing in cigars: a house that treats consistency as the product. The company reached its 150th anniversary in 2025, and the modern parent, Oettinger Davidoff AG, still makes its cigars in two factories it owns outright, in the Dominican Republic and in Honduras. Our Davidoff collection covers the Winston Churchill series, the Primeros and cigarillo range, and the concrete ashtrays, scissors, cutters and leather cases from the accessory line.

This profile covers the history, the two factories, the men who blend the cigars, and the White Band and Black Band structure that organises the whole portfolio.

From Basel to Geneva to Santiago

The company dates itself to 1875, when Max Oettinger opened a cigar store at Eisengasse 9 in Basel. The Davidoff half of the name arrives in 1911, when the Davidoff family moved from Kiev to Geneva and Henri Davidoff opened a tobacco shop there.

The turning point is 1968, when the Davidoff white label cigar was created in Cuba by Zino Davidoff. Oettinger acquired his Geneva shop in 1970, and in 1991 production moved from Cuba to the Dominican Republic, to Villa Gonzales near Santiago. Cigar Aficionado records Davidoff as Cuban made until 1990.

The group renamed itself Oettinger Davidoff AG in 2013, added a Danlí facility in Honduras in 2015, and appointed Beat Hauenstein as chief executive in 2017 with Domenico Scala as board chairman. In January 2026 the company announced the transfer of ownership to the next Schneider generation, with Scala remaining chairman and leadership unchanged. Davidoff of Geneva USA has been led by Emanuele Uccellini as general manager and president since 3 March 2025.

The two factories

Davidoff's handmade cigars come from Cigars Davidoff in the Dominican Republic and Diadema Cigars de Honduras S.A. in Danlí. Owning both matters more than it sounds: a house that rents capacity cannot promise a blend will taste the same in three years, and consistency is Davidoff's entire proposition.

The Honduran factory also produces Camacho, which Oettinger Davidoff acquired in 2008, and the newer Zino Nicaragua and Zino Honduras lines. If you want to taste what a single group does across three countries, those three brands plus AVO are the cleanest comparison available anywhere.

Kelner and Díaz

Two names carry the blending history. Hendrik Kelner, known as Henke, founded Tabadom in the Dominican Republic in 1984, created The Griffin's and the AVO blends, handed general management to Hamlet Espinal in 2015, stepped down as Tabadom vice chairman in 2019 and retired in August 2020. He now serves as ProCigar's president ad vitam.

Eladio Díaz is master blender and director of quality, with more than thirty five years at the company and a first blend dating to 1979. He blended the 1000 Series, Grand Cru, Winston Churchill and Zino Platinum. Davidoff does not currently publish a single named successor to Kelner's role, so we do not name one.

White Band and Black Band

Davidoff splits its portfolio by band colour, and the split is the fastest way to understand the range.

Four Davidoffs to start with

Two Winston Churchill formats, one box of Primeros for the daily rotation, and one Nicaragua Maduro for contrast.

The Winston Churchill series

The Winston Churchill line runs in two families. The Original Series is the balanced everyday expression. The Late Hour Series takes its name from the end of the evening, and is the darker, later cigar of the two.

What makes this line useful in practice is the format range. The Belicoso is a proper evening cigar, while the Petit Panetela is a genuinely short smoke that does not feel like a compromise. If short formats are what you actually reach for, compare them against our mini cigars and the Petit Corona range.

Three blends in detail

Davidoff publishes full leaf breakdowns on its limited releases, and they are worth reading because they show how the house thinks.

Aniversario No. 1 Limited Edition

Ecuadorian Connecticut seed wrapper, Ecuadorian binder, and a filler of Dominican piloto viso, San Vicente viso and San Vicente mejorado viso. It is a double corona at 8.67 by 48. The Aniversario line was created for Zino Davidoff's eightieth birthday, discontinued in 2016 and revived in 2023.

Escurio 10th Anniversary

Ecuadorian Habano wrapper aged four years, a Brazilian binder aged nine years, and a filler of one Brazilian and four Dominican leaves, one of them bourbon barrel aged. Six inches by 56 ring gauge, made at Cigars Davidoff in the Dominican Republic. Escurio arrived in 2015 as the second of what were then the Discover Series lines.

Yamasá

The most interesting agricultural story in the portfolio. Yamasá is a Dominican region whose soil was long considered unsuitable for premium wrapper. Davidoff planted 21 of 100 hectares there, selecting three seed varieties out of thirty trialled under agronomist Manuel Peralta. The cigar uses a Yamasá wrapper, a San Vicente binder grown in Yamasá, and a filler drawn from Condega and Estelí in Nicaragua plus Dominican piloto and mejorado. Sizes are Robusto 5 by 50, Toro 6 by 52, Pirámides 6.125 by 52 and Petit Churchill 4 by 48.

The accessory line

Davidoff's accessories sit at the opposite end of the design spectrum from the cigars: minimal, heavy, and largely undecorated. The concrete ashtrays are the signature piece, in small dark grey and large white. The stainless steel double blade cutter and the pocket scissors are both proper tools rather than gifts, and the XL-3 leather case takes three large ring gauge cigars.

Set them beside the rest of our cutters, ashtrays and cigar cases to compare.

What we notice first-hand

Davidoff is the house people come back to rather than the house people start with, and there is a reason for that. The cigars are built around balance rather than around a single dominant note, which reads as understated the first time and as sophisticated the tenth.

The practical observation is about the small formats. The Primeros and the cigarillos are the Davidoffs that get bought and re-bought here, because they solve a real problem: a thirty minute window where a Toro does not fit. A box of twenty Primeros costs less per cigar than the six pack and is the better buy if you already know you like them.

One honest note on price. Davidoff is expensive, and the reason is consistency rather than rarity. If you want a cigar that will taste the same next year, you are paying for that. If you want a cigar that surprises you, the Black Band lines and the El Septimo range will do more for you.

Davidoff at Cigar Inc., live

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The bottom line

Start with a Winston Churchill if you want the full size Davidoff experience, or a box of Primeros if you want the house style in a format you will actually finish on a weekday. Move to the Black Band lines when you want the same construction with more contrast, and treat the accessories as a separate decision entirely.

If you are choosing between Davidoff, Zino and AVO, our Cigar Finder is the quickest way to narrow it, and we will happily talk it through.

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