BACKGROUND: Every year Don Eladio Díaz, master blender of Davidoff, celebrates his anniversary making a rare new special blend from the best and most aged tobaccos from different countries for his own private collection.

For his 55th Anniversary he had chosen a 55 ring gauge by 5 1/2 length, blending six different tobacco varieties with full strength and complexity in the filler and two different tobacco varieties for the binder and wrapper. It is probably the first cigar using 8 different tobaccos from 4 different countries with some tobaccos aged for up to 9 years.

The two bundles of 16 cigars come in a unique humidor box with a special inscription on the lid and inside the lid. These cigars are taken from Don Eladio's private reserve and exclusively for the ProCigar Festival along with his signature on the box.

TASTING NOTES: The Eladio Diaz 55th anniversary cigar started with big, bold flavors of bittersweet chocolate and earthy tobacco notes. This cigar is full in body and flavor right out of the chute, which made me think that, if it's this big, this early, it's going to be an absolute monster by the end of the smoke.

And the retrohale, I tell you, I could feel the retrohale all the way to the soles of my feet. It was spicy and tangy with just a suggestion of sweetness. And, I found myself trying to retrohale progressively more and more smoke with each puff, and it was like a jolt of electricity flooding through my body. And, I kept going back for more.

In typical Davidoff fashion, this cigar was impeccably constructed. The burn line was a little blistered at first, but was even overall and the draw was perfect. The medium gray ash, though ragged, held on for a good 2 inches until I decided to tap it off into my ashtray.

The Eladio Diaz 55th anniversary cigar is a truly a great cigar. The cigar, though full-bodied and full-flavored at the outset, never really became overpowering. There were flavors of tobacco, wood, chocolate, and an underlying earthiness that was full and powerful. And yet, this cigar displayed a lot of character and nuance. Though, not as much nuance and complexity as it is going to display with further aging. I am hoping that I can keep my hands of a few of these to let them age for a few years. I think this cigar is going to age successfully over quite a few years. Though it has a lot of well-aged tobaccos, I don't think these cigars have had quite enough time yet as a completed cigar. And I believe that they will achieve even better balance and complexity with more time. I am excited to try these again in another year or so.

~Doc