Pre-light Experience

The cigar is beautiful in hand and has a cap that is applied perfectly. It is smooth in texture, showing silky qualities and the wrapper is applied seamlessly to the binder and filler. There are some small veins noticeable in the wrapper, but overall great in appearance. It is firm and has a nice marbled brown coloring. I would say it is light Colorado overall and it is more red than it is brown. The wrapper is giving off some cocoa powder qualities, and it has this meaty and woody profile with that. The foot is showing more complexity and I am getting some cedar, red pepper, tobacco and raisin notes there. The cold draw is lovely and there is a slight bit of resistance present.

First Third

The first third opens up by delivering a nice red pepper quality that is paired with this combination of coffee grinds, cedar and oak. There is a nutty quality present and it is this creamy Brazilian nut quality. I would classify the flavor profile as being full, and the strength and body are right at a medium to medium-full level. The draw is perfect, producing a great bit of smoke and the construction is fairly dead on. The ash being produced is light charcoal in coloring and holding on fairly well.

Second Third

When I get into the second third of the cigar I find a change in the dominant flavor profiles. The cedar qualities are really leading the cigar now, and it is paired with cocoa, coffee grinds and cream notes. There is a finish of pepper and nuts on the cigar, and it has some salty wood notes as well. It is a full flavored smoke still and the body and strength have gone down to a solid medium level. The construction remains top notch in this third and it has an even burn line with a nice light charcoal ash on the end. The draw is smooth and cool, and there is a nice bit of smoke produced with each draw.

Final Third

I am in the final third of the cigar now and the finish is going well. It is showing some salty wood notes and with that are some pepper and cedar qualities. I am getting a faint bit of coffee grinds from the first two thirds, but it is not what it once was and it is lacking the creamy and nutty qualities as well. It really smooths out in the final third and I would classify the flavors, body and strength as being a solid medium, a decrease from the first and second third. The construction remains perfect however and it has that even burn line with light charcoal ash holding on perfectly at the end.

Burn

The cigar had a start that was not perfect, but it really turned itself around and smoked very well from that point on. It had an even burn line for probably 90% of the cigar and produced a lovely ash that was light charcoal in color.

Draw

From beginning to end, the draw on the cigar was to my liking. It was not too loose, but not too snug. It had a slight bit of resistance, but nothing major and made for a preferred smoking experience.

Overall

The Davidoff Selección 702 Limited Edition is an enjoyable cigar with a very nice flavor profile from start to finish. I believe it smoked best in the second third, the first third to follow, but no third was bad. The construction was almost perfect and the draw great throughout. This is a flavor focused cigar, it’s not about the strength or body, and while there is not a lot of transitioning from start to finish there is some transitioning present. It is a cigar more focused on the depth of the flavors, rather than transitioning and I believe that to be the case with a lot of Davidoff offerings. I enjoy this wrapper on this blend, it is nice to smoke that 702 wrapper in its “original form” and not by being used as a “substitute wrapper,” and because of that I find it to be the superior offering with the wrapper. On top of that, I really dig the size for this cigar. it has that Toro quality but with a smaller ring gauge that I prefer. If you are a fan of the 702 Series, I think you should try this smoke out and if it hasn’t crossed your mind yet, you should. I believe this to be lighter than the 702 Series offerings, but more elegant overall.

Seth Geise

SCORE

7.27

Cost/Point

$4.11

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: Davidoff Selección 702 Limited Edition