Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition is dark tan and has some raised, knotty veins. The seams are smooth while the tapered head has some raised edges to the cap. There are two bands, both in a white and gold color combination. The primary is the traditional white label design with the company name, and the secondary strip band denotes the line. The aroma from the wrapper is musty hay, cedar and some earth. The foot opening is too small to get anything distinct. The pre-light draw brings airy cedar with light floral notes along with a mild spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition is a beautiful cigar. The figurado is lovely, with an amazing tapered head and foot. It is firm throughout with small to medium sized veins. The coloring is just under Colorado with some Natural qualities as well. It has this faint red clay coloring that is lovely. The cigar has a silky texture with some fine grit. Aromas of tobacco, hay, cedar and earth.
John: The Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition came in cellophane and had a UPC sticker with the cigar information and a perforated tear tab to remain intact when opened. There are two bands on the cigar, with a Davidoff primary band and a secondary “GRAND CRU DIADEMAS FINAS” secondary band. I weighed the cigar at 15.4 grams and measured the humidity to 61.6% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included sweet tobacco, hay and barnyard. Due to the nature of the cigar shape, I was not able to detect anything unique from the small amount of the exposed foot.

Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar, black pepper and mild earth. As the burn line reached the end of the taper, the black pepper and earth both increase a bit. The retrohale is toasted cedar, earth and mild black pepper. At an inch and a half in, a light hay joins the profile. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is up front, with earth and black pepper in the middle and some hay in the background. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third opens with tobacco, hay and cream notes. There are faint cedar notes present, and the finish has some coffee, earth and soft spice. It has that elegant Grand Cru quality, and it’s a great flavor profile. Balanced and medium in strength and body.
John: The first third begins with a retrohale of creamy spices at medium to medium-full strength, with tobacco to follow with muted bread and spicy wood to finish into the post draw. After a few puffs, the spices on the post draw move up to medium-full. As the cigar continues to evolve, some citrus sweetness comes into the end of each puff. By the time the burn line hits the shoulder of the cigar, the spices have calmed down to medium strength. Bread mixes with mild wood through the retrohale and some vegetal notes join the center. A clover honey and wood combines in the end of the draw as the cigar progresses. Minor tannins are present on the finish by the halfway point.

Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the black pepper mellows a bit. At a quarter inch in, the earth picks up a bit. The retrohale remains toasted cedar, earth and mild black pepper. At an inch and three quarters, the earth is now right behind the toasted cedar. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is just ahead of the earth, with the black pepper just behind the middle of the profile and some hay in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third opens more with the ring gauge, and I am getting some more earth and soft spice notes. Tobacco, hay, cream and cedar are still the predominant flavors, and there is some coffee notes present as well. Medium in strength and body.
John: The second third greets me with creamy bread, tannic wood and a vegetal wood on the finish. Spices come through the post draw after a short delay at medium strength. The profile remains consistent as it continues towards the halfway point. Tannic wood is driving the post draw by the halfway point as the spices have become a background note. Through the bottom half, the center of the retrohale takes on medium strength spices.

Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the black pepper mellows a bit more. At three quarters of an inch in, the earth is now even with the toasted cedar up front. The retrohale remains toasted cedar, earth and mild black pepper. As the burn reaches the taper, the black pepper is now in the background. At an inch and three quarters in, the black pepper picks back up. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with the black pepper in the middle and some light hay in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third delivers a flavor profile of coffee, cream, cedar, hay and faint earth. Bits of spices present with sweet tobacco on the end. Balanced and lovely. Medium in strength and body. A blend of the first and second third, capturing highlights of the smaller and larger ring gauge.
John: The last third gets going with bread, spices and wood as medium strength tannic wood finishes and carries into the post draw. The profile settles into spices, bread, a wood center and tannic wood to finish. Some bitterness is present on the finish through the bottom half.

Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition

Burn

Aaron: The burn was perfectly straight throughout, and the ash held on in inch and three quarter increments.
Seth: The burn was amazing from beginning to end.
John: The burn was straight through the entire review process.

Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: The draw was perfect from start to finish.
John: As is often the case with perfecto or diademas format cigars, the initial draw is roughly 2-1/2 to 3 notches into the resistant spectrum but opens to one notch into the resistant spectrum as it hits the shoulder. That final draw point puts it in the ideal range between open and resistant for an amazing draw score.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar, black pepper and mild earth. Some light hay joined a bit later. The second third saw the pepper mellow a bit and the earth increase. The final third saw the earth become even with the toasted cedar up front and the pepper mellow significantly, but the pepper then ramped back up at the end. The construction was impeccable. The Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition had a nice start with a good flavor combination and delivery. Things dropped a level in the second third as the components moved around a bit and maintained that level the rest of the way. I don’t feel that this LE really stood out from the rest of the Grand Cru line, and I’d be more inclined to go back to those regular production offering than pony up the cash to come back to this one.
Seth: The Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition is great from beginning to end. The figurado was beautiful in appearance, it had wonderful flavors throughout, nice body and strength, and amazing construction. This was a classic Davidoff, and a great vitola for the Grand Cru line. Don’t make it limited. Lol. The price is rough, but the cigar was lovely. Of all the Davidoff limited releases we have smoked; this is the one that is closest to its value.
John: The Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition offered a wide variety of dynamic flavor combinations through the first third. The second and last thirds were pleasant, but quite a step down from where the cigar started. Both the burn and draw were perfect, which would be my expectation on a super premium cigar. It’s becoming very difficult to talk about flavor performance on super premium cigars without talking about the price point. While I think the cigar delivers above average flavor combinations, you could also pick up multiples of other White Label Davidoff offerings for the single price of a Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition. Ultimately this is going to appeal to Davidoff brand loyalists and I think there is likely enough here to satisfy. I couldn’t justify another purchase unless the flavor performance was substantially higher. Total smoking time was a long and slow 2 hours and 48 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$9.34

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

7.17

Cost/Point

$7.95

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$9.34

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Davidoff Grand Cru Diademas Finas 2024 Limited Edition