Winston Churchill Chequers...made by Davidoff!

After reading that this cigar was produced as a collaboration between Sir Winstons grandson Winston S Churchill and Davidoff cigar maker Hendrick Kelner and made with full Cuban seed tobacco I was eager to light it up and try it out. I received it as part of a trade and it was delivered in a zip-lok bag and went straight into my humidor at 68% RH for a few days before being removed and dry boxed at about 55% RH for a couple of days before getting lit.

Ring gauge 46 x 5.5”
Initial appearance was rather impressive, no large veins and a nice medium coloured wrapper.

I punched it with a nice, crisp clean hole giving a VERY easy draw, almost too easy (I like a bit of resistance/ substance to my draw ideally). Not a lot of scent or taste on the pre-draw, but then again it hadn’t been lit yet!

Once toasted and lit, the only real tastes I got for the first inch or so was of spices and cigarette tobacco (I used to smoke them years ago) and an ever so slight earthy/ wild mushroom hint hiding somewhere in the background. Very bland really.


This unfortunately continued for quite some time, with nothing to note at all from it. I could compare it to tasting a nice salmon, then trying a river-caught trout! Bland, bland, bland…
Mild, not much in the way of flavours although still a reasonably strong taste, if you know what I mean…just a taste of nothing! Completely unremarkable.


Approaching midway I started to get a “slight” hint of a taste, but then I noticed that the glue from the first band was spread onto the wrapper, sticking it to its underside. If you look at the photo you might be able to make out the excess glue left behind on the wrapper.
Not only that but it was starting to split from the foot end too! I carefully sliced the band off but this took a small chunk of the wrapper with it. I then decided to let it go out and salvage it later.


After the relight I was heartened to see the uneven burn rectifying itself, and I initially got some more spices back from it after letting it extinguish, but after purging it I was again back to more blandness until I picked up a “slight” honey sweet hint somewhere with an equally minute taste of mint tea, until…back to blandness again. If anything it was consistent.

Then the real bad news dawned on me that it was starting to split from the front/ cap too, badly . Within a few draws it had almost developed down the entire length of it.

If it had tasted better (or of anything for that matter) I’d have struggled on regardless of the split, but it didn’t so it was allowed to extinguish itself and has since been retired to my outdoor humidor (AKA, the rubbish bin).

Overall a pointless cigar. Ah well, there's a few more NC's for me to try yet !

Carl.

[papajohn67]

What a great review!! I've seen a number of people trash the WCC, I happen to like them. I have not encountered any of the problems that you had. I really doubt that this particular line of cigars is going to have many people doing cartwheels. I've salted a half a dozen away to see what they are like in a few years.

[LkyLindy]

Wow-
I really like the Marakesh--Never had burn problems--I would revisit this baby after a spell for a second try

bad burn man

Nice review Dent! Tough luck with those burn problems...

[shilala]

It wasn't in my stable, so nothing lost.
I know what you mean about "tasting like nothing". The nothing gets worse when it's bitter. Add the cigarette smoke flavor and I'd have probably bailed before it split.
Way to hang in there, and thanks for sharing!!!

[Jay Hemingway]

EVERY single one i have smoked cracked!
shiiiiiit, even some of the ones i didn't smoke flaked and cracked. winded up tossing a few before i could even smoke them, they were cracking that bad.

very disapointed in the entire line (and i'm a big davi fan).