article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message the davidoff logo davidoff is a swiss luxury tobacco goods brand name which is carried by a range of products including cigars cigarillos cigarettes and pipe tobaccos . its cigarette brand is currently owned by imperial tobacco but the company is otherwise independently owned by oettinger davidoff ag . contents 1 history 2 cuban davidoff cigars 2.1 the cuban davidoff line 3 davidoff products today 4 see also 5 footnotes 6 further reading 7 external links history edit zino davidoff was born on march 11 1906 in novhorod siverskyi russian empire present day ukraine to a jewish family . 1 he was the eldest of four children born to tobacco merchant henri davidoff . even in his own autobiographical writings the facts on his youth are a bit hazy as he was quite young during this time and could only piece together some stories of his youth . his parents were either cigar merchants or cigarette manufacturers in kiev . fleeing the political turmoil his parents left some of their family behind and emigrated to geneva switzerland in 1911 for a better life where they opened their own tobacconist shop in 1912 . finishing school in 1924 zino went to latin america to learn about the tobacco trade spending time in such places as argentina brazil and finally cuba where he spent two years working on a plantation and first encountered cuban cigars . returning to switzerland around 1929 he took over his parents shop . what had originally been a modest tobacco shop grew into a rich business during and after world war ii . neutral switzerland was spared much of the havoc wreaked elsewhere in europe and became a haven for wealthy tobacco customers . zino was particularly successful in marketing the hoyo de monterrey ch teaux series of cuban cigars created for zurich cigar distributor a d rr co. in the 1940s and named after great bordeaux wines . around this time zino is also credited by many as having invented the first desktop cigar humidor in order to preserve cigars at the same conditions of humidity and temperature under which they were rolled in havana . davidoff also had success writing several books on cigar smoking and cuban cigar brands . in 1970 zino sold his small but highly successful tobacco shop in geneva to the max oettinger company . zino stayed on as davidoff s ambassador until his death in 1994 at the age of 87 . he was survived by his wife a daughter and his three siblings . the max oettiger company which took over davidoff was founded in 1875 and was one of the first importers of havana cigars to europe selling its wares in france germany and switzerland . 2 headed by the swiss born ernst schneider oettiger paid in excess of 1 million for the davidoff shop considered by many at the time to be an exorbitant price . 2 cuban davidoff cigars edit in 1967 davidoff was approached by cubatabaco cuba s state tobacco monopoly after the revolution about creating a personal brand of cigars for his stores . the cigars were rolled in the newly established el laguito factory in havana which had been established to roll cuban president fidel castro s own private cigars coh ba . in 1968 the first productions of davidoff cigars were released which included the no. 1 the no. 2 and ambassadrice which all shared the same sizes as the early cohiba line and the ch teaux series now no longer under the hoyo de monterrey label but exclusively made for the davidoff marque . in the 1970s the mille series a milder blend than the rest of the line and the dom p rignon named for the famous champagne were released on the market . in 1986 a special limited release of 80 anniversarios cigars were made to celebrate zino s 80th birthday . in 1982 the ch teau yquem cigar produced by davidoff was discontinued after the owner of ch teau d yquem wine protested over their unauthorized use of the trade name . the ch teau mouton rothschild came out shortly after though with a different blend and slightly different size from its predecessor . a cuban made davidoff dom p rignon with its namesake dom p rignon champagne dominican made ambassadrice the cuban davidoff line edit the cigars within the cuban davidoff line included ... no. 1 7 x 38 192 x 15.08 mm laguito no. 1 a long panetela no. 2 6 x 38 152 x 15.08 mm laguito no. 2 a panetela ambassadrice 4 x 26 115 x 10.32 mm laguito no. 3 a cigarillo tubo 6 x 38 152 x 15.08 mm laguito no. 2 a panetela same blend as the no. 2 dom p rignon 7 x 47 178 x 18.65 mm julieta a churchill ch teaux series ch teau haut brion 4 x 40 102 x 15.87 mm perla a tres petit corona ch teau lafite 4 x 40 116 x 15.87 mm franciscano a tres petit corona ch teau lafite rothschild 4 x 40 116 x 15.87 mm franciscano a tres petit corona name changed from above circa 1983 ch teau latour 5 x 42 142 x 16.67 mm corona a corona ch teau margaux 5 x 42 129 x 16.67 mm mareva a petit corona ch teau mouton rothschild 6 x 42 155 x 16.67 mm corona grande a long corona ch teau yquem 6 x 42 152 x 16.67 mm a long corona mille series 1000 4 x 34 117 x 13.49 mm panetela a small panetela 2000 5 x 42 129 x 16.67 mm mareva a petit corona 3000 7 x 33 178 x 13.10 mm ninfa a slim panetela 4000 6 x 42 155 x 16.67 mm corona grande a long corona 5000 5 x 46 143 x 18.26 mm corona gorda a toro special production 80 aniversario 9 x 47 235 x 18.65 mm gran corona a giant or presidente apparently after numerous disputes over quality and ownership rights over the brand zino davidoff and cubatabaco decided to end their relationship . leading up to this in august 1989 zino had publicly burned over one hundred thousand of his cigars that he had deemed of low quality and unfit to sell . the cuban davidoff line was officially discontinued in 1991 and an agreement was signed that no more cuban davidoffs would be sold in davidoff shops worldwide . a dominican made davidoff cigar had already hit the market in november 1990 where production of the sizes that had been made in cuba continues to this day . former managers at el laguito have claimed that the davidoff blend was very similar to coh ba though with a lighter wrapper leaf . the bands used on davidoff cigars themselves are of the same format that personalized diplomatic cigar bands had been in previous years . adriano mart nez a former executive of habanos sa confirmed in min ron nee s illustrated encyclopaedia of post revolution havana cigars that the coh ba l nea 1492 was made to fill the gap left by the discontinuation of davidoff . the huge success of the davidoff brand may have been instrumental in making dominican premium cigars the number one bestsellers worldwide though many would argue that this is solely as a result of the u.s. embargo on cuban cigars . davidoff products today edit a pack of davidoff classic cigarettes a pack of davidoff lights cigarettes a davidoff classic cigarette has the brand name written on it . in august 2006 imperial tobacco acquired the worldwide davidoff cigarette trademark from its owners tchibo holding ag for 368 million 540 million . imperial tobacco group had been the licensee of the worldwide davidoff cigarette trademark since its acquisition of reemtsma in 2002 . the cigarette range includes the magnum supreme classic mild lights magnum lights slims super slims ultra lights menthol menthol lights one and gold . rothmans benson & hedges of canada began importing davidoff cigarettes for sale in the canadian market in april 2007 . the oettinger davidoff group owns the worldwide davidoff trademark for tobacco products other than cigarettes . davidoff cigars continue to be produced in the dominican republic under the direction of cigar blender hendrik henke kelner . since moving to the dominican republic most of the vitolas were retained although the chateaux series was renamed the grand cru series and the names switched from wine estates names to simply numbers and the dom p rignon was discontinued . davidoff has also added an aniversario series a millennium blend series a special series a primeros series a poro d oro series and nicaragua series to its lineup along with numerous limited edition and yearly special releases . davidoff also produces a line of cigars known as zino and a line of cigarillos . beyond tobacco products davidoff has expanded to include under its brand such items as pipes and humidors . see also edit list of cigar brands footnotes edit zino davidoff ; king of cigars . los angeles times . 1994 01 17 . retrieved 2012 06 18 . a b marvin r. shanken davidoff s no. 1 cigar aficionado interviews davidoff s director general ernst schneider cigar aficionado vol . 2 no. 3 spring 1994 pp. 65 73 . further reading edit min ron nee an illustrated encyclopaedia of post revolution havana cigars 2003 reprinted 2005 . james suckling in search of davidoffs connoisseurs are buying up stocks of the swiss cigar maker s discontinued havanas cigar aficionado vol . 2 no. 1 autumn 1993 pp. 46 55 . external links edit oettinger davidoff 1 inaccessible for most uk & french internet users because uk & french legislation bans tobacco advertising and promotion . davidoff andorra 2 v t e imperial brands brands cigarettes cabinet camel1 davidoff ducados rubio embassy ernte 23 excellence fine fortuna gauloises gelora djaja1 gitanes gudang garam horizon jps lambert & butler malibu marquise maxim mevius1 mocne montclair more1 mustang news nobel p & s premier r1 regal richmond route 66 sonoma superkings usa gold west windsor blue cigars backwoods classic cohiba2 dutch masters dux far as henry clay h. upmann2 montecristo2 phillies por larra aga2 quintero2 romeo y julieta2 trinidad2 vegafina other bali shag drum golden virginia mcclintock rizla skruf snus van nelle subsidiaries altadis commonwealth brands gudang garam habanos 50 % reemtsma predecessors edwards ringer f & j smith franklyn davey j & f bell lambert & butler stephen mitchell & son w.d. & h.o. wills william clarke & son people george alfred wills william wills 1australia only 2brands of habanos a 50 50 joint venture between imperial tobacco and cubatabaco category commons v t e cigarettes types fashion fire safe kretek lights menthol beedi components tobacco rolling paper filter additives peripherals ashtray case holder lighter pack receptacles vending machine culture cigarette card cigarette smoking among college students loosie smoking fetishism tobacco smoking health issues chain smoking cigarette smoking for weight loss nicotine poisoning passive smoking third hand smoke schizophrenia and smoking sidestream smoke smoking cessation tobacco harm reduction related products nicotine patch nicotine gum nicotine inhaler nicotine lozenge electronic cigarette candy cigarette herbal cigarette tobacco industry cultivation of tobacco egyptian cigarette industry history of commercial tobacco in the united states tobacco advertising government and the law cigarette smuggling illicit cigarette trade plain cigarette packaging smoking age smoking bans in private vehicles tobacco control movement tobacco master settlement agreement tobacco packaging warning messages tobacco politics who framework convention on tobacco control protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products lists cigarette brands cigarette smoke carcinogens countries by cigarette consumption per capita rolling papers smoking bans category commons retrieved from https