Davidoff

Name

The brand name Davidoff originates from the surname of its Swiss-Jewish-born founder, Zino Davidoff (born Sussele-Meier (later russified into "Zinovy") Davidoff; 1906, Novhorod-Siverskyi – 1994, Geneva), who ran a tobacco specialist shop in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1926 to 1994. He was known as the "King of Cigars".

History

After the Second World War, Zino Davidoff decided to acquire a licence to produce his own series of cigars. In the 1930s, he married Martha Meyer, whose dowry helped him buy the store where he worked as a manager. As he had discerning international customers, he named the various formats of this "Château" cigar series after famous Bordeaux vineyard estates. The first in the series was the "Château Latour" in 1946.

In 1967, Zino Davidoff was approached by Cubatabaco, Cuba's state tobacco monopoly, about creating a line of cigars carrying the "Davidoff" name. 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 personal cigars, named Cohíba.

In 1968, the first cigars carrying the name "Davidoff" were released. The first formats were the No. 1, the No. 2 and the Ambassadrice. In 1970, Oettinger AG, located in Basel, Switzerland, acquired the rights to the Davidoff trademark.

In 1971, the Davidoff "Mini Cigarillos" (short fillers made of 100% tobacco) and, in 1972, the first Davidoff pipe tobaccos were released. As of 1975, the cigars of the Château series were delivered in cabinets bearing the Davidoff logo.

In 1976, the "Mille Series" and, in 1977, the “Dom Pérignon” cigar, named after the champagne, were released. In 1986, a limited release of "Anniversario" cigars were produced, to celebrate Zino Davidoff's 80th birthday.

The Zino Davidoff Group was spun out of Davidoff in 1980 to exclusively market non-tobacco luxury goods such as watches, leather goods, pens, fragrances, eyewear, coffee, and cognac. Public health researchers have suggested that this was in order to engage in trademark diversification (also known as "brand stretching") to promote the tobacco products, because it allows for advertising the brand in the face of restrictions on the direct promotion of tobacco products.

After numerous disputes over quality and ownership rights, Zino Davidoff and Cubatabaco decided to end their relationship. Leading up to this, in August 1989, Zino had publicly burned over one hundred thousand cigars that he had deemed of low quality and unfit to sell. All Davidoff products produced in Cuba were officially discontinued in 1991. An agreement was signed that no more Davidoff cigars from Cuba would be sold.

In 1990, after discontinuing Cuban-made products, Davidoff started to produce cigars in the Dominican Republic. After numerous test runs, Zino Davidoff found a partner in the local producer “Tabadom”, owned by Hendrik Kelner.

In 1991, the first Dominican-made Davidoff cigars were launched, continuing the product lines and cigar formats of their Cuban predecessors. With the move to the Dominican Republic, the Château series was renamed "Grand Cru", and the individual formats were numbered instead of carrying the names of vineyard estates.

In 1991, the limited release called "Aniversario" became an ongoing cigar series, called the "Aniversario" series. In 1992, the "Special" cigar series was released, with the format "Special R" as the first product. In 1994, the 87-year-old Zino Davidoff died in Geneva, Switzerland.

Cigarettes

Imperial Brands has owned the Davidoff cigarette brand name since purchasing it in 2006.

Footnotes

References

1. [https://www.ft.com/content/0420deac-329b-11db-87ac-0000779e2340 Imperial Tobacco buys Davidoff brand]
2. "We Build Brands {{!}} Oettinger Davidoff Group".
3. "Davidoff Cigars {{!}} Cigar Maker {{!}} Zino Davidoff".
4. (17 January 1994). "Zino Davidoff; 'King of Cigars'".
5. Wirtz, Dieter H.. (2006). "Davidoff - Legend, Myth, Reality". Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH.
6. Los Angeles Times. (Jan 17, 1994). "Zino Davidoff; 'King of Cigars'".
7. "Davidoff".
8. (February 8, 2015). "Icône du luxe, Davidoff lance sa marque de montres". [[ArcInfo (newspaper).
9. "Zino Davidoff SA official website".
10. (June 2005). "Are marketing campaigns in Taiwan by foreign tobacco companies targeting young smokers?". [[Tobacco Control (journal).
11. (October 2017). "Tobacco Advertising, Promotion Among the Adult Population in Vietnam and Its Implications for Public Health". [[Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health]].