Davidoff Maduro cigars

The Davidoff Maduro line pairs the house's Dominican blend with a dark Mexican San Andrés wrapper — a departure for a marque built on restraint and pale Connecticut Ecuador shade leaf.

Maduro wrappers are fermented longer and hotter, which converts starches to sugars and produces the dark colour and the sweetness people associate with the style. On most cigars that sweetness dominates. Davidoff's version is deliberately restrained: the maduro sits over a filler blend that keeps the line's cedar-and-cream character, so you get the cocoa and dried-fruit weight without losing what makes a Davidoff a Davidoff.

A good introduction to maduro for anyone who has found other maduros too sweet or too heavy.