Editing Davidoff

{{Short description|Swiss tobacco brand}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Davidoff
| logo = Logo Davidoff.svg
| logo_size = 200
| type = 
| industry = [[Tobacco industry|Tobacco]]
| fate = 
| predecessor = <!-- or: | predecessors = -->
| successor = <!-- or: | successors = -->
| founded = <!-- if known: {{Start date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} in [[city]], [[state]], [[country]] -->
| founder = [[Zino Davidoff]]

| defunct = <!-- {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD}} -->
| hq_location_city = [[Basel]]
| hq_location_country = [[Switzerland]]
| area_served = <!-- or: | areas_served = -->
| key_people = 
| products = [[Cigar]]s and smoker's accessories
| owner = Oettinger Davidoff AG
| num_employees = 
| num_employees_year = <!-- Year of num_employees data (if known) -->
| parent = 
| website = {{URL|http://davidoff.com/age-gate|davidoff.com}}
| footnotes = Carcinogenicity: [[IARC group 1]]
}}

'''Davidoff''' is a Swiss premium [[brand]] of [[cigar]]s, [[cigarette]]s and smoker's accessories. The Davidoff cigarette brand has been owned by  [[Imperial Brands]] after purchasing it in 2006.<ref name=Imperial>[https://www.ft.com/content/0420deac-329b-11db-87ac-0000779e2340 Imperial Tobacco buys Davidoff brand]</ref> The non-cigarette portion of the Davidoff tobacco brand is owned by Oettinger Davidoff AG, which is based in [[Basel]], [[Switzerland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oettingerdavidoff.com/we-build-brands|title=We Build Brands {{!}} Oettinger Davidoff Group|website=oettingerdavidoff.com|access-date=2017-10-04}}</ref>

Oettinger Davidoff AG manufactures [[Cigar|cigars]], cigarillos, pipe tobaccos and smoker's accessories under the brands Davidoff, Camacho and Zino Platinum. The cigars are produced in the Dominican Republic and Honduras, and tobacco is sourced from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras and the United States of America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://davidoff.com|title=Davidoff Cigars {{!}} Cigar Maker {{!}} Zino Davidoff|website=Davidoff Cigars|language=en|access-date=2017-10-04}}</ref>

==Name==
[[File:Dom Perignons.JPG|thumb|300px|A Cuban-made Davidoff Dom Pérignon with its namesake, [[Dom Pérignon]] champagne]]
The [[brand name]] Davidoff originates from the surname of its [[History of the Jews in Switzerland|Swiss-Jewish]]-born founder, Zino Davidoff (born Sussele-Meier Davidoff; 1906, [[Novhorod-Siverskyi]] – 1994, Geneva),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-17-mn-12681-story.html|title = Zino Davidoff; 'King of Cigars'| website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date = 17 January 1994}}</ref> who ran a tobacco specialist shop in [[Geneva]], Switzerland, from 1926 to 1994.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Davidoff - Legend, Myth, Reality|last=Wirtz|first=Dieter H.|publisher=Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH|year=2006|location=Berlin}}</ref> He was known as the "King of Cigars".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-17-mn-12681-story.html|title=Zino Davidoff; 'King of Cigars'|date=Jan 17, 1994|author=Los Angeles Times|website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |author-link=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:A Dominican-made Davidoff Ambassadrice cigar.jpg|thumb|right|Dominican-made Ambassadrice]]

After the Second World War, Zino Davidoff decided to acquire a licence to produce his own series of cigars.<ref name=":0" /> 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 Cigar Factory|El Laguito factory]] in [[Havana]], which had been established to roll Cuban President [[Fidel Castro]]'s own personal cigars, named [[Cohiba (cigar brand)|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 [[Corporate spin-off|spun out]] of Davidoff in 1980<ref name=DiLenardo>{{cite web|last1=Di Lenardo |first1=Patrick| title=Icône du luxe, Davidoff lance sa marque de montres|url=http://www.arcinfo.ch/fr/horlogerie/icone-du-luxe-Davidoff-lance-sa-marque-de-montres-576-296195|work=[[ArcInfo (newspaper)|ArcInfo]] |date=February 8, 2015|access-date=October 20, 2019}}</ref> to exclusively market non-tobacco [[luxury goods]] such as watches, leather goods, pens, fragrances, eyewear, [[coffee]], and [[cognac]].<ref>{{cite web| title= Zino Davidoff SA official website|url=http://zinoDavidoff.com |website=ZinoDavidoff.com |access-date=9 July 2015}}</ref> [[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 [[Nicotine marketing|promotion of tobacco products]].<ref name="Wen2005">{{cite journal |vauthors=Wen CP, Chen T, Tsai YY, Tsai SP, Chung WS, Cheng TY, Levy DT, Hsu CC, Peterson R, Liu WY |title=Are marketing campaigns in Taiwan by foreign tobacco companies targeting young smokers? |journal=[[Tobacco Control (journal)|Tobacco Control]] |date=June 2005 |volume=14 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=i38-44 |doi=10.1136/tc.2004.007971 |pmid=15923447 |pmc=1766177 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Huong2017">{{cite journal |vauthors=Huong LT, Long TK, Van Anh TT, Tuyet-Hanh TT, Giang KB, Hai PT, Huyen DT, Khue LN, Lam NT, Nga PQ, Quan NT, Linh TN, Ha NT, Van Minh H |title=Tobacco Advertising, Promotion Among the Adult Population in Vietnam and Its Implications for Public Health |journal=[[Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health]] |date=October 2017 |volume=29 |issue=7 |pages=569–579 |doi=10.1177/1010539517735630 |pmid=29037054 |s2cid=4872399 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320454883 |access-date=20 October 2019}}</ref>

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. 

[[Image:Davidoffclassic pic.jpg|thumb|right|A pack of Davidoff Classic cigarettes]]

== Cigarettes ==
[[Imperial Brands]] has owned the Davidoff cigarette [[brand name]] since purchasing it in 2006.<ref name=Imperial/>

==See also==
* [[List of cigar brands]]
* [[Zino Davidoff Group]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* 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.&nbsp;46–55.
* Dieter H. Wirtz, ''Davidoff - Legend, Myth, Reality'', Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH, Berlin 2006

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website}} (may be inaccessible for UK and French internet users because UK and French legislation bans tobacco advertising and promotion)
* [http://oettingerdavidoff.com/ Oettinger Davidoff AG] – company website

{{Imperial Tobacco}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Imperial Brands brands]]
[[Category:Cigar brands]]
[[Category:Cigarette brands]]
[[Category:Luxury brands]]
[[Category:Swiss watch brands]]
[[Category:Perfume houses]]
[[Category:Tobacciana]]
[[Category:Tobacco companies of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1906]]
[[Category:Swiss brands]]
[[Category:Design companies established in 1906]]
[[Category:Swiss companies established in 1906]]
[[Category:Pipe smoking]]
[[Category:Pipe makers]]
[[Category:Pipe tobacco brands]]