Smoking A Don Candido 501 From Long Ago
In the July/August issue of Cigar Aficionado (which is heading to subscribers now, and hits newsstands July 22) you’ll see my rating of a Cuban Don Candido Dunhill Selección Suprema No. 501 cigar from the 1960s in our Connoisseur’s Corner. The samples were real beauties and taken from a partially-full cabinet of 50. Have you ever had the chance to smoke a Don Candido? The story behind the brand is interesting, and one that’s not known to many.
Don Candidos were made especially for Alfred Dunhill retailers, both in the United Kingdom and the United States, and produced at Cuba’s El Rey del Mundo factory, which was owned by Cándido Vega Díaz before the Revolution. He intended Don Candido to be El Rey del Mundo’s super-premium line. And it was—that is, until it was discontinued. Once the Alfred Dunhill brand was released in 1982, Don Candido was deleted. So, these have been collectors’ items for quite some time. Unless your retailer specializes in cigar antiquities and well-aged stock, you’re not going to find them at your local cigar shop, but Don Candidos do appear at auction from time to time.
Fun fact: The Dunhill treatment differed from most tobacconists of the time, as all cigars coming from Havana were reconditioned at each Dunhill store through a three-phase process before they were deemed fit to sell. This was what the company referred to as its “Selección Suprema” designation. The name wasn’t merely hubris. Here’s what they did:
Step 1. The Maturing Room. According to Dunhill’s 1900 publication About Smoke, An Encyclopaedia of Smoking, cigars suffer a “sickness” period after the long voyage from Havana to England, as the tobacco experiences shock from being removed out of its original environment. This, according to Dunhill, impedes the cigars’ “ripening.” Dunhill was probably referring to the microbial process that takes place during aging—a slow, enzymatic breakdown that makes the tobacco sweeter and the cigar more nuanced. In the Maturing Room, temperature, humidity and air circulation were controlled to recondition the cigars.
Step 2. The Storing Room. Once the cigars were “brought into condition,” they were transferred to a stable, ideal atmosphere where “their perfection is maintained until they are required for smoking.” The book doesn’t get into too much detail but I assume that both temperature and humidity were at a different level than the previous room, so as not to bring the cigars back up to smoking shape too quickly. Tobacco, like wine, prefers gradual changes, and this was an interim stage.
Step 3. The Humidor. According to Dunhill, it was this room where the “warmth of Cuba is faithfully reproduced. A selected quantity of cigars from suitable shipments is, after preliminary restoring, kept in this room.” This is where they were stored for customers to purchase. At this stage, Dunhill deemed the cigars ready to smoke.
An old Dunhill advertisement from 1957 for the New York City location on Fifth Avenue said that the cigars from Cuba “rest and mature” in the humidor room for at least three months. Imagine telling a modern retailer that he’d have to sit on his cigar deliveries for 90 days before he could sell any of them.
Today, shipping and warehousing conditions have improved, so cigars probably don’t require quite as much reconditioning and re-acclimation as they once did. Also, many manufacturers will age their cigars before releasing them. Still, it’s a wonder to think that these Don Candido 501s went through this lengthy process. For the last 20 to 30 years, they have been stored in the Cigar Aficionado humidors at M. Shanken Communication headquarters, and I can personally attest that we’ve provided a stable, ideal environment for long-term aging.
Most of the senior staff here have tasted Don Candidos for Connoisseur’s Corner at one time or another, and the cigars, no matter the size, have been surprisingly flavorful considering their age. Sometimes, remarkably so. In case you’re wondering, the No. 501 is a long corona, measuring 6 1/2 inches by 42 ring gauge. Not a very popular size today, but one that I personally enjoy.
When you read my score and tasting notes in the July/August Connoisseur’s Corner, you’ll see a single photo of the closed cabinet. But because Don Candido is a shuttered brand and historically relevant, I thought you might want to see what’s inside as well.
