Zino Davidoff

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Zino Davidoff actually Sussele-Meier Davidoff (born Russian . Зиновий (Зуселе-Меер) Гилелевич Давыдов, scientific transliteration (Zinovij Zusele Sea) Gilelevič Davydov ; * 11. March 1906 in Novgorod-Seversky , Russian empire ; † 14. January 1994 in Geneva ) was a Russian-Swiss entrepreneur. He was known as the "King of Cigars".

biography

The Davidoff family moved from Kiev to Geneva in 1911 because of anti-Jewish pogroms , where their father, Henri (Genrich / Gilel) Davidoff, opened a tobacco shop that became the meeting place for the Russian community in Geneva. The young Zino also learned how to mix cigarette and pipe tobacco, but at an early age he felt a cosmopolitan inclination and came to Cuba on an extensive trip through the tobacco countries of Central and South America . There he acquired knowledge of cigar production . After his return, he expanded his parents' shop in Geneva to include this product, and the contacts he made in Cuba proved to be very valuable. In addition, he developed the humidor after his trip . Davidoff became the best cigar address in town, where Havana was even available during World War II . Shortly before the conquest of Paris by the Germans, he had acquired around two million Havanas stored there.

After the end of the war, the 40-year-old Davidoff finally had the idea of ​​acquiring the production license for an in-house Havana series. With a view to a demanding international clientele, he named the individual formats sonorous after exclusive Bordeaux wineries . It all started with Château Latour in 1946 . The famous Dom Pérignon and Thousands emerged as further series . In 1967 Zino Davidoff signed a contract with the state-owned Cuban cigar company Cubatabaco , according to which the Cubans produced an exclusive cigar for him under the name Davidoff.

Due to the economic embargo imposed by the USA on Cuba, Davidoff and Ernst Schneider tried to open up this market (again) in the mid-1970s. So he decided to produce the Zino brand in Honduras using local and American tobacco , which after a while sold very successfully and is still one of the best-selling brands today.

In 1967, Zino Davidoff wrote a kind of philosophy for cigar aficionados with the advertising slogan "Cigar Breviary or What Does Connaisseur Smoke " . In 1970 Zino Davidoff sold his company to the Basel company Oettinger Imex AG , without actually withdrawing. He became the global ambassador for the Davidoff brand.

When the collaboration with Cubatabaco ended with a scandal in 1989 (Cuba no longer supplied tobacco to Davidoff, who then publicly burned Cuban cigars worth three million US dollars), production was relocated to the Dominican Republic in March 1990 and few were brought Years later, the following series emerged: "Aniversario", "Classic", "Mille", "Grand Cru", "Special" and "Millennium Blend".

The quality control of Davidoff cigars takes place in several stages: After three quality checks in the factory, the products are subject to a further final inspection before the cigars are sent to the distribution centers in Weil am Rhein , Basel and Stanford (Connecticut). There they are also examined during assembly and then delivered to the authorized dealers.

Davidoff is the only cigar manufacturer who makes written agreements with dealers about the presentation and handling of the goods.

In 2005 there were 53 Davidoff shops and almost 500 authorized dealers worldwide . Davidoff is the best-selling brand of Oettinger Imex AG, which holds the tobacco and tobacco accessories trademark rights apart from cigarettes. In addition to cigars and cigarillos, the company also sells corresponding accessories under the Davidoff brand .

The cigarettes sold under the same brand come from Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH .

In addition, Zino Davidoff SA, based in Freiburg im Üechtland and co-founded by Zino Davidoff in 1980, sells luxury accessories such as wristwatches , leather products , writing implements , perfumes (“Cool Water” (1988), “Adventure”) and coffee under the Davidoff brand . Zino Davidoff SA is an independent company from Oettinger Imex AG and Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH, which is not active in the tobacco sector.

Zino Davidoff died at the age of 87. His grave is on the Cimetière israélite of Veyrier in the Swiss canton of Geneva .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Зино Давидофф. In: Financial Guide. February 11, 2011, accessed December 30, 2018 (ru-RU).
  2. ↑ История бренда Davidoff | Блог Еруслана Каронского. Retrieved December 30, 2018 (ru-RU).
  3. ↑ The Jewish King of Havana Cigars -. January 11, 2019, accessed on July 8, 2020 (German).
  4. ^ Zino Davidoff; 'King of Cigars' ( Engl. ) Los Angeles Times . January 17, 1994. Retrieved June 23, 2018.
  5. ↑ Zino Sussele-Meier Davidoff - WHO'S WHO biography. Retrieved May 2, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Klaus Nerger: The grave of Zino Davidoff. In: knerger.de. Accessed December 1, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Davidoff, Zino
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian-Swiss entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Novhorod-Siverskyi
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1994
Place of death Geneva