The man who made the world love the cigar is Zino Davidoff, the founder of the Davidoff empire: He is referred to as "the tobacco emperor who made the cigar a status symbol."
The name of this Ukrainian-origin cigar merchant, who was born in 1906 and produced the world's most exclusive cigars while also being the ambassador of cigars throughout his 88-year life, lives on not only in cigars but also in a huge luxury products empire.
The Davidoff company was founded by the tobacconist Davidoff family, who fled the persecution of the Jews in 1911, left Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and took refuge in Geneva. Zino and his father rolled and sold cigarettes from Turkish tobacco here with his father for many years. The shop, whose sign read "Davidoff and Company", looked shabby. Over time, the cigarette business turned into the cigar business, young Zino mastered the cigar business and gained fame, and during the period of prosperity following the end of World War II, Davidoff became the most important cigar store in Europe.
The brand name Davidoff originates from the surname of its Switzerland-Jewish-born founder, Zino Davidoff (born Sussele-Meier 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".
The small shop of the 1920s had become a cigar paradise in the 1960s, frequented by the world's leading names. Over time, a giant group was born from that tiny shop, producing not only cigars but also luxury accessories, cigarettes, cognac, coffee, even perfume and ties.
Davidoff is a Swiss premium brand of cigars, cigarettes and smoker's accessories. The Davidoff cigarette brand has been owned by Imperial Brands after purchasing it in 2006. The non-cigarette portion of the Davidoff tobacco brand is owned by Oettinger Davidoff AG, which is based in Basel, Switzerland.
Notes from Zino Davidoff's life story
Father Henri Davidoff was involved in the tobacco, cigarette, pipe and cigar trade in Ukraine. His main job was to roll cigarettes by hand in his own shop, using blends made from Turkish tobacco. Which tobacco is good, how to roll tobacco, what kind of taste it gives when you blend it with which tobacco, were the areas of expertise of father Davidoff.
Henri Davidoff, a tobacco doyen, had to leave his country with his family in 1911 to escape planned massacres of Jews. First, he went aimlessly out of his country, Ukraine. He was helpless, hopeless and sad. After a short period of indecision, he took refuge in Switzerland, leaving behind a huge past.
In the same year, father Davidoff opened a tobacco shop on Geneva's famous Philosophers' Boulevard (Boulevard des Philosophes). In a short time, this shop became a frequent destination for exiles hostile to the Russian Tsar of the time. In a strange twist of fate, one of his first customers was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, a man with a thin face and brilliant eyes, whom Zino could never forget, and who loudly asked for Russian cigarettes, and whose money his father Henry did not dare to ask for.
This person was Lenin, the legendary leader of the Bolshevik revolution, who returned to his hometown from Zurich on a special train in 1917 and was to be held in the same year.
A sensitive merchant, Zino not only sold cigars without sparing any famous customer, but also shared his knowledge about cigars.
In 1946, while looking at the menu of Le Globe Restaurant, the idea of naming its cigars after the most famous wine brands was born. A year later, Davidoff launched the "Chateaux" series. In 1970 Zino Davidoff merged with the Oettinger group, one of Switzerland's most important tobacco houses, headed by his long-time friend Dr Ernst Schneider.
1991 was a turning point for Davidoff cigars. Zino Davidoff and Dr Ernst Schneider left cigar production in Havana due to the difficulties brought by Fidel Castro's administration and started production in the Dominican Republic. Three years after this radical change, Zino Davidoff died in Geneva in 1994. However, the Davidoff name continues to live on as a famous and exclusive brand.