Davidoff. Legend-myth-reality

Ten years ago, when I was researching my first book, The FOREST Guide to Smoking in London, Edward Sahakian kindly gave me his last copy of Zino Davidoff’s A Renaissance of Pleasure, a tiny paperback packed with wonderful quotes by like-minded, thoughtful hedonists.

My favourite quote was one of Zino’s, “Some live life as a poem. Others as a sentence.” Unfortunately, I never met Zino Davidoff for he died in Geneva at the age of 87 in 1994, a year before I started writing about smoking. But it didn’t stop me trying to follow his sound advice.

Today, Zino Davidoff’s name and reputation live on in the massive worldwide enterprises inspired by his life and philosophy. The Davidoff luxury brand is now established in almost 100 countries, employs more than 2,000 people worldwide, and generates more than one billion Euros every year. It includes Davidoff of London and its founder and owner, Edward Sahakian, one of the most charming and nicest cigar retailers I have ever met.

So it was with much expectant pleasure that I started thumbing through Dieter Wirtz’s new biography of Zino Davidoff, whose life, as Wirtz himself suggests, could easily “...grace the silver screen.” If it were ever made, Zino Davidoff the Movie would be a compelling, beautifully made epic that would start with Zino’s birth on 11 March 1906, just outside Kiev.

It would then move on to 1911, when the five Davidoff children and their parents flee to Switzerland from their home in Russia to escape the Czarist p.....

To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue or subscribe to Cigar Buyer to have every issue delivered direct to your door.

By James Leavey

Section : Book reviews

Page number : 8

Published in Cigar Buyer Issue 10 on 22/11/2006.

This article is 27 months old and some information provided may be time sensitive. Please check all details of events, tours, opening times and other information before travelling or making arrangements.



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	Davidoff. Legend-myth-reality Ten years ago, when I was researching my first book, The FOREST Guide to Smoking in London, Edward Sahakian kindly gave me his last copy of Zino Davidoff’s A Renaissance of Pleasure, a tiny paperback packed with wonderful quotes by like-minded, thoughtful hedonists. My favourite quote was one of Zino’s, “Some live life as a poem. Others as a sentence.” Unfortunately, I never met Zino Davidoff for he died in Geneva at the age of 87 in 1994, a year before I started writing about smoking. But it didn’t stop me trying to follow his sound advice. Today, Zino Davidoff’s name and reputation live on in the massive worldwide enterprises inspired by his life and philosophy. The Davidoff luxury brand is now established in almost 100 countries, employs more than 2,000 people worldwide, and generates more than one billion Euros every year. It includes Davidoff of London and its founder and owner, Edward Sahakian, one of the most charming and nicest cigar retailers I have ever met. So it was with much expectant pleasure that I started thumbing through Dieter Wirtz’s new biography of Zino Davidoff, whose life, as Wirtz himself suggests, could easily “...grace the silver screen.” If it were ever made, Zino Davidoff the Movie would be a compelling, beautifully made epic that would start with Zino’s birth on 11 March 1906, just outside Kiev. It would then move on to 1911, when the five Davidoff children and their parents flee to Switzerland from their home in Russia to escape the Czarist p..... To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue or subscribe to Cigar Buyer to have every issue delivered direct to your door. By James Leavey Section : Book reviews Page number : 8 Published in Cigar Buyer Issue 10 on 22/11/2006. Subscribe Buy this issue More from this issue Preview other issues This article is 27 months old and some information provided may be time sensitive. Please check all details of events, tours, opening times and other information before travelling or making arrangements. Copyright Cigar Buyer © 1999-2009. All rights reserved. To use or reproduce part or all of this article please contact us for details of how you can do so legally.