Chateau Diadem Conviction

The Chateau Diadem Cigars reached us in spring 2023, after the founders and owners had contacted us at the end of 2022. Emily Sahakian and Thierry Farah are maternal cousins who both grew up in Geneva. During his studies in Boston, Thierry discovered the U.S. cigar magazine Cigar Aficionado and “fell in love” with cigars, leading him to begin working in the online cigar business after returning to Switzerland in 1996. Emily spent several more years in the U.S. working in the premium food and beverage industry before following him to Switzerland, where the two invested their time and efforts in a handcrafted line of Swiss premium chocolate. The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily slowed their cigar plans, but these were intensified and finalized once travel restrictions were lifted. They combined all their knowledge of the finer things in life—drawing on experience in cigars, food, wine, and spirits—and set out for the Dominican Republic.

The Origin Story of Chateau Diadem Cigars

They found what they were looking for in Navarrete, about 25 kilometers from Santiago de los Caballeros in the north of the Dominican Republic. There, a small tabacalera now produces the six available vitolas. The Chateau Diadem Conviction line consists of six complex and full-flavored cigars from the Dominican Republic, whose expressive smoke reveals notes of cocoa, coffee, earth, and nuts. The wrapper is an Ecuadorian H-2000, the binder a Dominican Olor, and the fillers are both Nicaraguan (Criollo Estelí) and Dominican (Dominican Criollo 98 and Dominican Piloto). This allows the flavors of Nicaragua’s volcanic soils to combine with the characteristically smoother and creamier Dominican tobaccos.