The Cavalier Genève Black Series in Petit Corona. Just off the rip this thing looks gorgeous. I love a pigtail, the branding is minimal, but very cool, and the construction on this cigar looks top notch. That diamond is real gold leaf, which is surprisingly at this price point. For the blend we’re looking at a beautiful Mexican San Andres wrapper, Brazilian binder, and filler from Nicaragua and Honduras.
First light is bringing deep semi sweet chocolate, some hickory, and toasted almonds on the palate. Sweet whipped cream and bright black pepper on the retro. The burn line and ash are just perfect here. Towards the end of the first third I’m picking up on some baked apple, clove and some sweet bready notes. The blend is very cohesive and well rounded on this cigar.
The second third is progressing with that spiced apple cobbler note. The retro is showing bright pepper and some of that apple cider tartness now. The woody notes are still coming in strong – mostly hickory wood. I usually pick up on BBQ flavors from San Andres wrappers, but this is a bit more subtle, and in a good way! The chocolate seems to be making a comeback here as the dominant flavor. I really have to shout out how good the construction is on this cigar – that ash is especially impressive given the small ring gauge.
The final third on the Cavalier Black Petit Corona is leaning into rich dark chocolate, hickory wood, and the baking spices. Retro has some multigrain toast, a hint of fruity tartness, and some black pepper. Finally getting up to the gold leaf – apparently you can smoke this? Getting to the band the spices, pepper and bready notes are ramping up pretty quickly. I took this one all the way down to the nub.
You really have to love it when a cigar takes you by surprise like this. My expectations were not low, but this one really out performed. Looking at the blending notes I was expecting something closer to an LFD La Nox, but this had a bit more subtlety and class. The flavor profile was cohesive, and kept it interesting. Construction really gets an A+. I can’t really tell if the gold leaf thing is a gimmick, but even if it is, it’s pretty fun. I liked how it stayed on the ash and didn’t just flake off. Overall, if you can find these, I’d pick some up. Personally, I’m definitely going to be paying close attention to Cavalier Genève from now on.
