Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro is medium brown with some raised veins that carry a lighter color around them and a fine tooth. The seams are smooth and the caps well applied. There are two bands, with the primary being the standard design for the brand. The secondary band is green, which signifies the Cavalry Edition, and denotes the vitola name in gold. The aroma from the wrapper is cedar and dark earth while the foot brings cedar, stone fruit sweetness and smoked meat. The pre-light draw brings spicy cedar and a hollow strawberry sweetness along with a mid-level spiciness on my lips.
Seth: I actually had some cracks on my wrapper. Cap applied well, but some soft spots on the cigar and wrapper. Nice dark Natural and Colorado coloring. Small veins and silky texture. Aromas of hay, dry earth, wood and tobacco.
John: The Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro comes in cellophane, and has a UPC sticker with an integrated tear space so the UPC remains intact when opened. The cigar is double banded, with the Casa 1910 primary band, along with a gold on green secondary band indicating ‘As de Oro’. For aromas, I was smelling aged wood, hay and sweetness. From the foot, I was getting a combination of tobacco and hay.

Team Cigar Review: Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar and mild cinnamon. At a quarter inch in, earth joins the profile and the cinnamon transitions to a general baking spice. The retrohale is toasted cedar, earth and lightly zingy baking spice. At an inch and a half in, the toasted cedar and earth are now even up front. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front with the baking spice a bit behind. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third starts out with damp barnyard qualities. I am picking up some wood and hay as well, and there is a finish of pepper spices. Medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: The first third brings a medley of baking spices, tannic wood and sweetness out of the gate. A dry tannic wood comes into the post draw after a few short puffs. As the first third settles, a pepper begins to hit me at the back of the throat at medium-full intensity. Some time later, a medium strength leather develops on the post draw. Some time later, the pepper begins to recede as the cigar becomes wood forward. Moving towards the halfway point, some toasted earth is present at the end of the draw at medium strength. In the bottom half, spicy bread comes into the retrohale, giving way to sharp wood which carries into the post draw.

Team Cigar Review: Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the baking spice transitions to black pepper. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, earth and mild black pepper. At an inch and a half in, a light vegetal note becomes present. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front with light black pepper and vegetal note in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third was in line with the first. Damp barnyard notes, wood, dry spices, bits of pepper. Medium to meidum-full in strength and body.
John: The second third starts with spicy molasses, wood and sharp wood to finish which gives way to dry wood. Earth returns to the end of the draw as the second third settles in. No other flavor evolution through the second third.

Team Cigar Review: Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro

Final Third

Aaron: The final third is a continuation of the second third with toasted cedar and earth even up front and black pepper and vegetal note in the background. The retrohale is now just toasted cedar and earth. At an inch in, the toast level and the vegetal note increase. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front with the vegetal note a bit behind and black pepper in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly above medium.
Seth: Minerals, wood and pepper spice notes. Medium-full in strength and body.
John: My initial flavor impressions are bread, wood and spicy wood that lingers into the post draw. As the last third settles in, medium strength earth comes through again on the post draw, lingering well into the post draw. Some ashy harshness accents the finish as the last third settles. Bitterness moves to the front of the profile as the cigar reaches the halfway point.

Team Cigar Review: Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy at times, but never needed any attention. The ash held on through each third.
Seth: Cigar burned unevenly throughout.
John: The burn was relatively straight through the first and second thirds, becoming uneven in the last third, which eventually required a touch-up.

Team Cigar Review: Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: I had a decent draw throughout.
John: The draw was extremely resistant, roughly 4 to 4-1/2 notches into the resistant spectrum which resulted in me having to really work to get smoke production.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar and mild cinnamon. Earth joined in fairly quickly and the cinnamon transitioned to baking spice. The second third saw the baking spice transition to black pepper and a light vegetal note joined in. The final third saw the toast level and vegetal note increase. The Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro had a nice start with a nice combination of flavors. From the second third on though, the profile was less dynamic and fairly linear and mundane. Paired with the high price point, it’s not a cigar that I’d see coming back to all that often.
Seth: Not a pleasant experience, and a far departure from their Mexican dominant blend that I enjoyed. Great packaging, but that will not do anything for this Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro.
John: The Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro was a lackluster experience, with fairly pedestrian flavor combinations in the first third, becoming more linear and unbalanced as it progressed. By the last third, the combination of the resistant draw and the unbalanced flavors made it a chore to finish. The burn was nearly perfect, with a single touch-up required in the last third, while the draw was extremely resistant, only a few notches below a plugged level. I believe the Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro that I smoked was significantly over filled and bunched incorrectly which led to draw issues which no doubt impacted the flavor performance. With that said, I’d be pretty unlikely to try it again at its price point. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 2 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.85

Cost/Point

$2.89

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

4.33

Cost/Point

$3.90

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

4.70

Cost/Point

$3.59

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Casa 1910 Cavalry Edition As de Oro