Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the figurado shaped Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024 is light brown with some darker marbling along with some decently raised veins. The seams are smooth and the tapered head is finished with a tightly wound pigtail. There are two bands, with the primary being dark blue, gold and black and carries the company logo and name. The secondary is white, gold and black and denotes the line. I’m assuming the gold leaf diamond is underneath these bands. The aroma from the wrapper is musty cedar, while the foot brings cedar and faint earth. The pre-light draw brings dry cedar and some floral notes along with a mild spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024 is an average looking figurado. The bands don’t pop against the dark Colorado Maduro wrapper, and the wrapper is a little rough in appearance. Medium sized veins throughout, with a color of coffee beans. Dark aromas on the cigar. Tobacco, oak, spices and leather.
John: The Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024 did not come in cellophane and had no UPC sticker. There is a primary Cavalier Genève band and a secondary Limited Edition 2024 band. There is a gold leaf underneath the primary band as well. Additionally, there is an artisanal complication of a twisted curly head cap. Also, the foot does not appear to have been clean cut, it seems like a semi finished foot. I weighed the cigar at 18.1 grams and measured the humidity at 61.0% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included fresh earth and wood. The part of the exposed foot is so small I’m not able to pick up anything distinct.

Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar and light amounts of earth and black pepper. At a quarter inch in, the cedar gains a bit of an aged note. At a half inch in, a light mustiness joins the profile. The retrohale is musty, aged cedar along with some light earth. At an inch and a quarter, the earth picks up a bit. As the third comes to a close, the aged, musty and toasted cedar is up front, with earth just behind the middle of the profile and some light black pepper in the background. The strength was slightly below medium.
Seth: The first third starts out with a lot of black pepper and spice notes. There are some mineral qualities present as well, and it has a dry finish of earth, oak and tobacco. It has some strength with the flavors, but balanced. Full in strength and body.
John: My initial flavor impressions are tobacco and earth. The retrohale is sweet tobacco and earth with an intense dark potting soil at medium-full strength on the finish and into the post draw. Wood joins the finish as the first third continues. The post draw earth is falling to medium strength as it progresses, but still lingers heavily on the palate between draws. Creamy tobacco leads the retrohale at light-plus some time later. Through the bottom half, the earth has come down to light-plus strength.

Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the cedar and earth create a bit of dryness to the overall profile. At a half inch in, the earth moves up to the middle of the profile. The retrohale now has the earth much closer to the musty, aged, toasted cedar. At an inch in, the light black pepper has departed. At an inch and a half in, the black pepper returns and is fuller than before, and the third closes out with the aged, musty and toasted cedar up front, with earth in the middle of the profile and the black pepper just behind it. The strength bumped up to medium.
Seth: The second third delivers some more peppery spices, but I am also getting this creaminess with dried wood and tobacco notes. Bits of earth are present on the finish as well. The cigar is still smoking at that full level for strength and body.
John: Creamy wood greets me in the second third, with earth to finish and define the post draw. As the cigar continues to the halfway point, light-plus wood makes up the center of the profile. Sweet tobacco is leading off each draw at light-plus. Through the bottom half, baking spices are mixing with earth on the finish.

Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toast level increases a bit. At a quarter inch in, the earth increases a bit more. The retrohale is now an even mix of musty, aged, toasted cedar and earth. At three quarters of an inch in, the toast level becomes even heavier and the earth is now right behind the cedar. As the cigar wraps up, the aged, musty and heavily toasted cedar is up front, with earth right behind and the black pepper in the middle of the profile. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third shows those pepper spices with more mineral notes. There is some pencil lead qualities present. Dry tobacco, wood and earth present as well. Again, full in strength and body. The finish is not too mineral forward, which is nice.
John: The final third gets going with creamy tobacco, and earth and wood at light-plus to finish. Medium strength tannins join the wood on the finish as earth also picks up to medium. As the last third continues, the earth has moved up to medium-full. At the halfway point, bitterness has joined the finish. That bitterness takes on a minty quality has it continues to heat up.

Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy at times, but never needed any attention. The ash held on until the midway point and then again until the end.
Seth: Burn was off from beginning to end. Ash held on well throughout.
John: The burn threatens to stall through the first third, but the burn continues straight. It becomes uneven in the second third, forming a canoe that requires a touch-up to correct. The burn is uneven through the last third.

Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: The draw was smooth from beginning to end.
John: The draw starts out 2-1/2 to 3 notches towards the resistant spectrum. As the cigar continues, it opens to one notch into the resistant spectrum which puts it in the ideal range between open and resistant.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar and light amounts of earth and black pepper. The cedar then gained an aged note and then some mustiness joined the profile. The second third saw the earth move to the middle of the profile, then the pepper dropped out and came back a bit later a bit fuller. The final third saw the toast level and the earth both slowly increase as it went along. The Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024 had an average flavor profile throughout. The aged, musty and toasted cedar was nice, but the supporting notes didn’t do enough to elevate the profile and as the earth increased, it lessened the enjoyment of the cedar. I like how this blend changes each year, but I just don’t see this as one I’d come back to.
Seth: I was not opposed to the strength and body with this Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024, or the flavors delivered, but it is not a cigar I would come back to in the future. It’s an LE, so I don’t need to worry about that, but there were not enough complexities with the blend or transitioning. I guess they went with a figurado vitola because it’s limited, but I would have preferred a Robusto Extra or Toro overall. I don’t understand why the blend is undisclosed. It’s 2024, just say where the tobacco is from already.
John: The Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024 delivered pleasant flavors in the first and second thirds, centered around tobacco and earthiness. The last third became unbalanced as the earth took over. The draw was perfect once the cigar settled into the first third, and the burn required a touch-up to correct a canoe. I’m always eager to try new blends coming out of Cavalier Genève, but the Limited Edition 2024 was a complete miss for me. The price point is just over the average for 2024. My total smoking time was 1 hour and 57 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.65

Cost/Point

$2.81

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.15

Cost/Point

$3.09

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.30

Cost/Point

$3.00

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2024