Inner Circle by Cavalier Genève Petit Robusto

Over the last year, Cavalier Genève has taken a number of major steps as a company. The most notable is that the company opened up its own factory, Fábrica Centroamericana de Tabaco S.A., in Honduras.

But it’s also making other moves as part of its evolution, one of which involves forgoing what is arguably the company’s calling card: a piece of gold foil.

This summer, the company added a new line called Inner Circle by Cavalier Genève. It’s a four-size line using tobaccos from four countries; none of which are out of the ordinary. The cigars feature two bands but not a piece of gold foil on the wrapper. Once again, this would otherwise not be out of the ordinary, except that this is Cavalier Genève, a company that is known for placing a small piece of 24-karat gold foil on the wrappers of its cigars. Inner Circle does not feature it, which seems to be an effort to not make Cavalier all about the foil.

As for the blend, it uses a habano wrapper from Jalapa, Nicaragua over a habano binder from the Jamastran Valley in Honduras and four different fillers: Dominican piloto, habano from Jalapa, broadleaf from Jamastran as well as tobacco from Pennsylvania.

• Cigar Reviewed: Inner Circle by Cavalier Genève Petit Robusto
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica Centroamericana de Tabaco S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Habano Jalapa)
• Binder: Honduras (Habano Jamastran Valley)
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Piloto), Honduras (Jamastran Valley), Nicaragua (Habano Jalapa) & U.S.A. (Pennsylvania)
• Length: 4 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Petit Robusto
• MSRP: $12.80 (Box of 24, $307.20)
• Release Date: July 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

As with many cigars, the first thing I notice about the Inner Circle are the bands. A large part of that is likely because of how short this cigar; at just 4 1/2 inches, a lot of the surface area of the front of the cigar is covered in paper. The bands are rather intricate and certainly more detailed than most of Cavalier Genève’s cigars that I have seen. That said, the bands might be too complex for the printing quality as there are some signs where the detail elements aren’t entirely refined. As for the appearance of the cigar itself, there’s some good and bad. The light brown wrapper has lots of oil and not many veins, though some of the veins it has are very pronounced, creating a rough-feeling texture to the touch. The real bad is the application of the caps on two cigars, as they are quite sloppy. These cigars do not come in cellophane and I’m not able to get any distinct flavors from the mild-medium aroma, just some tobacco smells. The foot is medium-full with scents of pralines, dry crackers, nuttiness and something that reminds me of freshly-cut bamboo stalks, in that they are herbal but with some sweetness. Cold draws are consistently slightly open with a flavor that reminds me of the smell of the bird seed my grandfather buys, some nuttiness, bits of milk chocolate and some non-sweet floral sensations.

The Inner Circle by Cavalier Genève Petit Robusto begins with an open draw that delivers flavors of crisp earthiness over milder sensations of saltiness, acidity and leather. I’m not sure whether it’s the physical effects of the open draw or a mental correlation, but it feels like parts of the flavor profile are missing. A combination of hickory and something that reminds me of the smell of birdseed lead the profile over some mineral and off-putting herbal flavors. The finish sees the mineral flavors pick up a lot, slowly joined by saltiness, leather, white pepper and, at times, some isolated sugar. Retrohales are stronger with herbal and floral flavors leading peanuts, hickory, oak and touches of raspberry. The finish has earthiness over some mineral flavors and something that reminds me of stale bottled water. All parts of the profile are dry, though the finish—of both the main flavor and retrohale—are drier than the other parts. Flavor is medium-full, body is closer to full and strength is medium-plus. With the exception of the draw, construction is great—the volume of smoke production can be massive if I push the cigar a bit, and the ash forms very consistently.

Right around the point when I need to remove the secondary band, I find myself needing to touch up two of the cigars. Flavor-wise, that hollowness I found in the first third has been resolved thanks to a chewy peanut butter flavor. Unfortunately, that seems to come at a cost of the crispness that I admired in the first third. Secondary notes include earthiness, sunflower seeds and hickory. The finish is rather similar to when the smoke is in my mouth, but I get some sugar sweetness. Retrohales have a balanced mixture of sunflower seeds, saltiness, peanuts, leather, mineral flavors, black pepper and a mild grapefruit-like tartness. The finish has a rich nuttiness over black pepper, hay and some saltiness. Flavor and body are both medium-full and strength is medium-plus.

Unfortunately, the decline of the crispness seems to be in a linear relationship with the length of the cigar. Flavor-wise, there’s earthiness leading some of the stale water, nuttiness, saltiness, creaminess and an occasional hickory flavor. The finish is similar to the first third: quite dry. There’s more creaminess over black pepper, leather, a dry nuttiness, leather and some isolated bits of salt. Retrohales are sharper with berries, a soft cedar flavor, tartness and some sugar cookie-like sweetness. The finish has earthiness and lots of leather over sugar cookies and bits of black pepper. With the exception of the creaminess, I find the final third to be both bitter and less refined than the previous thirds. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium-plus. The draw of the Inner Circle Petit Robusto remains slightly open from start to finish.

Final Notes

• In addition to the new factory, the other major change is that Brian Motola joined the company as its director of sales and a partner in both the company and its factory.
• While the first third could have used a more dominant flavor to counteract some of that hollowness, I found the flavors that were present to be incredibly crisp and defined. Perhaps not having a strong, singular flavor allowed for the flavors to have this characteristic. That said, it really started to change after the first third.
• While not a large ring gauge, I’d like to try this blend in a different size, particularly one where the draw was not open. If the goal is to be a 5/10 in terms of draw tightness, this was like a 3/10. That’s not enough for me to deduct points for a draw issue, but it was getting right on the edge.
• As a reminder, construction issues will affect flavor. In this case, the cigar could be missing tobaccos in the filler or, at the very least, the temperature at which the tobaccos burned wasn’t ideal.
• Despite the draw issues, the flavor was very good. At times—particularly in the final third—it became a bit dry for me, but it was really difficult to find fault in it.
• Cavalier Genève advertises on halfwheel.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was one hour and 20 minutes.
• Site sponsor Atlantic Cigar Co. carries the Inner Circle by Cavalier Genève Petit Robusto.