Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2020

Cavalier Genève

• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Tabacos de Oriente
• Wrapper: Undisclosed
• Binder: Undisclosed
• Filler: Undisclosed
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Toro Extra
• MSRP: $12 (Box of 10, $120)
• Release Date: Nov. 30, 2020
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• Original Score: 92

This is the first time in Cavalier Genève’s history that it has placed a cigar on our Top 25 list, but it’s no surprise to see that it comes from the company’s Limited Edition series. While I’ve been smoking Cavalier Genève’s products quite regularly for the last five years, there was a definite wake-up call in regards to how well the company’s cigars could age when Patrick Lagreid did a redux review of one of this cigar’s predecessor in March 2019.

In that review he scored the cigar a 95, an incredibly high score, even for a redux review. It’s not to say I thought Cavalier Genève’s cigars got any better after Patrick’s review, rather, after smoking a similarly-aged Limited Edition 2018 I definitely viewed their ceiling to be a lot higher than I had experienced before that. What’s interesting about Patrick’s review is that was of a one-year-old version of the Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2018, and I think that the cigar making our list this year was a far more complete cigar on launch.

The Cavalier Genève Limited Edition 2020 is a box-pressed toro extra that features a barber pole-style wrapper. While I don’t know the blend details, I can tell you it’s quite good. Like all Cavalier cigars, there’s a diamond-shaped piece of 24-karat gold foil, this time it’s placed underneath the two paper bands, that can be smoked through. It’s Cavalier’s signature, though I imagine many would dismiss it as a gimmick. Despite all that’s going on here with the gold, the colors, the different wrappers—the cigar itself is simply great. If you’re able to find some time to smoke the cigar by itself—without the distractions of other people, beverages or even websites like ours—you should find a cigar that delivers an immense amount of umami, a savory flavor that is looked at with great reverence in Japanese cuisine. — Charlie Minato.