Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Cavalier Geneve Cigars Black II in REDUX Review "There Are No Hyper-active Sumos"

"Have you Kaplowitz'd to-day?"

Cavalier Geneve
Black II

WRAPPER: Mexican San Andres
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Nicaraguan

FORMAT: Robusto box-press
ORIGIN: San Judas Tadeo, Honduras
INTENSITY: Full

WEBSITE: www.cavalier-cigars.com

The reasoning behind this redux is a switch from lesser-aged to more well-aged offering of same vitola & receipt. The original review (Dec. 2019) can be read at: https://bit.ly/2ZcSrwf This 2d will not reference that 1t. You should read it anyway. It is superbly written.

NOTES:
Mesquite wood | Spices | Espresso

Earthy af & complex therein. That sits up-high but under primaries & is aptly 'peppered' w/ black & red peppercorn. Then tropical fruit, hidey & vegetal umami-triggers, and sweetness via dark chocolate. Back up-top is lush mesquite wood with an attached mesquite seasoning, bigly of paprika. A well-poured espresso shot whets the palate via wetting.

Spices are a smorgasbord melange depth of baking & BBQ stuffs & rub. Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cayenne. Brown sugar, too. This all sinks down to the middlings along w/ the aforementioned umami triggers. A roasted mushroom alfalfa grass thing & meatiness proper. Worcestershire sauce. A real punch in the mouth profile but kindly-so as a Canadian heavyweight. Soory, eh? (KO)

Underbelly is more dat earth, yo. As well as all its additions entail. Barnyard. Rich & robust and deep deep deep. A strange case here of lacking structure somewhat but maintaining delineation via softness. Plush borders. Complex busy-ness, calmed by big bod. There are no hyper-active sumos. Burns & turns, combust & performs, admirably but with a slight ding -- a softening of press on-down. I prefer to spend my time here dissecting the flavors & feels. So I will. So I did.

FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 0-59

::: very :::