Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $10.50
- Samples provided by Casa Cuevas
Background
I recently was provided with some samples of cigars from Casa Cuevas, a company I had only heard about before. The Cuevas family traces its tobacco roots back to the 19th century when Juan Cuevas moved from Spain to Cuba, living and working in Pinar del Rio. His grandson, Luis Cuvas, Sr., carried on the family tradition in the Cibao Valley of the Dominican Republic. After decades of manufacturing premium lines for well-known brands, they decided to produce something that bore the family name and Casa Cuevas was born.
I was provided with samples of the Cuevas Reserva Natural and Maduro and today I’ll be looking at the Maduro, mostly because it is colder outside than originally forecast and I feel like a Maduro will hold up better to the weather. Cuevas Reserva Maduro utilizes Dominican and Nicaraguan Ometepe fillers, a Dominican Piloto Cubano binder, and a Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper. They produce the blend in 3 sizes, each of which is available in boxes of 20.
This review is based on the second time I smoked this blend, both of which were provided by Casa Cuevas.
Prelight
The Cuevas Reserva has a traditional-looking band with white trim, bright blue background, and silver foil type and art. It’s not the most distinctive band in the industry, but it’s nice-looking and has a somewhat reserved elegance.
The wrapper leaf was a dark chocolate brown with a decent amount of veins showing through and a smoothly oily feel to it. The aroma from it powerfully earthy with faint anise and leather coming through, as well. The foot had a richer, sweeter earth note with some bread and cocoa powder.
After clipping, the cold draw was excellent and tasted of dark chocolate, espresso bean, and earth.
Flavor
Once fired up the Cuevas Reserva Maduro had deep earthiness, semi-sweet chocolate, and bread notes out of the gate, along with a follow-up of coffee bean and black pepper, while the retrohale had a more potent red pepper heat. I didn’t read any blend information before smoking the first sample I had, so I was really surprised to find out it was a heavily Dominican blend; it has a lot of Nicaraguan character to it, including the medium-plus body at the outset and the way the filler/binder support the Mexican wrapper so well.
As I puffed my way into the second third, I started picking up on anise notes behind the dark chocolate and bread notes. Earth was never far away and some wood started creeping into the mix, while pepper was a low and steady burn.
The last third of the Cuevas Reserva Maduro was rich and mildly pepper with dark chocolate up front and cedar and bread following close behind.
Construction
I had a great draw and mostly solid ash. The burn line had to be touched up a couple times.
Value
Good cigar, decent price tag, which all equals good value.
Conclusions
I enjoyed the Cuevas Reserva Maduro, finding it a rich Dominican blend masquerading as a Nicaraguan blend. To be sure there were underlying notes of Dominican leaf in the lighter bread notes, but the body and pepper and earth and chocolate made me think more of Nicaraguan leaf the entire time.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
