The Casa Cuevas family and their Tabacalera Las Lavas S.R.L. factory in the Dominican Republic have been hand crafting cigars for large and small brands for a long time with family roots going back to 19th century Cuba. After decades in the business, Tabacalera Las Lavas made a bold move in 2017 and started to produce a line of cigars under the family name – Casa Cuevas. The line started with a few offerings, including today’s review, the Casa Cuevas Habano.
The Casa Cuevas Habano has a blend described as:
- Wrapper – Ecuadorian Habano
- Binder – Nicaraguan
- Filler – Dominican and Nicaraguan
The Casa Cuevas Habano is expressed in 3 vitolas and comes packaged in 20-count wooden boxes:
- Robusto (5 x 52) – MSRP $7.20
- Toro (6 x 50) – MSRP $7.60
- Gordo (6 x 60) – MSRP $8.40
For this review, I sampled the Casa Cuevas Habano Toro, which I received from the company for the purpose of reviewing on Stogie press. Today’s review includes a video review which you can see here:
Pre-Light Examination
The Casa Cuevas Habano is a beautiful looking cigar with solid construction. It features a reddish-brown habano wrapper that is mild on veins and smooth to the touch. It has a nice oily sheen to it and is finished with a well applied triple cap.
There is a single band that brands the cigar using the Casa Cuevas logo in gold on a red background. I like how the colors pop on the background of the cigar making it attractive and easy to see on a shelf.
Running the cigar along the nose, I detected an enticing curing barn aroma along the barrel with cocoa and spice off the foot.
I sliced the cap with a double blade cutter, straight and even, as I do with most of my review samples, and proceeded to give it some cold draw puffs.The draw was perfect with pre-light notes of natural sweet tobacco and a touch of butter.
I used my triple flame torch to warm the foot and took in the initial puffs of dark chocolate notes right from the start. With all lights green to move ahead it was time to take a relaxing Casa Cuevas journey. Follow along as I burn this one to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Dark Chocolate to start
- White ash forms on a medium char line
- Chocolate become a sweeter
- Smoke is very smooth and enjoyable
- Full creamy and chewy smoke
- Bitter sweet caramel notes enter after and inch of burn
- Ash fell with fine and centered burn cone
- Spice and apricot fruit enter to brighten the profile
- Sweet cinnamon spice aroma fills the air
- Ash has fallen often
- Spice increase moving into final third
- Touch of white pepper hits the throat in the finish
- Medium in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 35 minutes
Overall, I found the Casa Cuevas Habano to be a fine smoke that offered a solid core of spice and sweetness. The burn was just a bit wavy and never required a touch-up during the journey. I really like the early dark chocolate and caramel notes that peaked my interest along with the apricot notes. Other than the ash falling often and the mild wave in the burn this was a excellent cigar and is box worthy. I rate this a 93.
Point Deductions: (-1) Ash Falls Often; (-1) Mild wave in burn
Bonus Point: (+1) Box Worthy
Fantastic smoke ; definitely in my top 10 list for the year.