Chaveta
size: 6×50 Toro
THE GET: My wife gave me this cigar for my birthday along with a Pinot Pinar del Rio and a Feral Pig; it’s nice to know my wife listens as I talk about cigars, even though I know she doesn’t give two shits about them. With the cigars, she also got me a new Colibri cutter and matching punch; Happy Birthday to me, hope they are good cigars.
THE PACKAGING: The Gold/Black/Cream band features the cigar’s name “Chaveta”, four tobacco leaves, the namesake chaveta (a curved blade used to cut tobacco in the cigar making process), and the words CORTE FINA which means fine-cut–a fitting name for the looks of this cigar. There are four coins or medallions on either side of the main logo on the band; if I were supposed to be able to see what they are, I am not, you can’t make out what they are. The boxes are cabinet style of 20 counts. I’m not a huge fan of the band, but I’m also not sure how to incorporate that blade any other way either; it’ll do.
THE CIGAR: The first thing you will notice on this cigar is how oily it is; I’m talking Liga Privada oily, it’s the only other cigar I have seen with this much shine to it. Not nearly as dark the aforementioned LP, the Chaveta boasts a Brazilian Bahia Maduro wrapper, a Dominican binder, and a mix of Dominican and Nicaraguan filler tobacco. The solid construction makes a cigar that is well-distributed and feels good in the hand with a few distinctive veins. I wasn’t able to find out much about this cigar, other than it is made in the same factory in the Domincan Republic as the Pinot Pinar del Rio (probably why the my local shop had them both). There are 5 sizes available in the Chaveta Maduro line; a 6×50 toro, a 7×48 churchill, a 5 5/8×56 corona gorda, a 5×52 robusto, and a 6 1/2×52 torpedo. The aroma from the Chevata is very sweet and what you would expect from such a glossy maduro wrapper. A very inviting cigar.
THE SMOKE: Lighting was easy and the burn took right away. The sweet flavor was abundant in both the flavor and on the lips. The ash was light and held for over an inch; during that initial ash period, I had to touch up the line a couple of times due to uneven burns. The cigar was so oily that it would light on fire during touching up; not often do I have to blow out my cigar in order to smoke it. Even when not on fire, the Chaveta generated an absolute ton of smoke. The first part of the smoke had some various flavors–all sweet–and not much strength. About half way, some earth notes and nicotine appeared and kicked the cigar up a bit. I kept waiting for some spice or pepper to counter the amount of sweet, but it never happened. The earth and tobacco addition helped some, although it was still so sweet I couldn’t taste much else. Three themes throughout this cigar: the overly sweet taste, shitloads of smoke, and the ultra smoothness. Two out of three aint bad. This cigar gave me 75 minutes of smoke time.
THE SKINNY: I’m sure you can guess what word sums up this cigar; sweet. I feel like I said that 30 or 40 times, but I also feel like I didn’t say it enough. It was on the border of me not being able to stand it. Some cigars get too sweet and become not enjoyable at all; I did, however, enjoy this cigar. The slight additions of earthy tobacco and the accompanying strength came just at the right part of the cigar and carried me through. While I say it is a good medium cigar, I can see how people can easily consider it a great cigar; it just depends on how sweet you want it. Even not loving the Chaveta, I would definitely buy some more to have on hand. Birthday cigars from wife so far, 1 for 1.
Sounds pretty nice… good morning smoke, maybe? I’ll have to keep this one in mind, if they ever show up here.
Very nice gesture from your wife. Pinot del Rio? Is that wine flavored? LOL
Ha! My bad, it’s Pinar del Rio not Pinot. I guess I need to fix that.