Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary Claro

At some point, I might research which company should get credit for the concept of anniversary cigars.

While plenty of other industries have examples of anniversary release products—Apple once did an iPhone X and a 20th anniversary release is expected next year—at this point, it would be tough to find a cigar company that hasn’t released multiple new anniversary cigars in the last five years.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Cavalier Genève, founded by Sébastien Decoppet, a Swiss cigar smoker who went on to become a retailer and now has his own factory and farm in Honduras. For the most part, new cigar companies come in one of two flavors. Either a person who already has experience in the cigar industry—think Steve Saka, formerly of Drew Estate and JR Cigar—decides it is time for their own company, which in this case is Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. Or, it’s someone entirely new to the business, like it was for Decoppet. When the latter happens, the companies tend not to stand out initially.

Cavalier Genève was an exception.

For its first era, every cigar the company sold came with a small diamond-shaped piece of gold foil placed near where a traditional band would go. While the company now offers lines without the gold, many of its cigars still have the signature touch.

In March, the company announced the Project 10th Anniversary. It’s a limited production 6 1/4 x 52 toro that is packed in 14-count boxes, though if you open the boxes up, you’ll see seven lighter-wrapped cigars and seven darker-wrapped ones, placed in alternating order

Despite the wrapper color differences, the tobaccos are the same seed: a habano-seed grown in the Jamastran Valley in Honduras. The lighter wrapper is a lower priming, meaning it comes from larger leaves found lower on the plant. The darker cigars use a higher-priming wrapper, grown higher up on the plant, smaller in size, but more potent in flavor and strength due to greater sun exposure.

The binder is from Jalapa, Nicaragua, and there are eight fillers. Some are secos—from the lowest part of a plant—others are viso—the middle part of the plant—and four are ligeros, from the highest part of the plant:

• Seco — Copán, Honduras
• Seco — Jamastran Valley, Honduras
• Viso — Estelí, Nicaragua
• Viso Broadleaf — Honduras
• Ligero — Jalapa, Nicaragua
• Ligero — Jamastran Valley, Honduras
• Ligero — India
• Ligero — Paraguay

For those counting, that means each cigar has 10 different types of tobacco.

• Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary Claro (6 1/4 x 52)
• Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary Oscuro (6 1/4 x 52)

A couple of weeks later, Cavalier Genève announced a second 10th anniversary release, though one very different. The company partnered with Cvstos, a Swiss watchmaker, for an even more limited release that came with a Cavalier-branded watch and 30 cigars: 15 Pirámides Extra and 15 Toro Extras.

While the Cvstos X Cavalier Genève 10th Anniversary cigars have similar but not identical packaging and are only two ring gauge off from the Project 10s, they are a different blend.

If you are wondering why you haven’t seen the Cvstos X Cavalier Genève cigars at your local shop, only 30 sets were created, priced at CHF 18,000 ($22,250), and they are distributed by Cvstos, the watch company.

• Cigar Reviewed: Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary Claro
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica Centroamericana de Tabaco S.A.
• Wrapper: Honduras (Habano Jamastrán Valley)
• Binder: Nicaragua (Habano Jalapa)
• Filler: Honduras (Ligero Jamastrán Valley, Seco Copán, Seco Jamastán Valley, Viso Broadleaf), India, Nicaragua (Ligero Jalapa, Viso Estelí) & Paraguay
• Length: 6 1/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $24.60**
• Release Date: June 2026
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

*Each box contains seven of each wrapper option. The boxes have an MSRP of $344.40.

While Cavalier Genève has released cigars that have had main bands above the gold diamond and cigars that have had secondary bands below the diamond, this is the first time I recall seeing a cigar with what appears to be the gold diamond above a larger band. It’s easy to tell the two wrappers apart in the box, though neither cigar really screams “oscuro.” Because of the gold diamond, it’s impossible for this cigar to look like a normal cigar. I’d say the second most unique part is that the more prominent veins have a really light color. The aromas from the wrappers are mostly identical: medium-full, with soil and wood atop notes that remind me of a carton of strawberries and a touch of sweet cocoa. The feet are also identical to one another: full with milk chocolate, minerals, acorns and oak. Each cold draw is full, dominated by this unique vegetal flavor that I cannot identify. It’s fairly clean and very smooth, but it’s not something I’m familiar with. I wouldn’t be surprised if a chewing some sort of houseplant offered a similar taste; there’s a bit of a rubbery tone.

Given the uniqueness of the cold draw, I have no idea what the first puff would bring. Once lit, the Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary Claros start near identical to one another, with thick wood flavors over some vegetal flavors and earth, then tertiary notes of dry herbs and creaminess. It’s full, though smoother than it is rich. After an inch of a combination of mostly just those flavors, the mystery flavor from the cold draw starts to appear. It’s not every puff, and it’s never the strongest flavor, but it definitely qualifies as a secondary flavor, and I’m absolutely no closer to being able to identify whatever the flavor is. A smooth but generic wood is the leading flavor, though in the third cigar, it is followed closely by some mineral earth. Secondary flavors include the cold draw sensation, creaminess, nuttiness, minerals and varying degrees of salt. Eventually, those flavors linger—especially the creamy and salty notes—establishing themselves on the finish. Retrohales have leather over black pepper, salt and creaminess. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium. Despite taking nearly an hour to get through just the first third, there’s not a ton of flavor changes. For better and worse, the progression of puffs is remarkably consistent. Construction-wise, the only issue is the third cigar having an uneven burn, which requires a touch-up.

Earthiness joins the generic wood as the strongest flavors; it’s a noticeable change, though not one that reorients the cigar’s trajectory. For most of the middle section, I’m not in favor of the progression because I find the profile less detailed, as if the flavors get soggier or rounder. I do appreciate some of the new secondary notes—mint in the first cigar, sugar in the second, berries in the third—but they aren’t very strong and aren’t consistently present on each puff. While the flavor profile isn’t bad, after 90 minutes, it’s become a bit boring. Even something like the finish could use some added life. It tends to just see the creaminess last forever before some sharpness comes in at the end. Fortunately, I can retrohale and that brings a long list of new and more exciting flavors: pine, Wheaties, raisin sweetness and even some of the cold draw flavor. I’m also happy to report that the finish shows some contrast as it gets intense before adding roasted flavors, black pepper and some isolated sweetness. Flavor is full—slightly milder on the second cigar—body is medium-full and strength is medium. Both the first and third cigars need a touch-up, each to address a combination of slightly uneven burns and waning smoke production.

The first two cigars are quite predictable: earthiness and wood remain, the cold draw flavor makes an occasional appearance, while the saltiness, sharpness and creaminess ebb and flow. The third Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary Claro offers some new flavors: Ritz crackers, pencil lead and cinnamon. While the first cigar doesn’t have new flavors on the finish, the other two add an interesting vegetal note, something between a crunchy lettuce and celery. If I want new flavors, I have to turn to the nose. The first cigar is pretty much how it was in the previous section, but the second cigar has orange zest and a heartier saltiness, while the third cigar has sunflower seeds and salted butter. Because the established core flavors are still present, it’s not as salty as that might sound, though the finish does get even saltier thanks to some chicken stock elements. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus or medium-full. Construction-wise, none of the cigars has any issues in the final third.

Final Notes

• If you have never smoked a Cavalier Genève cigar, the company says the gold is designed to be smoked through. In this case, it really depends on how much of the cigar you want to nub. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed a flavor difference when the gold is being smoked through.
• I’ve not smoked the Oscuro nor the other two 10th anniversary cigars. If you have some of the cigars that came with the watch and would like to see us review them, please contact us.
• Adding to the unique aspects, Cavalier Genève says it will allow retailers to order the Project 10th Anniversary throughout the year, meaning there’s not a set production number. Come 2027, it will no longer be offered.
• Half an hour after smoking the first cigar, I could still taste a lot of it in my mouth, which is abnormal. I didn’t experience that for the other two cigars.
• I would love to know what the cold draw flavor is and what’s causing it. While editing, Patrick raised the question of whether it is the Indian tobacco, something that I’m unsure I’ve ever smoked before. I had thought about this, but I don’t want to give that suggestion to you. While I still don’t understand much about the tobacco process and am not great at identifying specific varietals within blends, I have come away with the impression that how the tobacco is worked and blended is often as important as the varietal or where the tobacco comes from. If you need a great example of this: La Galera and La Flor Dominicana shared the La Canela farm that the latter is so famous for. I’ve never once confused the two companies’ cigars. Furthermore, given that there are eight different fillers, it’s likely there’s very little Indian tobacco in the blend.
• While we don’t talk about it as much, there’s a wide variance in the complexity of the recipes used for the blends. A company like Davidoff will often use seven tobacco varietals in a single blend, whereas old-school blending may just have four or five. With 10 different tobaccos used, this is at the upper-end of the complexity spectrum, though not unprecedented.
• I don’t think that the complexity of the recipe correlates with how complex a cigar tastes. While this had a very exotic flavor, it was far from the most complex profile I’ve gotten from a Cavalier Genève.
• The wrapper options are very old school. If you think back to the days of American Market Selection (AMS), European Market Selection (EMS) or Spanish Market Selection (SMS) wrappers, companies would often accomplish this by using the same varietal, whereas today, if a line is offered in different wrapper types, they oftentimes are using wrappers from two different countries.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• Cavalier Genève lists the Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary Claro as a 6 1/4 x 52 toro. Above are the dimensions I found for the three cigars I smoked for this review.
• Final smoking time hovered right around three hours.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co. and JR Cigar carry the Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary.

Cavalier Genève
Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary
Cavalier Genève Project 10th Anniversary Claro
Fábrica Centroamericana de Tabaco S.A.
Honduras
Toro Extra