#10 2024 Cigar of the Year

#10 2024 Cigar of the Year – Casa Cuevas La Mandarria Oscuro

SPECIFICATIONS

Wrapper: San Andrés Maduro
Binder: Habano
Filler: Dominican, Pennsylvania, Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: Tabacalera Las Lavas S.R.L.
Toro: 6 x 52
Price: $12.48

Sponsor: Yes
Samples Provided for Initial Review: Yes
Review: Casa Cuevas La Mandarria Oscuro (Toro)
Appearances on Countdown (By Year/Company): 4 (2018, 2020, 2023, 2024)

The Details

Coming in at #10 on the 2024 Cigar of the Year Countdown is the Casa Cuevas La Mandarria Oscuro.

La Mandarria Oscuro is the second blend by Casa Cuevas under the La Mandarria line.  The La Mandarria line is a lemon-to-lemonade story for Casa Cuevas Cigars. La Mandarria translates to “The Sledgehammer.” The inspiration for La Mandarria came from the devastating effects of a robbery in the company’s warehouse earlier in 2019. A sledgehammer was used to break into the warehouse. Later that year, Casa Cuevas released the first La Mandarria. La Mandarria pays homage to how Casa Cuevas overcame the adversity of the robbery. La Mandarria was initially released in a Habano wrapper as a limited edition offering. A year later, La Mandarria became a regular production offering.

The La Mandarria Oscuro features a San Andres wrapper paired with a Habano binder. This Habano leaf connects the blend to the original La Mandarria, which also used that leaf as its wrapper. The rest of the blend includes tobaccos from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and the United States, specifically Pennsylvania. Production takes place at the Cuevas family’s Las Lavas factory in the Dominican Republic.

 

La Mandarria Oscuro offers a captivating blend of flavors, including mocha—a rich fusion of chocolate and coffee—along with notes of cedar, cream, and pepper. This bolder Casa Cuevas cigar presents medium to full-bodied characteristics. In the first half, the strength is medium, gradually shifting to medium to full strength in the second half.

Casa Cuevas has now placed at least one cigar on the Countdown for the fourth time. The La Mandarria Oscuro marks Casa Cuevas’s first top-ten cigar on this Countdown. Meanwhile, this becomes the sixth cigar from the Dominican Republic to place on the 2024 countdown.


 

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