Oliva, Serie
O, Maduro Torpedo – Cigar Review
From the humidor at 71%, 1 Month old.
Blend: Nicaraguan Filler and Binder wrapped with Nicaraguan
Connecticut broadleaf Maduro wrappers.
Size: 6.5 x 52 Torpedo
Construction: Rustic, lumpy to feel and oily in appearance,
Dark, dark brown approaching black in colour with no significant veins in the
very thin wrapper, It has barely visible
seams and is reasonably tight with a consistent pack and no soft spots. Very
well constructed.
Smell: On the wrapper - Milk chocolate, manure over very faint
hints of spearmint. It was very pleasant smell.
Foot: Coffee and dried hay.
Cold draw: I ended up having to make 3 cuts in the torpedo.
The first cut of about 6mm looked like I had cut a piece of dowel. 2nd
cut looked like I might get some action, had a toke…but an additional cut was
required. The 3rd cut at 10mm
was very firm but manageable, I gambled that it would open up after lighting
like most tend to do.
Flavours on the cold draw consisted primarily of dark
chocolate, and coffee along with a good dose of peppery spice on the lips and
tongue. Slight hints of leather were
also evident and I found that all flavours had a buttery smoothness across
them; which is quite unique.
I was worried this stick was going to rock me…
After playing around with the cold draw then putting it down
to write, I discovered this stick already had a robust long peppery finish…. And
I hadn’t even lit it yet. I was thinking this rocket is shaping up to be very
interesting.
Considering all the flavours and spice on the cold draw I
could probably just sit down and smoke this unlit for an hour or two and feel
like I’d had a decent cigar. I might do a ‘thrifty aficionado’ review one day,
smoking cold stogies to maximise bang for buck; chuckles.
Initial Light: A heavy dose of a rich kind of pepper/ spice,
which wasn’t overpowering. I also detected dark cooking chocolate and leather. It
had good smoke production, and the smoke itself is rich in flavour but quite
dry without feeling thin. Medium to full
in body.
Aroma: The aroma of this stick made a big impact on my
partner Kim, “That has to be the best smelling stick I have ever smelled anyone
smoke. It smells like really nice coffee and sweet tobacco” I will agree, the
aroma of this smelled absolutely delicious.
First 3rd - 18 min
Body, Med- full, Strength full
Draw opened up to perfection with only the slightest level
of resistance.
There was a massive transition from the first light to this
point. The pepper all but disappeared into the background, with buttery leather
and tobacco becoming the primary contributors to the flavour profile of this delicious,
robust stick. The stick offers a very long rich finish comprising of toasty/
oily leather. Smoke production is brilliant but the smoke still desiccates the
mouth and palate; which struck me as odd as the texture/ flavour of the smoke
based on previous experience typically would be saliva thickening and very oily
about the mouth. This stick exhibited a perfect burn since initial light.
Retrohale in the first 3rd proved to be a
challenge as the flavours were of singed tobacco, ‘twas quite unpleasant.
The cigar extinguished itself at 27 minutes after being
unattended for 45 seconds. After bumping off the 20mm ash of to inspect and
relight, no burn issues seemed evident and nothing was obviously visible as the
reason to why it went out.
Additional heat from relighting and puffing too get the
stick going again re-introduced the pepper I was tasting in the first 10
minutes of the stick. This gives me reason to believe, if you are a faster
smoker you will probably get a lot more pepper/spice in the flavour profile of
this stick.
Pic: Late Second 3rd.
Second 3rd 45 min
Body shifted to a solid full.
During the second 3rd there was a reduction in
the buttery smoothness of the stick, with no change to the contributing
flavours of dark cooking chocolate, rich leather and tobacco. The stick
exhibited perfect burn, it did stray on occasion when I let it linger for too
long but it always seemed to correct itself back to a perfect straight line.
Third 3rd - 1hr 5 min
The flavour of the stick was entering another transition;
the buttery leather was all but gone and the stick developed into toasty
leather with tobacco with an element of earthiness and combined with this was the
flavour of dried Iranian dates. As the heat in the stick increased the pepper made
a comeback.
The burn on the stick significantly degraded to 8-10mm
canoeing, magically inside of 5 min this issue corrected itself and resumed the
perfect burn I was accustomed to.
1 Hr 17min
Smoking of the stick started to slow down due to an
increased resistance in the draw, after persevering with it the draw looked as
if it was going to totally close up on me. Given how much I was enjoying this
stick I was not about to admit defeat. I re-cut 1.5mm off the head of stick and
the draw opened back up to perfection.
After getting the stick back up to operating temperature
since repairing the draw, the first signs of heat were contributing to the
flavour of the stick.
1.5 hours
40mm of the stick remaining, still only slight amounts of
heat and still a pleasure to smoke.
1hr 45min
No change in flavours or heat, 30mm of the stick remaining
2 hours
Retired what little remained of the stick as it was burning
my fingers.
This stick was absolutely delicious from top to bottom, it
lasted exceptionally well without degrading as a result of getting hot toward
the end; another ‘nubber’.
I’m starting to notice a pattern with Oliva sticks; they are
brilliantly constructed and they last very well compared to most others.
If you can get your hands on any Serie O, Natural or Maduro
and you like a medium to full bodied stick, you’ll fall in love with these, I
assure you. They’re real winners.
Suggested paring: I found it difficult to identify what you
should drink with this stick, I was so perplexed I had to go for a stroll over
to the cupboard which houses the 70 or so bottles of spirits & liqueurs I
like to gaze upon. After browsing and sniffing various bottles it dawned on me;
Liqueur. This stick would pair well with Tia Maria, Baileys, Kahlua or any rich
dark liqueur for that matter. A niggling voice in my head also told me I should
eat vanilla ice cream with this stick????
Thanks for reading.
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