Way back in the day, the Olivia Serie "V" Maduro used to be a special release around the holiday season. Fortunately for us, that has changed and Olivia makes this cigar for consumption during all seasons. This cigar is filled with Nicaraguan tobaccos while being wrapper in a dark San Andres Mexican wrapper. It can be found in four sizes, Torpedo, Toro, Double Toro (Gordo), and Double Robusto. Each vitola can be purchased for about $10 USD.
Wrapper: Mexico
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Length: 6"
Ring Gauge: 60
Size: Gordo
The Smoke: The first thing to point out on this cigar is the deep milk chocolate colored wrapper. The San Andres wrapper is oily, toothy, and filled with veins. It appearance is inviting while also providing a nice floral aroma. The cigar, itself, is well made. It has a nice solid feel
in my hands and is stiff when squeezed.
I cut this smoke with my V-cutter since it has a sizeable ring gauge. After one cut, the cold draw was stiff and poor. I went ahead and made a second perpendicular to try and improve the draw with not much improvement afterward. I figured lighting the cigar would improve the outcome but that also did not help. The first half of the stick was a battle of will; would the cigar stay lit or would I raise the white-flag? Patience prevailed as the draw improved slightly after the mid way point.
The flavor from this cigar is good and was the only reason to go head-to-head with the poor draw. The smoke has a nice woody note that provides a nice solid foundation for cocoa, espresso, and some slight earthliness to build off of. To me, the flavor profile and execution felt very "Cuban" like. The cigar retained its construction and maintained an even burn rate during the hour and half smoking session.
Overall, this cigar was decent. The poor draw was frustrating and really made the positive features of this cigar difficult to enjoy. I have a box of 10 floating around somewhere. At some point I will be sure to revisit this cigar but for the time being I can only score this one way.
The Score: Buy a single
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