Oliva Serie V Liga Especial Churchill Extra

1. June 16th, 2021

This is a bold, rich, full bodied cigar with excellent aroma and long finish. Despite its size - 7 by 52 - it lasted only 95 minutes, showing that size doesn't always correlate with duration. 

Construction: Colorado Maduro, Ecuadorean sungrown wrapper, binder and filler Nicaraguan, with ligero from the Jalapa Valley. 

Draw: A little resistance throughout, requiring one or two puffs to draw a decent plume.

Burn: Mostly even, but requiring a touch-up.

Flavour: Strong Nicaraguan Puro flavour; started smooth and creamy with a hint (or 'tingle' as one reviewer described it) of pepper, building to a larger dose of spice towards the end. The first half produced a remarkably cool smoke, no doubt due to the length. This was most enjoyable. 

Here's a great quote from a Neptunecigar.com customer:

I can't taste tar, leather, heather or dirt in a cigar. My criteria are: my exclusive taste criterion, burn evenly, easy draw, size (Churchill), cool smoke, clean finish. That's all. I will leave the tar/dirt crew to their charge.

Tar and dirt are something I've become more aware of. I have to agree. This cigar was strong in flavour, but only towards the end did it become a bit tarry/dirty, and that might be due to the fact that it was a tad too moist - I noticed a bead of moisture running down the vein of the wrapper in the final third, suggesting too much moisture (or the bead of moisture could be due to the ambient humidity), no doubt due to transit and my haste in dipping into the newly arrived box. 

Body: Full body throughout.

Strength: Medium to full by the second half, but nothing head spinning or sweat-inducing. 

Finish: Excellent long, slightly sweet finish.

Aroma: Excellent, rich, complex aroma. Most enjoyable to let the cigar sit and savour the flowing aroma.

Ash: Quite light, lasting only an inch before falling.

Balance and Consistency: A good balance and consistently tasty, except for the final two inches, which were a little rough and tarry.

Time smoke: 95 minutes. I was expecting two hours. The cigar was strong enough to leave unattended for a minute or two between puffs. But it barely passed the hour and a half mark. 

Overall: Quite satisfying. Looking forward to smoking another one with a slightly dryer head.

2. August 18th, 2021: Balanced during the first half. Dominated by strength in the second half. This cigar started out smooth, cool and delicious during the first half. Humidity level of the cigar was just about right as it was firm to touch but still had a little give. Flavour was rich, delicious and complex and finish was clean during the first half. Aroma was very good throughout. Draw was a bit resistant, but not too much. Burn was fine throughout. No touch-up needed. 

During the second half the profile became unbalanced. Strength increased throughout the second half, never to the point of overwhelming, but more than optimal and pepper ramped up to a high level, with finish becoming long and dirty. I gave up at around 90 minutes. It was reasonably satisfying. I imagine that these cigars will smooth out over the years, if I can keep them that long.

3. October 2nd, 2021. A dud. Draw was resistant from the start. It soon became apparent that the cigar was plugged. The first, ashing, after an inch, revealed a glowing pointed ember, the telltale sign of a plug. The next ash split. Flavour was bitter, raw and vegetal, with occasional whiffs of strong rich aroma. It was as though the tightly rolled cigar precluded fermentation after rolling, resulting in an unripened cigar. 

Around the second half, draw opened up and for a brief few minutes, the cigar revealed its potential: smooth, rich and complex with a delicious aroma. But by the start of the final third, the flavour dissipated and draw became difficult again. 

The cigar was strong, body was full, but flavour was not satisfying. I couldn't put the cigar down for long between puffs as there was no after taste to savour. Compare the Rocky Patel Sun Grown Maduro Petite Belicoso that I had earlier that week. It was so delectable that one or two easy puffs would be satisfying enough to let the cigar rest for long intervals. If I had more discipline, I would have abandoned the cigar after the first hour. Alas, there was always that hope that it would come back to life again. 

Verdict: Not satisfying. 80 minutes not to the nub. Oh well, such things happen with hand crafted, mass produced merchandise. One must expect this from time to time. Oliva's reputation has otherwise been very good. (A subsequent Serie V Figurado, a week or two later, was very satisfying.) 

4. December 1st, 2021. After a disappointment, it's difficult to return to a cigar. But after two months, I felt it was now or never. I was not disappointed. The fourth cigar from the box was quite delicious. 

The first half was smooth and mellow, with a dark roast and a medium body. The Churchill vitola enabled a very cool smoke. The second half was peppery and full bodied. Aroma was excellent: deep and rich.

Strength was not noticeable during the first half. It crept up during the second half, but I only noticed it when I stood up, after 100 minutes, and found my legs quite wobbly. 

Draw was a little resistant, but not too much. Burn was fine. No touch up required. Finish was medium to long and there was a little tarry dirt in the after taste, but nothing that lingered until the next day. 

After one hour - perfect burn.

Overall, this was a satisfying smoke that lasted 100 minutes.  The balance between smoothness of the draw and the slightly dirty, tarry aftertaste was satisfying. The transition to a peppery second half was also enjoyable. 

Good to the nub.

5. February 28th, 2022: The cigar was firm to touch, not too moist, not too dry. It was full bodied throughout. Flavour was smooth during the first half but became tarry with a dirty aftertaste in the second half. The cigar was quite strong throughout but not overwhelming. Aroma was fantastic; en par with any rich Cuban aroma. Draw was a bit resistant but not intolerably. Burn was a bit wonky, requiring a couple of touch ups. 100 minutes. Quite satisfying.

6. June 27th, 2022: Another dud, repeating that of October 2nd, 2021 (no. 3, above). Mostly bitterness and burnt toast. The first half was too resistant for easy puffing, albeit cool and smooth. As the cigar opened up, in the second half, there was a moment when flavour brightened up, but dullness resumed. Aroma was good but intermittent. Aftertaste was bitter. 

I left the cigar with more than two inches or just after beginning the first third. It had become tedious and not at all delicious. 90 minutes. Not satisfying. 

Rocky Patel Super Ligero Toro

June 9th, 2021 This is a 6.5 inch by 52 toro - large by toro standards. 

At the time of ordering this box, I had finished half a box of the robusto vitola of this cigar. The quality ranged from excellent to disgusting. But it is one of my favourite cigars, because when it's good, it's very good: rich, complex, smooth. The day after I ordered the box of toros I tried one of the robustos. It was disgusting: tarry and dirty. I tried to cancel the order for the toros. It was too late. It had already been dispatched. 

I was lucky that I failed to cancel the order - at least judging by the first sample. It was excellent: rich, smooth, full bodied with a deep rich aroma. It was everything one would ask from a Nicaraguan/Honduran ligero.

Construction: Beautiful, long, slender, cylindrical cigar with a shiny, oily, wrapper described by Cigardojo as Cuban-seed Honduran San Agustín Habano

Draw: a bit resistant, but not a problem.

Burn: Perfect burn. The ligero is famed for being wavy and requiring touch-ups. This one was a bit wavy. But it easily corrected. I had to relight twice. But this was more due to my neglect than any defect in the cigar. 

Flavour: Deep, rich, slightly peppery but not too much, a sweet tinge, but no bitterness at all, smooth and balanced. 'Balance' would be the outstanding quality. 

Body: Full from start to finish. There were no transitions to speak of. This was a consistently full bodied stogie.

Strength: It didn't seem too strong - no head spinning, no sweats. But see my post script.

Finish: Nice, long finish, allowing me to put the cigar down and enjoy the aftertaste. 

Aroma: Excellent, complex aroma, marred by a little wind. 

Ash: Held on valiently for around twenty to thirty minutes per ashing.

Balance and Consistency: This is a cigar with no transitions. But who needs them? It started with optimal and finished close to that mark. Balance was excellent - strong, slightly spicy and slightly sweet; the perfect combination. 

Time smoke: 115 minutes - just shy of two hours.

Overall: Very satisfying. But! I fear there was too much nicotine. I was plagued all night with those nicotine dreams: first a nightmare, now forgotten, which woke me up. Thereafter, I was tormented with dreams: I had to catch a plane, but first, I had to pay hotel bills. I had somehow managed to maintain several hotels at the same time. So I had to scurry around the town, checking out of multiple hotels and paying multiple bills with wads of cash, all the time anguishing over whether or not I would make it to the airport on time. Total nonsense of course! But these are the sorts of haunting dreams that too much nicotine can effect. As I mentioned, I had no nicotine symptoms after finishing the cigar; so this was an enigma. But I will be cautious but eager to sample another from the box.

2. August 9, 2021: This cigar started out very smooth, cool and mellow, with dark roasted espresso and a touch of pepper, but degenerated into a dirty, burnt coffee, vegetal flavour towards the end. That might sound disgusting, but in fact, it was still complex and interesting, so much so that I smoked it to the nub. 

The aroma is one of the most attractive features of this cigar: it is one of the deepest, darkest and most complex aromas of cigars in my collection. 

Draw was very easy throughout with no discernible resistance. Finish was long and satisfying. Burn required a couple of minor touch ups. The cigar's humidity level was just right, neither too wet nor too dry. 

Strength increased throughout. It never became overwhelming. At most I noticed a mild sweat in the 30 degree C. evening heat. But despite the lack of apparent reaction, I had the same weird, vivid, dreams that night, as I had had after the first cigar, sometimes anxious, other times just weird.

The cigar gave two hours of enjoyment, during which I listened to three podcasts; first, a podcast about a Harvard evolutionary biology professor who was pilloried for stating that sex is binary and follows the size of gametes that one produces: big one for girls and little spermy ones for boys; the second, a discussion of Hegel and his relation to other romantics and his rejection and subsequent readoption of Christianity, after having redefined god, and thirdly, a discussion of Hegel and Beethoven. The last podcast was more about Beethoven than Hegel and made the point that Beethoven was the first composer to incorporate Aristotle's notion of mimetics into music - imitating reality; first with the 3rd Symphony, which reflected the mood of the Napoleonic wars, second with the Fifth Symphony which represented Fichte's dialectics and third, with the Sixth Symphony which represented man's relation to nature.  

Thirty minutes down: quite a slow burner.

November 17th, 2021: Despite being maintained at not more than 70% humidity, this cigar was soft and squishy. It burned well. Draw was fine. The cigar only required a minor touch up towards the middle. Flavour was a good, rich dark roast, reminiscent of the Tatuaje Fausto. There was a bit of strength but not overwhelming and I didn't notice vivid dreams last night. 

The flavour and finish were both a bit tarry, leaving a bitter aftertaste the next day. I think this cigar would benefit from finding a dryer space in my humidi-cabinet, probably on the lower level as humid air, being of lower density, tends to rise. I think this cigar will be delicious if it ages well. I could sense the beginnings of a rather complex, fermented flavour. With a bit of age, body and strength would come down a bit and flavour would go up. Let's see. Overall, quite satisfying. 90 minutes.

March 2nd 2024: After a couple of years, this cigar was smooth, but lacked complexity. Aroma was good, but for a full bodied cigar it was unbalanced, tarry and way too much strength. I left it at 75 minutes. Not delicious. Not particularly satisfying.