Oliva Serie G

Vitola: Torpedo (6.5 x 52)
Body: Medium
Wrapper: Cameroon (African)
Binder: Cuban Seed Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan Habano
MSRP: $4

The Oliva Serie G has been sitting in my humidor for some time now, and I finally decided to pull it out for a review. This is a great-looking cigar, beautiful in its simplicity. The construction felt great - a little soft in spots, but just barely noticeable.

The cigar starts off with an interesting combination of bitter cocoa and spice. As I got past the initial puffs, the spice began to die out, leaving me with a cigar that is heavy in the cocoa flavors, with a little bit of smooth cream mixed in, and hints of cedar here and there. This enjoyable combination remained throughout the first third.

About halfway through the cigar I began to get some leather notes entering the flavor profile. These became slowly stronger throughout the smoke, eventually replacing the cocoa flavor. Towards the beginning of the first third I also began to get a slightly earthy taste in the cigar, which replaced the occasional notes of cedar. These two flavor changes gave what started off as a cigar that was heavy in cocoa, a little bit of cream, and cedar a new flavor profile consisting of leather mixed with earthy tones, and a little bit of cream to mix it all together. Unfortunately, towards the end of the last third I got some nasty tastes that I can only describe as "chemical", which forced me to put the stick down early.

I had a couple burn issues while smoking this cigar, but nothing a quick touch-up couldn't fix - nothing too drastic. The cigar needed to be purged a couple times to get a good draw, as well as a good amount of smoke, which I found slightly disappointing - I had been expecting more. The ash did not hang on for very long, at most a good inch.

Overall, while I enjoyed the flavors coming off the cigar, it wasn't impressive compared to other smokes in the same price range. There is a reason it is the little brother of the Oliva "serie" cigars. I would definitely smoke it if I saw it for $2-$3, but not at $4.

       Overall Grade: 3.8
       Final Grade (factors in price): 3.65

Angolom