A few years ago, while visiting the Oliva Cigar Lounge/NPU in Den Bosch, the owner of the show, who's also the importer for Oliva (and other brands like Don Pepin Garcia/Tatuaje and Fuente) said he had some old boxes of the Oliva O Classic in stock and he needed to sell them to make room for new stock, so he blew them out for a very cheap price. I jumped this deal and bought a box of torpedo's. These Oliva O classic cigars are made from Nicaraguan Habano tobacco and are the predecessor of the current Oliva O series. Now that the box is close to empty I felt the need to write a review before it's too late.
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This torpedo is 6½ inch long and has a ring of 52. The construction feels good and once I release the cigar from the cellophane I see a nice chocolate brown wrapper with a few veins and I smell a firm barnyard smell. The wrapper looks a bit dry though. The cigar has two bands, nice and stylish, not too busy, just the way I like it and I love the shape too, a very straight torpedo. The predraw gives me just the right amount of resistance.
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I taste a pleasant coffee flavor with some mild chocolate on the background and something spicy. After a quarter of an inch I also taste something leathery with chocolate and the coffee disappears. The chocolate slowly disappears too and instead I taste something sweet.
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Halfway I taste some toast with pepper and cedar wood. Some puffs later I also taste some nuts. The pepper disappears and the nut flavor gets stronger. After three quarters all I taste is a nut flavor with a spicy aftertaste.
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The smoke time of this cigar is one hour and forty minutes. The draw was great and the burn was good. The pepper and salt colored ash is firm. The smoke started out poor, thin and a poor amount, but slowly it got more and thicker. This cigar is full flavored and medium to full bodied.
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Would I buy this cigar again? These are old and out of production cigars, don't think these are easy to find again.
Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Aroma first part: 8 / 10
Aroma second part: 8 / 10
Aroma third part: 8 / 10
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Sounds like a great stick. I have a few of the current generation Oliva O's in my humidor, but have yet to smoke one, mostly due to my previous bad experiences with Oliva... Might have to fire one up to check the brand out again.
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Thanks for the review!
Oliva has always been a brand that has treated me well. They may not be the best cigars in the world but always one that is consistent and delivers nice flavors at an affordable price point.
I have always wanted to try one from the classic lines but have never been able to get my hands on them. I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of the special S a few months ago though.
:-)
Chris
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