Olivia Serie V

The V Serie is one of the newer cigars from Olivia. It's wrapper is a sun grown ligero from Nicaragua and the fillers are made of a blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos. Tonight's smoke is a Churchill Extra for $9.00. Length is 7. Ring is 52.

The cigar is a deep brown color and perfectly uniform throughout. It's well pliable and cuts perfectly without so much as a single frayed edge. It takes a few minutes to get the cigar fully lit but once it gets going, it burns evenly. The draw is a little on the tight side but not enough to lose any points for it.

The tastes are quite bold right off the bat. Incredibly spicy especially considering that we're talking about the first few puffs. Along with this is some very bitter coffee flavors all wrapped up in a dark creamy texture which makes the smoke feel thicker in the mouth. These dark bitter flavors would actually go well with a drink that's lighter with some fruity tastes. I think accompanying this smoke with bourbon would be overdoing it. The creamy texture here is quite strong so I definitely need a drink of some kind.......

We're back, along with some Allagash Duppel Reserve Belgian style ale. The light citrus notes of this type of drink excite the taste buds that the cigar isn't hitting adding to the whole experience. Sometimes drinking something that contrasts against the smoke flavors works well in this way.

I'm more than halfway through the cigar and bold creamy texture has remained consistent which is pretty impressive. Despite the fact that I wouldn't really classify it as complex, I'm still really enjoying this smoke.

As I work my way down the cigar, more earthy flavors emerge and the creaminess starts to fade. I also start to get a strong nicotine taste. These strong flavors remain prominent down to the end of the smoke which finishes off just as boldly as it started.

I liked this one. The flavors were simple but bold. They all came out at once, and remained consistent for the entire smoke rather than fade in and out and trying to mask it as "flavor transition". Sometimes, complexity isn't as important as just having a quality taste for the whole cigar.

Overall Score: 88

Montecristo

Years ago, I went on a trip to Canada with my family. It was there that I smoked by first Cuban cigar. It was a Montecristo Double Corona and it was one of the best smokes I had ever had. Since Cubans are pretty hard to get ahold of in the States, I obviously don't get to smoke too many and since the Cuban Montecristo will always remain one of my favorites, I have been avoiding the popular Dominican version for quite some time since there is no way it could have been as good. I didn't want a lousy imitation ruining the real thing for me.

Anyway, I finally broke down the other day because I realized that if I'm going to blog about cigars, I need to at least include all the well known brands. So I'm taking the hit here. I stopped by my local store and bought the Montecristo Double Corona. 7 1/2 inch length and a size 50 ring. Price: $8.50

Advertised as a medium bodied smoke, the Montecristo consists of Dominican Fillers with a Connecticut shade wrapper. I would also like to throw out the fact that some people have described this cigar as having a marshmallow taste. In a way, I'm dreading this.

The stick is a light brown and actually looks like it's in pretty good condition with no noticeable imperfections. It's also spongy which should ensure a decent draw.

The cigar is a bit of a pain to light. It takes more than a few minutes to toast the foot and really get it going. However, once I finally have the cigar fully lit, it burns quite well and consistently throughout the smoke. The ash is a very light gray and doesn't fall off until about 2 1/2 inches each time. The good burn eliminates any burning sensations in the mouth and allows the tastes to really be experienced.

Also, I find the construction to be great. The draw is perfect and the smoke is nice and full. A light puff gets the ideal amount of smoke into the mouth. So far, I'm actually impressed.

As for the flavors, everything starts off pretty mildly. There is some faint wood tastes along with some earthy notes, but everything is pretty light.

As the cigar burns, things start to pick up a little. The smoke develops a pleasant creamy texture, the wood flavors become more prominent, and a nice leather taste beings to come out more. Also, there is a spiciness that seems to come in and out which makes the cigar more complex as it burns. This second part of the cigar is quite good. The smoke is more on the mild side than medium bodied, but I'm still really enjoying this one.

The last part of the smoke gets a little bland as most of the flavors fade away except for the earthy tones. There is a slight sweetness that also emerges here but I don't think it works too well on it's own.

I definitely regret not smoking this one sooner. Is it anywhere near the level of the Cuban version? No. But it was still a good cigar. The flavors started off slowly, easing you into things, but when the smoke hit it's peak, there were a lot of flavors being thrown around at once in nice combinations. The end was somewhat boring, but throughout the whole smoke, the draw was great and the stick burned evenly. That always earns a cigar more points in my book. Montecristo offers a wide variety of cigars,and after enjoying this one, I'll definitely be trying some others.

Overall Rating: 87

Punch

When you into a store and just pick different cigars at random, you're going to get a few bad ones every now and then. To me, one of the most disappointing experiences to put up with is selecting a smoke, bringing it home, pouring a drink, going outside and lighting up with the intent to just zone out and enjoy for an hour or so, and quickly realizing you bought a lousy cigar. And sometimes you get a cigar that's so bad, it simply sets the bar for everything else. I know it's only been a few months, but I'm pretty sure the Humidor blog hit rock bottom a few days ago.

I bought a Punch Bolo, got a glass of cognac, and stepped outside with my laptop. It had been a few weeks since I did any review on my blog and considering the last one was a disappointing smoke (not to mention that I had a rather bad day as well) I was really hoping for something good.

I'm not even going to get into the details here. I'll just give you a quick recap of the highlights.

Wrapper and filler all from Honduras. Size was 7 inches long, 50 ring. Cost $7.

The wrapper was bone dry to the touch and almost flaked off in my fingers. There were imperfections everywhere and running veins more pronounced than the cigar itself. As soon as the cigar was cut, parts of the wrapper unraveled in my hand.

The stick was a pain to light, taking almost 5 full minutes before I actually got the thing going. It just wasn't taking because of what I was beginning to see was horrible construction.

The draw was ridiculously loose. I would take puffs that gave me nothing but a mouthful of air. Barely any smoke made it into my mouth. I could just imagine the enormous pockets undoubtedly throughout the inside of the stick holding nothing but empty tasteless air. Obviously, this also prevented the smoke from burning even halfway decently. Within the first part alone, I needed to relight the thing twice.

Perhaps it was the lack of smoke that got to my mouth, but this cigar wasn't even remotely close to the bold tasting smoke it is advertised as. The tastes and flavors ranged from faint to nonexistent. Anything I did pick up was simple. I light wood flavor, some soft earthy tones. Nothing enjoyable enough to get into.

The only positive attribute this Punch cigar gave was a mild pleasant cedar aroma. So I guess if you're looking for a $7 incense stick, head over to your local cigar store.

I have been smoking cigars of all kinds for 10 years. This was the worst one I ever had in my life, including the low rated ones on this very site. At least there is no way to go but up.

Overall Rating: 50 (lowest possible score)