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