Oliva Serie G Maduro Bellicoso Review

[taltos]

Fellow lovers of the leaf, as I posted in my previous review, I hate doing these things and only do them to advise you of absolute dog rocket crap in order to save you your hard-earned funds or to advise you of a must buy cigar at a price of less than $4.00 per cigar in an awesome dovetailed natural wood box with the cigars bound with a piece of ribbon. With that being said, I hate doing reviews but this one is my duty to the awesomeness that is Club Stogie where I have the happy fortune of being an elder jungle leader. This means folks to take my review with a grain of salt and search for more than one source. Enough fun:

Oliva Serie G Maduro BellicosoBox pressed, 5 X 52

Wrapper: CT Broadleaf Maduro Grown on Oliva Family Farms in Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaraguan Grown on Oliva Family Farms
Filler: Nicaraguan Long Leaf Filler Grown on Oliva Family Farms

If you notice a pattern it is that all of the tobacco is grown on the Oliva Family Farms which gives a nice vertical control of the process from growth to gathering to fermenting to grading and to rolling to marketing. It works!!!

My sense on the power of this cigar is mediium+ for Vitamin N and medium++ for flavor. Now into the meat of the review:

Appearance: 9.6 this includes the presentation in a dovetailed oak box with the cigars tied with a ribbon in the Cuban tradition.

Construction: 9.1 nicely rolled with a good draw and the few veins were missed in the lighting process.I did have to touch up once in a NE coastal wind.

Flavor: 9.5 mellowed out and then got a little bitter at the end.

Value: 9.9 less than $4.00 per cigar and freebies and free postage added in? No contest.
Overall Experience: 9.6 these have a permanant space in my humidor and they deserve it.

Now to the smoke:

First third: beautiful brown wrapper, well rolled with well balanced look. The cigar lit well and produced a pure white ash only occasionally flecked with some charcoal gray. The initial flavors were milk chocolate, nutmeg, some coffee but not a real espresso and maybe the hint of walnut nut and the scent of walnut shell in the smoke. The burn and draw are still very good.

Second third: Chocolate is evolving into more of a mocha taste that would also explain the change in the taste of the coffee. The nutmeg is gone as is the hint of walnut both in the taste and in the smoke. There is a taste of leather coming into the scene. The quality of this leather I would want if I ever needed to have livery for a horse made. Very content at this point although I realize that this smoke is only good for about 35 minutes.

Final third: Now we enter the money round where this smoke will either be a champion or a pretender. There is some leather and some of the mocha along with a return of the walnut shell scent in the smoke. I am about to burn the crap out of my fingers so the verdict has to be Champion. This is a cigar as is the Brazilia that I will keep in my humidor and cooler. Thankfully I bought two boxes. I have now smoked a representative size of all Oliva products with the exception of the Flor de Oliva Gold and the Oliva Masterpiece series. I think that I will pass on the gold and mortgage my home to obtain any other Olivas available. Thanks to Scott Shilala for introducing me to my first non-Flor Oliva with the tubos and the Serie O's. You have led me down the path of no return. I will say now that I renounce Rocky to make room for Olivas and Brazilias.

Again, sorry for the length, hope that folks enjoyed this exercise in writing. This was an exceptional day when I smoked three cigars and was moved to write reviews on two of them. Enjoy and long ashes. Paul

[naamanf]

Great review. I picked a box to try out because I like the Vs so much. Glad I did. Definitely a great smoke on the cheap.

[TripleF]

Great review on a great stick taltos.

It's been way toooooooooooo long since I've had one of these beauties!!

[Footbag]

The OSGMB (how's that for an acronym) is a great cigar. They are on my bargain list and you can get good deals on C-bid, sometimes.

I too pull out a good bit of cocoa and coffee. Very nice cigar. Nice review

[Opusfxd]

I absolutely love the G Maduros of all sizes. Great review!

[Ratters]

Nice review. :thumbup Great smoke, have a box in the humidor myself.

[texasbadbob]

Great review, dead on.I love the Oliva G maduro line. One thing though, kind of makes you wonder why the other cigar makers can't match the Oliva quality with their affordable price?

[ttrhp]

great review..now I got to run out to my B&M to grab some

[b128thopen]

GREAT review. I think the series G may be the most overlooked Oliva line. This has become my favorite lunch time smoke!

[perikles]

Nice review. Your tastes are very similar to mine: I love both the Brazilia and the G Maduro. It seems that the Brazilia line is good right out of the box, but the G's need some rest. I just tried a brand new box of G Maduro Special G's and the smoothness was not yet there. IMHO the Churchill G Mad is the best of the line.

[WarMace]

This is one of my favorite smokes. Nice cocoa/coffee flavor. One of the few cigars I can drink with coffee or scotch (my two favorite cigar beverages) and enjoy just as much either way.