Review - Oliva "O" Bold - 6 - Omni

[Texan_To_The_End]

DATE: 2006/06/22
REVIEWER: Timothy "Texan_To_The_End" Piper
CIGAR: Oliva "O" Bold
SIZE: 6.0 X 46
ORIGIN: Esteli, Nicaragua
WRAPPER: Nicaraguan (Colorado Maduro)
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Nicaraguan
SHAPE: Omni (Grand Corona)
AGE: Unknown. In my humidor since 2006/04/23
VENDOR: Gifted by Pegleg. (Thanks again!)
PRICE: Unknown.

AMBIENCE:
2PM Thursday. Warm but pleasant. Humidity dropping, as it looks like it's going to rain again.

BEVERAGE:
Ice water.

APPEARANCE:
Firm, dark, non-oily wrapper which was very smooth. Had a few cracks in the wrapper, and it looked like it had been around the block once or twice.

PRE_LIGHT:
Almost tasteless and odorless with just the faintest hint of cocoa.

DRAW:
A tad too tight of a draw, but still very good for a thinner cigar.

FIRST_THIRD:
Flavor was very woody right from the start, with a dash of hay. After smoking an inch, the cap fell smooth off. <G> Required a quick repair which held til the end of the smoke.

SECOND_THIRD:
A little taste of coffee became aparent here to blend with the woody flavor. Funny thing was that after lighting it, this put off a strong chocolaty smell, although none was apparent in the taste. The coffee flavors got a little stronger.

FINAL_THIRD:
Stayed consistent although one-dimensional until the end. A decent smoke, but nothing outstanding.

BURN:
Pretty even burn, although it was ragged at times, presumably because of the cracks in the wrapper.

ASH:
Very white, very solid ash. None of it blown around by the breeze.

SMOKE:
Lots of billowy white smoke, but not a lot of taste. Smelled really good though.

STRENGTH:
Pretty mild stick.

FLAVOUR:
Woody coffee flavors with a bit of grassiness.

FINISH:
The woody flavor lingered for 10 minutes or so, but faded quickly.

SMOKE_TIME:
50 minutes.

IMPRESSION:
I think somewhere in this cigar's history, it dried out a bit too much. The potential flavors were there but didn't develop, and the lack of any of the oily-tastes just gives me this impression. Or possibly this is another of those which taste better fresh and age diminishes them.

RATING:
6 out of a possible TEN wooden matchsticks.

COMMENTS:
Wish I had a "fresh" one of these to do a comparison with, but I think they're discontinued and no longer available.

PICTURES:
http://tinyurl.com/hvjyd -&- http://tinyurl.com/gkqns

[TU09]

This is one of my favorite cigars. The flavor does often die out near the end but that is the only fault I have found with them and I have never had one that I would characterized as short of full bodied. They are still available.

I encourage you to give these another shot. Your experience seems a bit out of the ordinary.

[stormin]

Nice review Timothy. The changes to the format look great.

[onlyonerm]

I would definetly give this stick another try. I think the Oliva Bold is one of the best cigars for the money out there.

[Texan_To_The_End]

Originally Posted by TU09

This is one of my favorite cigars. The flavor does often die out near the end but that is the only fault I have found with them and I have never had one that I would characterized as short of full bodied. They are still available.

I encourage you to give these another shot. Your experience seems a bit out of the ordinary.

I do have it on my list of things to buy. Do these still have the cloth/ribbon band? Or is a paper band now?

[Texan_To_The_End]

Originally Posted by onlyonerm

I would definetly give this stick another try. I think the Oliva Bold is one of the best cigars for the money out there.

I was given two of them actually. The other one suffered from wrapper melt-down and the whole thing fell apart. That's why I made the comment that I thought some drastic drying out might have occurred at some point.

[onlyonerm]

Originally Posted by Texan_To_The_End

I do have it on my list of things to buy. Do these still have the cloth/ribbon band? Or is a paper band now?

I have only seen the paper ribbon Recently. The cloth was nice visually.

[TU09]

I bought some in April and they still had the cloth bands but that might have changed.

[kvm]

Nice review. They are pretty one-dimensional but an enjoyable smoke. I try to keep a couple in the humi. They have changed to paper bands now but I still find the cloth ones around.

[thinhouse]

Nice review. I like that smoke as well.