Alright y’all, this is part three of the multi-part series of lancero reviews.  This week brings the Oliva Serie V Lancero.  I’ve already reviewed the Nestor Miranda Special Selection Lancero and the EO Cubao Lancero which have set high standards already.  The Serie V is a Nicaraguan puro that’s said to be medium-full in its strength.  Let’s see how this 7×38 stick holds up to its competition.

Appearance: The Oliva Serie V band is huge, and it’s a little too big on the other sizes in this blend, but I think for the length of the lancero, it just fits.  The light coffee-colored wrapper has an oily appearance and no tooth.  The wrap is very well done and it sports a triple cap.  This is a very elegant looking lancero.

Taste: This hit me with a bold pepper at the onset, but that quickly mellowed into a rich cedar and earth.  It’s a mild to medium-bodied cigar with very little complexity.  You get the cedar and earth throughout the stick.  It’s got a short finish also.

Aroma: Nothing special about this cigar when holding it to your nose, but then again, cigars aren’t for smelling, are they?  The smoke’s aroma itself wasn’t harsh, but rather a soft tobacco.

Construction: There were some inconsistencies in the feel of this cigar; some areas more firm than others.  The draw was a little too tight but not so tight I couldn’t smoke it, however, the tightness did interfere with its burn in that if you didn’t keep smoking this stick it would go out on you.  Not a good thing when you should be resting in between draws.  The cigar didn’t ever canoe or burn unevenly on the outside though.

Overall Impression: This is a very decent cigar.  It’s my favorite out of the Oliva Serie V line, but it’s just slightly above average overall.  The price point is a big plus on this at or even under $5 per stick.  Now, as far as the comparison goes, it just doesn’t hold up to the other lanceros reviewed up to this point.  It’s a good stick on its own, but it’s not a great stick if you ask me.

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This cigar was sent to me by Tex Cigars and my eyes lit up when I saw it.  I love a full-bodied cigar and I loves me some ligero.  These cigars were rated as a 91 by Cigar Aficionado, but take that for what it’s worth.  Last year Scott reviewed its little brother robusto and it got a decent rating.  Let’s see where this one stands up.

Appearance: I love these bands.  Pure elegance.  It’s a good presentation and it says “I’m worth the cost.”  We’ll have to see if the cigar backs that up.  The wrapper is a little toothy and has some color variation.  The wrap seams are easily distinguishable.  The cap on this is perfectly done and it’s sharp.  This is a very, very sharp looking cigar.

Taste: This thing starts out hard leather.  It comes on pretty strong too.  Not a bad thing at all, but you may wanna have a little snack before you tackle it.  It’s creamy too.  After about the first inch, this cigar settles into some earth and pepper and it smooths out considerably.  About half way through, the pepper left and the leather moved back into the foreground and stayed until the end.

Aroma: I was so looking forward to this stick that I forgot my usual sniffing ritual, so you’re just gonna have to find out for yourself.  The smoke was a nutty buttery smell that was very pleasant.  There was plenty of it too.

Construction: I did feel along the stick and noticed some inconsistency along its length.  That sounded kinda dirty.  Anyway, the burn was a little ragged.  I always want a razor-sharp burn when I’m smoking in doors.  The ash was loose too.  Neither of which are a huge deal, but together don’t rave of the roll quality.

Overall Impression: This is a damn good cigar.  And smooth too.  You’ll have to be careful because the strength sneaks up on you.  While I was smoking this cigar, I was wondering how it could be claimed as a full body cigar.  After the cigar was over, I knew.  Make sure you have a full stomach when tackling this baby.  Great smooth flavors, good creaminess, decent burn.  Yeah, you’ll love this stick.

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Thanks to our friends at Cigars Direct, I got an Oliva Serie G special G to review for our loyal readers of Cigar Command.  I’ve got a day off, so I figured what better way to start the day than to smoke this cigar and review it for you guys.

Pre- Light:  As I usually do, I ran this cigar across my nose, and got very nice hints of cedar and leather, with some slight sweetness.  I cut the cigar with my trusty Palio cutter, and took a pre-light draw.  The draw was perfect, and I got more of the leather and cedar notes that I smelled at first.

1/3:  As I lit up this cigar, the first few puffs were strong cedar and leather flavors.  The draw was perfect, and I got lots of billowing billowing smoke of this little cigar.  The ash was tight, and perfectly straight.  Thus far, I am REALLY enjoying this cigar, and I am impressed with the construction.

2/3: As I continued on this cigar I got some more of those cedar and leather flavors.  The leathery flavor was more prominent at this point.  The ash was holding strong, and the smoke was still billowing abundantly.  The burn was still perfectly straight as well.  I finally decided to knock the ash off at this point in order to not get it dumped all over my clothes while smoking it.

3/3:  As I finished up this cigar, the cedar notes came up more to the foreground, and the leather and slight sweetness was in the background, with a short finish on the palette.  The burn was still razor sharp, with plenty of billowing smoke.

Overall Impression:  Overall, I enjoyed this cigar.  I did find it to be a bit one dimensional, and not overly complex.  The flavors were enjoyable, but there was not a whole lot of change in the flavors.  What impressed me the most was the burn and ash quality on this stick.  The ash held tight, and I probably could have run it down to the nub before knocking off the ash, but I wasn’t really wanting to live dangerously.

-Scott

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I was given the opportunity by one of our sponsors,  Cigars Direct, to review an Oliva Serie O Maduro.  I have always loved every Oliva cigar I have had, so I figured this would be no exception.  Without further ado, lets get started!

Pre- Light: As I usually do, I ran this cigar across my nose to get a little hint of what was to come.  I got some nice woody flavors, with deep chocolate and cedar notes.  I clipped it with my trusty Palio.  I took a pre-light draw and the cigar was drawing perfectly, so I decided it was time to get into it.

1/3:  As I lit this up, the first flavors I was getting were lots of cocoa, chocolate and cedar flavors, with some light leather flavors on the background.  The ash was holding strong, and the smoke was billowing.  Along with these two aspects, the cigar was also burning just about perfect.  So far I am REALLY enjoying this cigar.

2/3:  As I started onto the 2/3 of the cigar, the first thing that I noticed was that the cocoa flavors faded into the background a little bit, and I got lots of cedar/wood flavors, along with leather.  The cocoa flavor became almost the after taste at this point, but it was very nice so far.  The only issue I started to have was the burn was a little crooked, and the ash got a little flaky.  I was still enjoying it very much so, however!

3/3:  As I finished up this cigar, the cocoa flavor came back full force, and the cedar and wood flavors faded back into the background.  The burn straightened out at this point, and the ashes were still a little flaky, but they were holding on.  As is the same with all the other Oliva cigars I have smoked, I enjoyed this one right down to the point where my fingers were burning.

Overall Impression:  Overall, just like every other Oliva product I have smoked, this cigar did not dissapoint.  The flavors were outstanding, and the cigar as a whole was great.  The burn needed a little work, but corrected itself fairly decently.  I also experienced a flaky ash with this cigar, which isn’t something I usually get with Olivas.  All in all, I really enjoyed this cigar, and will smoke one again, and again and again.  I want to thank Cigars Direct for sending me this cigar to review.

-Scott

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Quick Time review… Okay, it’s been awhile since I’ve done any review. School’s got me quite busy, but I decided today to squeeze a smoke in while I study for my Geology test. It just so happens that Cigars Direct had sent me the perfect smoke for this: the Special G.

At 3 3/4 inches, this is a short cigar, but don’t let that fool you as you can easily get over 45 minutes of enjoyable smoke out of this cigar.  As I smoked it, it came on strong with wood and light spice that settled nicely into a medium bodied smoke.  The wood remained throughout with the spice coming and going, as spice often seems to in cigars.  The burn was flawless on both of my recent samples, and the ash was tight.  And who doesn’t like a tight ash?  And at less than $3 for this smoke, you can’t beat it.  This cigar is easily as good, if not better than the AF Short Story or the LFD El Jocko.

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As I was thumbing through the reviews that we have done here at Cigar Command, and I noticed that Ricky had put up a Master Blends 2 review, but the Master Blends 3 had not yet been reviewed, so I thought I would smoke this thing and give you a guys a review on it, so here we go!

Pre-Light: As I took at look at this cigar, the first thing I noticed was the hugely ornate band surrounding this stick.  The band was full of colors and great looking!  As i ran it across my nose, I got some nice leathery smells, along with a slight sweetness and floral smell.  I cut it with my ever trusty Palio cutter, and took a pre-light draw.  I got the same leather and floral tastes on pre light draw, as well as some slight sweetness.  My mind was telling me, this was going to be a tasty smoke!

1/3:  As I started on the first third, I was hit hard with the sweet and floral flavors, with the leather and a little bit of earthy flavors in the background.  As you can see by the picture, the rollers at the Oliva factory certainly know how to roll a cigar.  The ash was perfect, and the cigar was burning perfectly straight.  The smoke was billowing, and so far, I am really enjoying this cigar.

2/3:  As I continued through this cigar, it kept on changing on me.  The floral taste pulled back a bit, and the earthy flavors came through full force.  This was a great taste that I enjoy in just about every cigar I smoke.  The ash was holding tight, and continued to hold tight until about the 1/2 way point.  I ashed it just before the band, only because I didn’t want to risk it falling all over me.  I am confident that if I had taken the band off before lighting it up, I could have gotten the ash to stay on the cigar down to the nub, but I didn’t want to chance it, so I ashed it into my stinky ashtray.

3/3:  As I was finishing up this cigar, I noticed that the floral tasted decided it got tired of being in the background, and came back full force.  This time, with almost TOO much floral taste.  I am not usually a big fan of big floral taste, and this floral taste was the same way.  The earthy flavors fell off almost completely, and the floral taste was a bit overpowering, but I powered through it to the nub, just to give an accurate review.

Overall Impression:  Overall, this was a very enjoyable cigar until I got to the end, but thats just my personal taste preference talking.  I only ashed the cigar twice through the entire thing, and it was a solid smoke that was pretty tasty most of the way through.  I highly recommend that everyone try this cigar at least once.  I enjoyed most of it, and I would have no problem smoking more of them.

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Appearance: This was a decent looking cigar with a nice dark wrapper. There were thick, very prominent veins running through it and the color was a little mottled. Smooth with no tooth and the cap was well done. The wrapper is elegant and not too overdone. Not too much to say but that this is a decent looking cigar.

Taste: Overall, this is not a complex cigar. It starts out with a good leather taste that’s strong, but not too strong. The leather taste fades about half way through the cigar and then it picks up a very distinct coffee flavor. Black, no sugar. This taste lasted to the end and then some. To say this has a long finish is an understatement, as I could taste this cigar still an hour after I smoked it.

Aroma: Nothing special here. Tobacco, tobacco, tobacco. But, then, they all can’t smell like 11-year-old Madagascar vanilla, can they?

Construction: This is where we kind of ran into problems. Feeling along the body of this cigar, there were major inconsistencies. There were hard spots and very soft spots. The draw was extremely loose. Surprisingly, even with this, the burn held rather well. The ash didn’t, as it was loose and flaky. It did, however, produce copious amounts of smoke (that’s always a plus in my book).

Overall: For a special release cigar that’s a few years old, I have to say it didn’t live up to expectations. A medium to full-bodied cigar, the taste was average at best with a below average construction. When you drop $10+ on a stick, you should be able to expect at least superior quality, if not taste. Thank goodness this was part of a bomb I received months ago (thanks, Ron!).

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It was 6:30 AM, and the sun was just coming up. I poured myself a cup of Jose’s Vanilla coffee, and went to the humidor and one of my Oliva Serie G Cameroon Tubos was just calling my name. I’ve had quite a few Oliva’s and they have all been great, with incredible construction, and this one proved to be no different. The ash held almost the entire length of the cigar, and the woody, leathery flavors with a slight hint of spice was perfect with my coffee. This was one smoke that I did not want to put down. As I sat on my deck, watching the sunrise with coffee and this cigar in hand, I pondered life, and enjoyed the flavors. My opinion on this, as well as the ENTIRE Oliva line is this: BUY SOME. Do it now, and smoke them. You will not regret it!

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