Olivia Serie O

Olivia Serie O

As some of you may know, I'm a total newb, but you also may know that I have developed an affinity and curiosity for different sun grown cigars. A generous BOTL gifted me several different sun growns in a little giveaway he had, and this is the first I chose to smoke.

Grabbed my iPod and speakers, threw on my jacket, and went out to sit down in the dorm courtyard. Turned on my Cafe Del Mar (fantastic smoking music) and got to work.

Initial observations: The cigar is a Nicaraguan Puro, with a slightly dark wrapper (this was not the maduro version). Wonderful to the touch, very smooth and slightly oily. The cigar had great construction, except this particular one had quite a big vein running up one side, oh well. The pre-light aroma was great also, mildly sweet, as with many other sun growns. Time to light it up.

Smoke: I gave it a quick toast with my torch, and took a few puffs to get it started. Right off the bat this baby made my tongue tingle. Taking a puff would leave a pleasant spicy flavor on the palate that would quickly fade off leaving me with a slightly sweet taste.

The cigar stayed nice and mellow through most of the smoke, producing a good volume of thick smoke for a cigar this size. I'd say it was a good medium body, I tend to prefer light-medium bodied cigars, and this one fit me perfect. The burn was even and it never got hot or bitter on me.

Sadly, when I got down to about the last 3rd of the cigar I could tell it was getting hot, and thus a bit bitter. I figured after letting it sit and slowing down, that seeing as it hadn't mellowed back out, I'd try a purge. I purged it, and this brought back the initial flavors, but it was short lived. From this point on the cigar stayed hot and slightly bitter, but I stuck with it till the end. This is probably because of the smaller ring gauge of this particular size.

Overall impressions: A great smoke that I will definitely be trying again. If you're a fan of sun growns, or are looking to try one out, you really cant go wrong here. I rank it up there just under the Patel Sun Grown, which is one of this newbs favorite cigars. Go give it a try, I don't think You'll be disappointed.

So, folks, how'd I do?

edited for grammar

Pictures? :whistling:

Just makes it all that much more appealing, IMO.

Nice review mate.

I love the series O and have some series O perfectos which I think are an excellent cigar.

I on the other hand do not like Rocky Patel cigars, so I find it interesting that you compare the two and rate the RP better... But each to his own and we all have different tastes.

Good on ya.
Look forward to the next review bro.

Nice review, man. I've only had one of these, but found it to be milder than the RP Sun Growns... although the Oliva was a large ring gauge and the RP SGs I smoke are usually petite corona. That may have had something to do with it.

---John Holmes...

Thanks for the review. I enjoy the Oliva O, both SG and Maduro, however, this is one of the few cigars that I go for the bigger rings on, particularly the double toro 6 x 60. For me it makes the cigar less harsh and the longer burn time allows for some change-ups in flavor that I don't get in the smaller RG's.

Nice review. I enjoyed reading it.

not too shabby review, thanks for posting a review of those smokes you received....inquiring minds wanted to know! :thumbs:

ashauler said:

Thanks for the review. I enjoy the Oliva O, both SG and Maduro, however, this is one of the few cigars that I go for the bigger rings on, particularly the double toro 6 x 60. For me it makes the cigar less harsh and the longer burn time allows for some change-ups in flavor that I don't get in the smaller RG's.

Click to expand...

I am going to try this, I figured the only reason it got harsh is because it was a smaller gauge.

And thanks for the kind words folks, and yes, next time there will be pictures. I'm going to try to do a little sun grown review series perhaps.

Edited to add a few points:

One of the reasons I ranked it below the Patel sun grown is because of the Olivia getting hot and bitter. Even when I smoked a Petite Corona Patel, it never got hot or bitter. Also, from a purely economic standpoint, Patel "factory selects" can be had for about 2 bucks a stick, and that is an insane value. When you're a college kid who can hardly fuel his truck, value is key.

Well done young man! I have yet to try reviewing a cigar so, "My hat is off to you!"


Dan

The Serie O is a very nice cigar, even nicer when price is taken into account. I find the Serie V even better though.