Smoked: Oliva Master Blends III

Smoked at: The Woods of East Texas

Let me begin by saying that I got this cigar from a YouTube giveaway for Christmas, along with 4 others I'll review later. Chris Jensen is a wonderfully talented wedding photographer and an extremely generous man. He does YouTube giveaways all the time and could use a few more followers. His videos on cigars and whiskey are very entertaining and informative. If you're on YouTube, be certain to subscribe to his channel and tell him that I sent you!

I was allowed to pick 5 nicely aged cigars and Chris delivered in kind. This first one is the Oliva Master Blend III box pressed Robusto. This cigar was been in a humidor for two years and you can see the age on this one. Wonderful chocolate brown wrapper on this is amazing, it looks and smells great with a nice oily sheen. Not many visible seems or veins with no soft spots whatever. This is a well-constructed cigar.

It is a full strength stick with Nicaraguan Ligero fillers in a Nicaraguan Habano binder wrapped in a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. Very nice indeed. This 5x50 Robusto took nearly an hour to smoke, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

After pulling it out of the cellophane I made my V cut and went straight to the cold draw. The dry pull was perfectly easy. Woody Earth stood out with a slight pepper tinge. Outstanding! I tasted a bit of sweetness as well, but not as noticeable as the pepper. I loved the cold draw and could not wait to fire this one up.

I gave the foot a nice toasting and took the first few puffs. Under the woody Earth flavors, I was now picking up notes of chocolate with a nice leather retrohale. Lovely flavors were pleasingly smooth. I could taste the age on this one and loved it! The sweetness from earlier began to be replaced by the leather as it began coming on more solidly than before. As I got through the first third of this stick and into the second, I noticed that the leather has taken over the flavor of this beauty. It began picking up notes of dark roast coffee and a little spice while loosing a bit of the chocolate and Earth flavors. Complex flavors here are absolutely amazing.

The final third found me tasting more chocolate and black pepper. As mellow as the flavors are, you can tell this is still a full bodied smoke. The high I usually feel from maduros is definitely present here. This was a very complex smoke with flavors of Earthy wood, coffee and chocolate at the forefront. The burn line was razor sharp the entire time and didn't have to touch up or relight at all. Absolutely wonderful cigar! The flavors are bold but not harsh in the least and it still had a light creaminess throughout.

Overall, I loved this cigar. Complex flavors that were bold but not overpowering that paired well with a Guinness Extra Stout. This was a very smooth smoke that I'll have to get a hold of again.

Please visit Chris Jenson on YouTube and subscribe to his channel if you like cigars and whiskey. The man knows his shit. Please tell him I sent you if you do subscribe. We both would appreciate it!