Tuesday, June 22 2010
This past Father's Day weekend was all the reason I needed to take out a cigar I've been planning on smoking for months - a rare bird, too - an Oliva Serie V Torpedo 2008 Especial Maduro. These are made in very limited supply, and I was very fortunate enough to have it gifted to me by a good friend and colleague.
I'm already a fan of the Oliva Serie V cigars in the Habano Sun Grown wrapper, so I was pretty psyched for the Maduro. There was just one little thing about it that made me nervous. Somehow the wrapper got accidentally torn in the middle, so I protected it with a cedar wrapper I had leftover from an Arturo Fuente cigar to prevent it from getting worse.
I paired the cigar with coffee. After clipping it with a V-cutter, the cigar lit-up beautifully, and those dark, earthy-woody flavors marched right in. Yet, unlike a lot of Maduros, the smoke wasn't sweet. Every puff was thick, creamy and equally as flavorful as the one before it.
As the ash approached that middle section where the tear was, I kept a close eye on it, and to my delight the wrapper survived. The burn never wavered off center, either. At this point the cigar ramped-up a little in strength and complexity, yet never lost its cool.
I smoked it down to about the two-inch mark and left it at that. If anything, I had hoped the smoke would be sweeter since that's my personal preference. Otherwise, it was every bit as enjoyable as the
Habano Sun Grown Oliva Serie V Torpedo cigars.
Due to their rarity, you may find it hard to get your hands on one of these Torpedo Maduros. But if you haven't smoked an Oliva Serie V I'm confident you'll be just as satisfied with the Habano selections.
~ Gary Korb
