Oliva must do a great job with marketing because I see these stick all over the place. I wasn’t sure where to begin with the company, so I decided to jump in with both feet into their Serie V Melanio Robusto. If you like a smooth stick with chewy, palpable flavors – this one might be fore you. Read all the details below! Before Lightup: So when I got the cigar it had a very recognizable band on it, though in my opinion its not the prettiest – but that’s subjective. The wrapper on the stick was a toothy, dark chocolate wrapper with tight yet visible seams with minimal veins. I did native on this particular stick that there was some damage in a number of places on the wrapper, so it did lose a point there for me. I’m hoping that was only indicative of this one stick. The fragrance was a sweet, dark cocoa and hay aroma with a pre-light draw that had the perfect resistance and notes of almost a peppermint bark (chocolatey with a slight pepper note). First Light: At first light I get a medium bodied stick with a straightforward flavor profile of creamy earth, light chocolate, mild sweetness, and an earthy core. Nothing really jumps out as the frontrunner, so we’ll keep an eye out for development. The smoke output was flawless and it left me with a satiated feeling in my mouth in between draws. The only note I made about the retro is that it was extremely smooth. First Third: Quickly the first third flavors kicked in as the stick jumped up to a medium/full. Flavors include a very unoffensive and light white pepper, a sweet earth (perhaps from aging tobacco?), and almost a whipped topping mixed with a touch of cocoa – it was really nice. The finishing note on the profile was a general nuttiness. The burn through the first third was razor sharp and the smoke was, “smooth, creamy, plentiful, on the thicker side, and chewy” – from my notes. I don’t normally have that much to say about qualities of smoke so you can tell I was intrigued. Second Third: Right after the ash fell off the body dropped back to a solid medium and carries transitional notes of a light morning roast coffee on top of the other flavors mentioned above. Over and over again I kept writing down “smooth and creamy” on my review sheet. The ash fell off about 1/3 of the way through the stick and left a nice cone shape on the foot of the cigar, noting good construction. I didn’t have any issues taking either of the bands off – one came right off and the other slid without damaging the stick. No strength (nicotine) detected to this point. Final Third: Surprisingly, the final third didn’t darken as I had expected. The body rose just slightly from a medium to a medium-to-medium/full. The coffee note from before darkened into a regular roast coffee flavor with a long creamy note that I can’t easily pinpoint. It was a flavor note that ran throughout the stick and I could never quite grasp what it was. It was somewhere between a leather and a custard with a slight nuttiness about it – kind of like a hazelnut perhaps? The chocolatey note started to drift toward a dry caramel flavor and, as the smoke warmed, the only flavor remaining was that custardy, sweet, nuttiness – which was great! Overall smoking time was 56 minutes. Overall: I was really engaged while smoking this cigar – I think partly because of all the marketing I’ve seen and partly because I really wanted to enjoy the full experience. In the future when I have one of these, I look forward to sitting back without trying to pick out notes and be so critical so I can fully enjoy ever last draw. The overall final score came out to a 9.5/10 or 95/100 and I have already purchased the Toro and Torpedo to compare the same blend in different sizes. Going to be a box-worthy staple in my collection!
