Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Jalapa Valley Ligero
Size: 6.5 x 52 “Figurado”
Body: Full
Price: $10.00

If you can find this cigar, buy it. Oliva has been holding on to some of the Serie V Maduro Especiale since 2009 and the aging has done its job.
Oliva released a Press Release that explains a little:
“Oliva Cigar Co has released the 2009 version of the Oliva Serie V Maduro Especiale. The entire line is made in fairly small quantities, but the maduro version is rarer than the original, known as the Liga Especiale.-Oliva only releases 50,000 Serie V maduro per year.”

The cigar’s wrapper is gorgeous with a deep, rich brown hue. Construction is flawless. Especially at the quadruple cap. The swirl required to get that configuration is a sight to behold. The wrapper has some mottling in the color scheme. The seams are welded tight and there are lots of spider veins. The wrapper shines with oil.

I sniff and detect large doses of cocoa. A dried fruit and some sweetness.

I clip and light up.

The first puffs are wonderful with some spice, some cocoa, some raisin, sweetness and a very rich earthiness. 4 years, aging in a box in some faraway warehouse, has done this cigar proud.

The draw is a bit tight…but nothing to get my panties in a roar over. The cocoa is very unusual. I am struggling on this one. And then it hits me….Of course. It tastes like Raisinets.

The burn line is acting erratically from the get go. I use a single torch flame when lighting a cigar and am very careful about torching the foot evenly.

It will need a touch up. And then we are good to go, Houston. I also remove some more cap and that clears up the draw issue. Now it is burning up a storm.
There is another fruity flavor aboard. It sounds nuts but it reminds me of prunes, or dried plums. Most people don’t like prunes, but I do. I grew up in a Jewish household whose heritage was Hungarian. So lots of good food. And my pastry favorite was a prune Danish. I could eat a million of them. That’s my Forrest Gump voice.

It’s prune. And matches with the raisin beautifully. There is also a slight woody note that appears in the back ground.

At the one inch mark, the cigar is beginning to turn into a flavor bomb. There is enough cocoa in the profile that I grab a Diet Coke for my egg cream experience.

The spiciness has not played a big role yet. The fruity sweetness is driving the bus now. It is incredible. I’ve never smoked a cigar with this much fruity sweetness. (I should have bought two boxes).

I might add that the 10 count box has been sitting in my humidor for about two months.

Nutmeg shows up. In fact, a compendium of baking spices arrives. They only enhance the sweetness. And now we are getting a very long finish.

As this cigar is packed to the gills with tobacco, it burns very slowly. It’s taken me a good 15 minutes to get past the 1” point. And the char line is now close to dead nuts.
I bought the box on a CI Daily Deal. And boy, that was some deal. The only online store I found that carries these sticks is Bonita’s Smoke Shop: http://www.bonitasmokeshop.com/oliva_serie_v.htm

And a 10 count box goes for $99.00. These won’t last long so if this stick intrigues you, you better act soon.

I make it through the first third and the flavor profile is a bit subdued. It seems to be on cruise control. The ash is hanging on like a champ. I just know that the ash is going to fall into my lap or on to the laptop keyboard. Why? Because I’m a whore who wants the money shot. I lucked out and the ash fell off as I was taking a photo. It lasted just until a millimeter away from the halfway mark.

The sweetness is so in control of the cigar’s destiny that if almost tastes as if you licked some sugar from your palm. It sounds horrible, but it has become a real treat.

The halfway point sees the cigar getting very complex. The flavors are one, so to speak. No component is stronger than another. I get a nice leather flavor for the first time. It reminds me of new leather. Years ago, I had a bass guitar strap custom made for me from Italy. Expensive and beautiful. For weeks, each time I wore my bass, I spent half the time sniffing my shoulder where the strap lay. That’s the only leather story I have because I haven’t owned a new car since 1997.

Oddly, the strength of the cigar has only been a classic medium to this point. I expected to be bowled over by strength. Maybe in the last third….

This is a cigar you don’t want to put down. I take a swig now and then of the Coke and get a whoosh of the cocoa flavor. I removed the band easily. I was concerned that the age of the cigar might make it difficult.

As I begin the last third, the profile is all about sweetness. The fruit and cocoa and spice flavors have become muted. A coffee component has come to join the party. It is creamy and rich.

I am beginning to feel the uptick of the strength of the cigar now. My vision is a bit blurred. I stop smoking and throw down a bowl of cereal. I want to nub this stick out but don’t want to hallucinate in the process.

I must re-light the cigar and all those flavors wash over my palate. The flavors are now exploding. That little cereal break cleansed my palate and everything tastes anew.
I spend the next 10 minutes finishing the cigar; which took me 90 minutes to smoke.
This is just a fantastic cigar. A real smoker’s paradise. If you can do it, make that purchase because these cigars are a wisp in the wind and will be gone forever soon.

And now for something completely different:

More Hal Blaine….

Did you know that Ringo Starr’s first professional kit was an exact copy of Hal’s? Yep.

During the Teague Family sessions, I screwed up while recording my bass lines in the booth one late night; all by myself. Back then, everything was analog. We used 3” tape for recording. And our recorder came from the Wally Heider Studio in San Francisco where during the 1960’s, all the SF love and flower power bands recorded. Cost us $800 in 1982. I used to revel in the thought of how many great bands must have used this machine to record on.

Hal had already laid down his drum parts on the album. And on that fateful night, I accidentally erased a few of Hal’s drum tracks. It was the middle of the night and I ran around the studio screaming like a banshee. I was in full panic mode.

How was I going to call Hal and ask him to come back and record the same thing?

The next day, I told everyone what I did. They were all shocked at my carelessness. My partner never liked me doing my recording all by myself without him there to help. I would sit in a folding chair in the booth and control everything with my bass in my lap. Not an easy feat. Back then, we actually spliced tape. So some of that was necessary. And splicing tape in the exact right nano second is an art.

A few days after the horrible mistake, I got the nerve to call Hal. As usual, he was overly generous and said, of course he would come back. Whew.

Hal didn’t handle his own kit. He had a cartage company to do that. I didn’t want to pay the cartage company $500 to bring his set so I called a dear friend, Steve Hodges, to bring his and set it up. Steve went on to be a world class drummer. He played drums on the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Live album; among a host of other prestigious recordings.
Hal was a busy man. He did an average of at least two sessions per day; maybe three.

So he suggested we do it at night. Whoa. What a relief. A recording studio tends to be a party place with hanger ons. And I didn’t want anyone else in the studio beside me and him.
Hal arrived around 10pm. He brought with him Paulhino de Costa. A world famous percussionist. I knew Paulhino. He played on one of my Curved Air albums in England; maybe 5 years prior.
We all hugged and then went to work. Luckily, I had saved the drum charts that Hal wrote for the album. To me, those charts were gold.

Steve had set up his drums and asked to be there when we recorded. Steve was uber professional and I had no qualms about this.

Paulino brought his conga drums with him and we miked him up. Now it was a party.

We played through the night. Even Steve played using my huge array of percussion instruments in the studio.

We finished around 6am. I had previously ordered a big fancy breakfast from a friend who owned a deli and was also a caterer. It was the least I could do.
Everyone’s eyes lit up when they saw Howard set up his breakfast buffet. We even had Bloody Mary’s.

I offered Hal and Paulhino some dough but they refused it. Mensch. The only way to describe these guys.

We squinted as we made our good byes in the early morning sunlight. We hugged a bunch more.

I went back to the booth with Steve and ate some more and had a couple more Bloody Mary’s. We both were glowing from the experience. Hal was a hero to Steve, like me.
Exhausted, I went home and caught about 4 hours sleep and went back to the now bustling studio. I played back what was recorded the night before and lots of hands slapped me on the back. And I had the biggest smile on my puss.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS