Agile Cigar Reviews replace what we termed “Assessment Updates”. The concept is the same, but the name is different. Agile Cigar Reviews use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or providing a score for a first time. It might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we take another look at the Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012. This is a cigar first assessed back in January, 2013.

Oliva Serie Maduro Especial 2012

Wrapper: San Andres Mexican Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country or Origin: Nicaragua (Tabacalera Oliva S.A. (Tabolisa))
Toro: 6 x 50

The Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial is an annual limited production release that is a maduro version of the popular Oliva Serie V (which uses a Nicaraguan Habano Sun-grown wrapper). Each year, the Serie V Maduro is done in a single vitola, and there have been blend variations over the years. The Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012 marked the fifth consecutive year this cigar has been released.  Today we revisit this 2012 edition of this series.

The Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012 has a similar blend composition to the 2011 edition – namely it uses a San Andres Mexican wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler.  It was back in 2010 when the San Andres wrapper was introduced into the annual release and all Maduro Especial releases through 2014 have continued to use this wrapper.  Size-wise, the Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012 is the same size as the Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2011 edition – namely it is a 6 x 50 Toro.  While the tobacco origins and size appear to be the same between the 2011 and 2012 editions, we do not know whether or not the two cigars are exactly the same.  It is very possible they are using different tobacco vintages.

The Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012 delivered similar flavors from when it was smoked a little over two yeas ago.  Early on there are notes of mocha, earth, and white pepper.  There also is a little bit of cherry sweetness.  I found the mocha notes to be in command in the first half.  In the second half, I found the profile to be more earthy.  There also was an increase in pepper during the second half.  From time to time, I still detected some of the mocha and cherry notes.

When I originally smoked the Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012, I found the increase in spice at the end to be quite harsh.  This harshness was much more tempered this time around, although I didn’t find the harshness was totally gone at the end.

I also found the Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012 to be a cigar to have a snug draw. A couple of years ago, I found the draw to be rather tight.  This time, the  draw had a touch of resistance – which I like.  It’s just possible this particular cigar was just rolled different.

Finally, two years of age did mellow this cigar a little bit.  While I originally found this cigar to be a full strength full-bodied smoke, this time around I found this to be medium to full in strength and body.  At the very end, I did pick up some of that full strength, full-bodied profile I remembered from a couple of years ago.

While I didn’t find the Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012 to be my favorite installment of this series,it’s still not a bad cigar.  Numerically, this cigar scores the same as from the original assessment, but our scoring criteria has changed since then, but this time I found the Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012 to be a better smoke now.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full, Full (End)
Body: Medium to Full, Full (End)
Finish: Good
Assessment: 3.0 – The Fiver
Score: 89

References

Original Assessment: Oliva Serie V Maduro Especial 2012
News: n/a
Price: $9.00
Source: Purchased
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