How can a cigar this bad be so good?
The thermometer was flirting with 50 yesterday afternoon, so with my wife and son both occupied elsewhere, I decided to squeeze in an afternoon cigar. By the end of the smoke I realized either a few more degrees on the thermometer or else some heavier clothing might have been in order, and the cigar turned out to be a disappointment (see below), but all in all, it was relaxing and pleasant enough to really get it me in warm weather mode.
The cigar was an Oliveros Classic Churchill. I received as a Christmas gift it in one of those "grab bag" deals you can get online, where you get 10 singles which can vary all over the board in terms of quality. Now, I should include a disclaimer to the following review to be clear that I'm having a hard time keeping my humidor damp enough, even with the beads I had purchased from Heartfelt Industries. In fact, this is for another post, but I'm seriously thinking about going a different direction in attempts to keep my humidor properly humdified this summer (so suggest away). That said, I've been monitoring it fairly closely over the last few days and have been adding water to the beads quite frequently--and a squeeze-test on the other cigars revealed that they weren't anywhere close to unsmokably dry.
The Oliveros Churchill is a nice looking 7-incher with a gold, very classy looking label. Sadly, that was the highlight of the smoke. Right away I was having a lot of problems keeping an even burn, which eventually resulted in portions of the Sumatra wrapper actually peeling off, revealing a lighter, veiny under-wrapper. In addition to the construction/burn issues, the draw resulted in a sensation similar to sticking a straw in a bowl of hard ice cream and trying to eat it by sucking.
While I didn't have any big problems with the taste, I had a hard time finding the "creamy" and honey undertones that others have reported with the Oliveros. I would have described the smoke as fitting nicely in the medium category, Oliveros' web page describes it as "mild to medium".
The good news is that you can land these for not more than $2.00 a stick with Cigars International, and that sounds about right to me. I'll give one of these a second chance, just because I don't want to unfairly pile on, but for now...
...I'll give it a 1.5 out of 5.
The cigar was an Oliveros Classic Churchill. I received as a Christmas gift it in one of those "grab bag" deals you can get online, where you get 10 singles which can vary all over the board in terms of quality. Now, I should include a disclaimer to the following review to be clear that I'm having a hard time keeping my humidor damp enough, even with the beads I had purchased from Heartfelt Industries. In fact, this is for another post, but I'm seriously thinking about going a different direction in attempts to keep my humidor properly humdified this summer (so suggest away). That said, I've been monitoring it fairly closely over the last few days and have been adding water to the beads quite frequently--and a squeeze-test on the other cigars revealed that they weren't anywhere close to unsmokably dry.
The Oliveros Churchill is a nice looking 7-incher with a gold, very classy looking label. Sadly, that was the highlight of the smoke. Right away I was having a lot of problems keeping an even burn, which eventually resulted in portions of the Sumatra wrapper actually peeling off, revealing a lighter, veiny under-wrapper. In addition to the construction/burn issues, the draw resulted in a sensation similar to sticking a straw in a bowl of hard ice cream and trying to eat it by sucking.
While I didn't have any big problems with the taste, I had a hard time finding the "creamy" and honey undertones that others have reported with the Oliveros. I would have described the smoke as fitting nicely in the medium category, Oliveros' web page describes it as "mild to medium".
The good news is that you can land these for not more than $2.00 a stick with Cigars International, and that sounds about right to me. I'll give one of these a second chance, just because I don't want to unfairly pile on, but for now...
...I'll give it a 1.5 out of 5.
Labels: Oliveros
posted by JohnnyMitchell | 11:30 AM
2 Comments:
Ouch. 1.5.
Although, I would be jealous if you went out and smoked a Dutch Master.
Oh, good job on updating the rankings post as well.
People should read this.
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