souldog
OG Post-Whorer since 2008 bitches...
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2008
- Messages
- 6,211
I came home today and found a small box in my mail, opened it up, and what do you know? An Oliva NUB cigar (and some tag-alongs) from a great BOTL, MandyPi! I have been following the release of the Olive NUBs nonchalantly in the past couple weeks, and wanted to see what the hype was all about. I mentioned this to Mandy, and he told me he was going to send me a couple! :thumbs: So, since Mandy sent me a couple of these, I figured I'd go ahead and review one.
Cigar: Oliva NUB Habano
Wrapper: Habano Wrapper
Ring Gauge: 60
Length: 4
Origin: Nicaraguan
Start Time: 1819 hrs
Initial Observations: The construction was fairly decent, the cigar itself did not have the striking oily wrapper, and possibly lacked moisture due to being shipped from Florida to California. I throw this theory to the wind and am dissuaded from this conclusion due to the fact that the cigars were shipped with a Humi-pak inside, and the other cigars inside appeared to be of normal moisture levels. There are several spots where the wrapper is drying and flaky. Additionally, the foot appears to be loose, the overall feel of this cigar is loosely rolled. The prelight draw is very loose, initially hits me with sweet, almost fruity, undertones, and is followed by a bitter finish.
The First Half: Normally, I will divide my cigar reviews into thirds, but due to the short stature of this particular cigar, I have divided it into halves. I toast the foot, light her up, and go to work. I am immediately impacted by the cigar's volumes of smoke, and spicy flavors. Unfortunately, this flavor experience is short-lived. The cigar mellows out, as the burn is decent, with flakes of ash falling off. The foot of the cigar expands and threatens to fall off altogether, thus ruining the image of "ash stands" that Olive portrays on their website, http://www.nubcigar.com/.
A little further into the smoke, the taste still has that moderate sweetness, but the spice is quickly fading away, but you can still catch it at the end of your pallette if you look for it. At one point, I was surprised to find small traces of cocoa, but those were to short lived.
The Second Half: The flavor of the cigar truly begins waning, and I am picking up on a metallic taste, that ends in a bitter sour aftertaste. The cigar became interesting as it began getting hotter, and I keep finding that the smoke is truly punishing on the nostrils when blowing through my nose.
Another point about the smoke itself is that it is truly unpleasant. It has an overpowering chemical smell to it, so I just held it away from me in between puffs.
The Final Run: Coming to the end of the smoke, the flavor is gone. Unfortunately it is like drawing in nothing except hot air! But, alas, the true pull of the Oliva NUBs show themselves in their ability to hold ash. I for one am guilty of habitually playing the "ash game," so at this point it simply became a matter of seeing how long I can get the ash that propelled me to continue to smoke. The cigar needs quite a while to cool, as it becomes very hot much quicker towards the end.
Finally, I put her down for the count, and am somewhat disenchanted with the smoke. Mandy, I am extremely grateful for you sending the smoke to me, and have been scratching my head as to what these babies taste like. I will probably give the other one some time in the humi, and see what happens. Nice play brother!
I found it interesting that Oliva, when speaking about the concept of the NUBs states, "The idea for the nubs came from the theory that a cigar finds its “sweet spot” at the 3 ½- 4 inch point. All “nub” cigars must exist within this window. No “nub” is longer than 4 inches. Further adding to this complex theory, the ring gauges range from 56-66...The cigar starts at the sweet spot and gets better from there. The large ring gauge allows for a dense ash which insulates the cigar keeping it cool as you smoke. The large amount of smoke also allows you to really enjoy the complex flavors." (source: http://www.nubcigar.com/intro_nub.php)
End Time: 1912 hrs
Thanks for the smoke Mandy! Watch your back! :thumbs:
Cigar: Oliva NUB Habano
Wrapper: Habano Wrapper
Ring Gauge: 60
Length: 4
Origin: Nicaraguan
Start Time: 1819 hrs
Initial Observations: The construction was fairly decent, the cigar itself did not have the striking oily wrapper, and possibly lacked moisture due to being shipped from Florida to California. I throw this theory to the wind and am dissuaded from this conclusion due to the fact that the cigars were shipped with a Humi-pak inside, and the other cigars inside appeared to be of normal moisture levels. There are several spots where the wrapper is drying and flaky. Additionally, the foot appears to be loose, the overall feel of this cigar is loosely rolled. The prelight draw is very loose, initially hits me with sweet, almost fruity, undertones, and is followed by a bitter finish.
The First Half: Normally, I will divide my cigar reviews into thirds, but due to the short stature of this particular cigar, I have divided it into halves. I toast the foot, light her up, and go to work. I am immediately impacted by the cigar's volumes of smoke, and spicy flavors. Unfortunately, this flavor experience is short-lived. The cigar mellows out, as the burn is decent, with flakes of ash falling off. The foot of the cigar expands and threatens to fall off altogether, thus ruining the image of "ash stands" that Olive portrays on their website, http://www.nubcigar.com/.
A little further into the smoke, the taste still has that moderate sweetness, but the spice is quickly fading away, but you can still catch it at the end of your pallette if you look for it. At one point, I was surprised to find small traces of cocoa, but those were to short lived.
The Second Half: The flavor of the cigar truly begins waning, and I am picking up on a metallic taste, that ends in a bitter sour aftertaste. The cigar became interesting as it began getting hotter, and I keep finding that the smoke is truly punishing on the nostrils when blowing through my nose.
Another point about the smoke itself is that it is truly unpleasant. It has an overpowering chemical smell to it, so I just held it away from me in between puffs.
The Final Run: Coming to the end of the smoke, the flavor is gone. Unfortunately it is like drawing in nothing except hot air! But, alas, the true pull of the Oliva NUBs show themselves in their ability to hold ash. I for one am guilty of habitually playing the "ash game," so at this point it simply became a matter of seeing how long I can get the ash that propelled me to continue to smoke. The cigar needs quite a while to cool, as it becomes very hot much quicker towards the end.
Finally, I put her down for the count, and am somewhat disenchanted with the smoke. Mandy, I am extremely grateful for you sending the smoke to me, and have been scratching my head as to what these babies taste like. I will probably give the other one some time in the humi, and see what happens. Nice play brother!
I found it interesting that Oliva, when speaking about the concept of the NUBs states, "The idea for the nubs came from the theory that a cigar finds its “sweet spot” at the 3 ½- 4 inch point. All “nub” cigars must exist within this window. No “nub” is longer than 4 inches. Further adding to this complex theory, the ring gauges range from 56-66...The cigar starts at the sweet spot and gets better from there. The large ring gauge allows for a dense ash which insulates the cigar keeping it cool as you smoke. The large amount of smoke also allows you to really enjoy the complex flavors." (source: http://www.nubcigar.com/intro_nub.php)
End Time: 1912 hrs
Thanks for the smoke Mandy! Watch your back! :thumbs:
