What's the deal with these Oliva cigars?

What’s the Deal with These Oliva Cigars?

I decided to do something a little different in this video and talk about two Oliva cigars that are limited and exclusive distribution: the Oliva Black Swan and the Oliva Monticello.

Note: As of publishing this video (Jan 2024), it appears that Oliva may be revising their strategy on the Black Swan, the “Oliva Black Swan” is in short supply, and it has now surfaced as the “RP (Rocky Patel) Black Swan by Oliva.” If you’re interested in this cigar, look for it under both names as the original Oliva Black Swan is showing up as sold out in many vitolas.

Anyway, let’s talk about the Black Swan. As the name suggests, it has a very, very dark Maduro wrapper. I’ve seen Oscuro wrappers much more pale than the Black Swan, it looks as dark as a San Andres leaf, not a Connecticut Broadleaf as the specs say. The other reason for the name is to remind smokers that this is a limited edition cigar, it uses tobacco that Oliva has kept in stock but not in quantities large enough to create a production blend like the Serie O or Serie V.

The Black Swan is said to be medium-full, but I beg to differ. The preponderance of spice and lack of balance between flavor and strength make it come across as a full-bodied cigar.

Construction was excellent (truly an A+) but for my taste, the flavor was overwhelmed by the strength. Overall I rated the Black Swan at a 7.5/10, but if you are a full-body aficionado you may really like this cigar. So, take the 7.5 rating as you will.

The other Oliva cigar in the video is the Monticello, and although it appears to be at least semi-regular in terms of production, it is exclusive (in the US) to Holt’s Cigar Company.

The Monticello is not quite medium-full and although it is billed as a Maduro wrapper, it is much lighter than the Black Swan in terms of body and color. It also has a more sophisticated flavor profile (Woody, supplemented by vanilla and cream). I didn’t mention it in the video but in previous smoking of the Monticello, once in a while I would describe the flavor as vanilla cappuccino (as pretentious as that may sound).

I ended up rating the overall smoking experience on the Monticello as 8.25/10. If you like the Serie G, Serie O or Serie V Melanio, you will probably really like this cigar.

If you’re interested in pricing on these, I give details in the video – these prices are in January 2024.

Some cigars don’t make the video cut. I have a growing catalog of written-only reviews that you can find at https://cigarscigarscigars.com