Smokin' joe purchased this cigar on 2009-05-06.
A friend of mine had these and offered me one to try as I hadn't actually smoked an Oliva before.
The cigar has an free & easy draw and produced volumes of smoke. The initial taste was a pleasant mixture of a kind of mild spicy tang with a sweeter fruity flavor with it.
The sweetness was still there on the finish through the first third of the cigar but I also detected a cedary note underlying as well. The tang was still there as well. It certainly burned very evenly - I certainly didn't need to retouch it at all, and it produced a firm ash that didn't disintegrate on landing in the ashtray.
The smoke remained pretty consistent through the second third. It was very easy on the palate overall and kept its body in the medium sort of range throughout. It does tend on the dry side though and you may want to have a drink handy as we did. The tanginess did begin to subside a bit towards the end of the second third and a more peppery taste came through.
The final third was pretty much the same - the cedar was still there, but pepper gradually gave over to more of a spicy flavor. You could certainly taste the Corojo and was pleasantly rich compared to you get from a natural or maduro. If you like that richness - and it is beginning to grow on me, then for 2 bucks this is a bargain!