Oliva Special G Perfecto Cigar Review

Cigar Review Posted By: avantgrade

Cigar Stats: The Special G Perfecto is a 3.7" x 48 Perfecto with a
African Cameroon (Natural) wrapper.

Cigar Strength: avantgrade describes the cigar strength as being Medium.

Cigar Price: This Cigar was bought for $3.99 and was purchased Churchill and Downs, Deerfield, IL.

avantgrade purchased this cigar on 2010-06-04.
It has a few weeks of additional aging.

Look and Feel: 19 / 20
Flavor and Aroma: 35 / 40
Burn Consistency: 28 / 30
Bonus Points: 6 / 10

Food: none

Beverage: none

Cutter type: Dual-Blace Colibri

Lighter: tripple jet butane torch (Nibo)

Appearance: This is one cool-looking little smoke. The standard "Oliva" band goes well with the Cameroon wrapper, and the cigar makes you wonder: how do they make perfectos this small? Reminds me a bit of the Short Story by Fuente...

Presence of veins: Very few veins, and they are quite small

Humidity: 50%

Cigar draw: Beautiful: a lot better than I would expect for a complex vitola that has been shrunken down to a sm

Cigar feel: Medium

Oily or dry: Oily

Ease/quality cut: The cap is solid and was very easy to cut. I would not recommend punching this cigar, as the head tapers to a pretty na

Pre-light flavour: There is moderate spice, which lingers on the tongue for a few seconds after each puff. Also, faint sweetness can be fe

Country of origin: Nicaragua

Origin of wrapper: African Cameroon

Origin of binder: Nicaraguan Cuban-seed Habano

Origin of filler: Nicaraguan Habano

Initial Light

I gave this perfecto a quick toast and a quick light. Now, my past experience with perfectos led me to believe that a quick light is all that it takes to establish a "perfect" burn. This one I had to touch up about 2 minutes into it. However, from there on out, the cigar continued to burn true all the way to a finger-burning nub.

Very nice, woodsy flavors come about with a zesty nuance to help carry them through. I am inclined to say that the zest is due to the Cameroon wrapper, which, while being a fragile dress, can pack a bit of a punch.

First 1/3:

The wonderful zest of the Cameroon wrapper is further accented by notes of light coffee. A little bit of sweetness can be felt on the palate, but the pleasant spiciness dominates.

Being a small cigar, this one is holding its ash very well. The ash is clean and white, with a couple of gray bands in between puffs. I try to stagger my puffs a minute or two in between, and that certainly prevented the cigar from ever burning hot.

Second 1/3:

Halfway into the cigar, there is plenty of smoke to spare. About an inch into the cigar, the widest portion of the stick is ablaze, and the flavors intensify. In terms of complexity, the only growth has been in the intensity of flavors. That's not a bad thing, though, for a short smoke.

The draw has been wonderful, more towards the easy side. I wonder if they can maintain that between sticks? It seems that a perfecto that small would be easy to over-tighten with tobacco. Major kudos to Oliva in this case.

Final 1/3:

As I started the cigar, I would have placed its body in the mild-medium range. Soon though, and all the way to the nub, it settled into the medium body realm.

The woodsy and coffee notes have calmed down a little bit, but the zest of the wrapper is really coming through strong. What a nice way to end a short cigar. The whole experience lasted about 25 minutes, and I couldn't be happier.