Over a decade on, the Serie V Melanio still stands as the last “regular production label” in the Oliva Cigars catalog. The Maduro followed on a few years later and a 2018 review I published saw that I liked it more than the regular Melanio. I recently got a few of each at an Oliva event and decided to take another look at the Maduro…see how the brand has aged.
The Maduro was originally released annual…a different size every year. Nowadays, they tend to make all those sizes simultaneously and release them a few times per year, making it easy for stores to stock up for company-sponsored events, even if they don’t typically keep them on the shelves all year long. This cigar features Nicaraguan filler and binder leaves, along with a Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper leaf. That wrapper was oily with a slight roughness to it. I got cocoa powder, dark earth, and anise notes on the nose, while the foot was just earthy and cedary. The cold draw was quite open and had flavors of espresso bean, dark chocolate, and earth.
The Serie V Melanio Maduro opens rich and full-bodied, redolent with cocoa powder and mocha notes, slight sweetness, slight bitterness…and a decent amount of red pepper spice on the nose and finish. The smoke was thick and oily, making it easy to blow smoke rings, and also making it go well with the Roaming Man Straight Tennessee Rye Whiskey that I had poured…a viscous, spicy dram. Although it’s disappointing that Oliva hasn’t released a truly new product in over a decade, it is comforting to know that they haven’t let quality slip on the products they continue to make, including this Melanio Maduro.
