Two Scott's review the Oliva Blue Band Maduro Toro

[shilala]

Sofaman and I have been stinking up the shed pretty good as of late.
Tonite I texted him to see if he wanted to hit a smoke after work and he said "Hell Yeah".
I told him it was going to be Oliva nite. I was thinking of smoking a couple V maduros cause it's driving me crazy as they sit and destink, but then I thought that an O might be nice. I have a box of blue band O toros that have been sitting for quite awhile and thought they'd be a nice departure from our normal smokes, even though we always smoke big maduros.
So it's more of a make-believe departure from the norm, really. It makes us feel adventurous and worldly.
So here's the cigar:


Since this was a two man review, I decided to take notes.
My notes say that after the first 1/4 inch, comments ranged from:
Scott Shilala: "****er's spicy!!!"
to
Scott Sofaman: "MMmmm. Good."
At this point it was obvious to me that we weren't going to win any rewards for this review.

Here's a shot of the furniture guy honking on the O. He's a man of few words (see:"mm. good."), but he looks damn good smoking a cigar, as I'm sure you'll agree.


Now, moving on to the second 1/4 inch, the comments got a bit more reviewesque...
Sofaman: "Doesn't taste like a maduro. Tastes like a V."
The spice was off the map. I agreed and added "****er just burned my noseholes".
As you can see, my language still hasn't cleaned up. It's because I was raised by wolves. I've been told occasionally that I have no "filter". I'd like to say I'm working on it, but I'm not. I have far more glaring shortcomings that require all my attention so I don't go back to jail.
But enough of that...
Here's a shot of my cigar at this point. I still haven't slobbered it up much, but I'm headed that direction.


Here's a shot of the bottom of my Rocky Patel 5 Torch lighter.
It's awesome. The pic adds nothing to the review aside from incredible coolness. I figured the aura of awesomeness that the Rocky exudes might just save this review, so I'm leaning on it heavily.


Here's Sofaman's cigar at about an inch and a half. Check out the badass hookash developing (if you can see past the overwhelming awesomeness that is my lighter):


At this point, Scott remarked that "the nic filler toatlly blows the wrapper out of the water. Spicy as hell."
We were trying to figure out what the flavor was. Realizing that "11 year old Madagascar Vanilla" was already used, I came up with "Tastes a lot like Red Man Chewing Tobacco", which it did.
Not Red Man pouch, but Red Man Plug. The nic filler was overpowering the maduro wrapper so much that only tobacco and sweet was coming through. The nosey maduro bouquet couldn't develop and never really showed up depite what the gorgeous, dark, glossy maduro wrapper might have suggested.

Right around this time Kerri showed up with her Cherry Bomb. It's a new CAO blend. Cherry and Creamy Vanilla. Mo got them for me and they just arrived today.
Scott and I both tried it. My comment was "Kerri's Cherry Bomb is way better" and I tried to get her to trade. She agreed, but I traded back because I didn't want Scott to think I was some sort of raging homosexual(although he probably suspects it anyway).
Scott noticed that his cigar was showing off big blasts of chocolate at this point. I wasn't getting it. I figure it's because Scott smokes faster than me and never lets up. I purge a lot because I hate when big cigars start tasting like wet ashtray. Scott doesn't care because he's an animal. He'd eat a wet ashtray and ask for another.

Here we are about half gooned from the cigars. They were definately getting the job done.


...and here's the Queen of my double-wide smoking her Cherry Bomb and preparing to shoot lasers out of her eyes...


Scott's ash is really working on the hook effect. It hit the floor right after this pic, but it was impressive while it lasted.


Here's my O right before I bailed. I couldn't take any more. I just got done being sick the last few days and since the layover from surgery I've become a real lightweight. It's kind of refreshing, but it's a big shot to my male ego. I'm down to around a 3 on the Macho-Meter nowadays. It's going to take a concerted effort to get Icehog-badass again.


Right around this time I was wrapping up the notes.
At 1/2 or 2/3 gone we were still trying to hang some descriptive flavors on this cigar and we still weren't doing very good.
I tasted Scott's cigar while he had about 1/3 left. I came up with "wet ashtray and poop with a fuente chaser". I also came up with "dirty and sweet". Scott kept mumbling that "it doesn't taste like a maduro", which it really didn't.
I bailed at around 2/3rd's. Scott stuck it out till there was just the band.
Kerri tasted his at that point and she said it was "smooth, warm and rich".
Scott just stopped back in to pick up his cigars he left and I told him I was almost done with the review, so I won't speak for him so far as his final thoughts go, he can add them himself.
My final thought would be "Dayumm."
These cigars are old. Big old. Despite that they were totally at their peak.
Strong, bold and delicious right to the finish.
The construction was stellar, the burn and draw perfect. The company was top notch and I had a hella good time.
I give this experience a 10 out of 10, easy. The cigar, maybe a 9.78. It was rockin'. Nothing short of top shelf.

That's all I have to say, I'll leave you with a few leftover pics.
Thanks for struggling through the review, I hope you enjoyed it!!!

[shilala]

The workbench...

Scott's ash on the floor...

Our feet...

[elderboy02]

Nice review and pics!

[TripleF]

Nice review bro!! Wish I coulda been there with ya.

Reminds me.........

[HK3-]

Great Review Fellas! Looks like a good time in the ol' shed!

[shilala]

Just to make you guys drool, here's some shots of the O's in their box...

Great review, great pics and great entertainment to go with it all.
I've got to try one of these some day.

[sofaman]

I was also amazed at the amount of strength and spice in this stick with the amount of box age on them. They are truly in there prime. I am not mutch for reviewing flavor profiles but I can tell you that I truly enjoyed this stick from start to finnish

[MNSmoker]

"You must spread some reputation around before giving it to shilala again."

Awesome review.

[acarr]

Great entertaining review. Those look like some great smokes.

[Scottw]

Funny review and great lighter!!

[shilala]

Originally Posted by sofaman

I was also amazed at the amount of strength and spice in this stick with the amount of box age on them. They are truly in there prime. I am not mutch for reviewing flavor profiles but I can tell you that I truly enjoyed this stick from start to finnish

Ain't that the truth.
This thing kicked my ass all over the place. I'm gonna cut the rest in half cause I can't possibly smoke the whole thing. Plus I'll have like a box and a third of blue band O's instead of 2/3 of a box.

[BigBruce]

Great review Scott Listening to a little Sammy Kershaw myself today. Have I ever told you I'm the Charlie Daniels of the torque wrench.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by BigBruce

Great review Scott Listening to a little Sammy Kershaw myself today. Have I ever told you I'm the Charlie Daniels of the torque wrench.

I keep 10 pounds of onion rings in the freezer just in case of guys like you.

[Volt]

Great review guys. If I can ask, what size humi does it take to store a box that big? It's freaking huge! On the cigar side, sounds like more of a Simon type cigar and not a Volt - I am weak when it comes to the heavy vitamin N

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Volt

Great review guys. If I can ask, what size humi does it take to store a box that big? It's freaking huge! On the cigar side, sounds like more of a Simon type cigar and not a Volt - I am weak when it comes to the heavy vitamin N

That box is super big. It just fits in the bottom of my winador.
The bottom isn't nearly as deep as the rest of the winador cause the compressor takes up space, but it's still deep enough to handle Canones boxes and the O box. Barely.

I enjoyed the review and the pic's guys. Well done

[landhoney]

Originally Posted by shilala

I didn't want Scott to think I was some sort of raging homosexual(although he probably suspects it anyway).

Why would he think that?

Originally Posted by shilala

but he looks damn good smoking a cigar, as I'm sure you'll agree.

Oh, I see.

Nice review BTW, enjoyed it.

[fissure]

Great review Scott. Salt bucket foot stool looks great

Bad-ass review, Scott...though it's mainly because of the awesomeness of your Rocky torch!

Jason