New Best Aging Non-Cuban; least fer me

[Herf N Turf]

Holy CRAP, fella's! I smoked an Oliva MB III robusto I purchased from a BOTL at Cigar Man Andy's herf in NoVa in 2009, last night. Andy's herfs were huge and it wasn't uncommon for guys to bring bazillions of cigars to share, trade and even sell. Anyway, according to him, he'd had them sitting in his humidor for "2-3 years".

I gotta tellya' guys, I used to think the original Antano 1970 from 99-00 was the all-time king of NC's that held up well to long term age. Not anymore. This thing was simply magnificent and vastly better than when manufactured. I've had them fairly fresh and they're very muscly and a little rough around the flavor edges. This thing last night blew me away. It was smooth as soft butter and the sweetness was simply heavenly. Being kept it's entire life at 62-64F and 65% RH, the draw and burn were spot-on.

The first third was made up of lots of caramelized brown sugar notes and some cocoa. Both remaining at the fore throughout the smoke. The power, and do mean 'power' as opposed to strength, which the stick surpasses at the half way mark, began building exponentially. My the time I was 2/3 finished, I was about finished. This has remained an extraordinarily strong cigar, even for me, who tends to prefer fuller, stronger cigars.

Anyway, I was impressed enough by it that I had to share it with you guys.

[jhedrick83]

If I had known you liked old MBIIIs I would have sent you some!! They really are orders of magnitude better with some age. I have a few that only are about 3 years old and they are magnificent. I haven't seen the offer in a while but Holt's used to offer up 10 robustos for $39.99. They seem to always have the 6 pack for $27.95 which I think is still a hell of a deal! http://www.holts.com/category.html?id=201748

[SeaGarr]

Super cool!

I bought a bunch at auction not to long ago myself. I wasn't sure - you could definitely tell it had potential, but as you state they were, "muscly and a little rough around the flavor edges."

See you in two/three years then .


P.S. - thanks for the feedback!

[Herf N Turf]

Another thing that bears mentioning. Smoke time on this was an hour ten and remember, I didn't even get close to the nub. Now, I tend to smoke slowly, but this could easily scare the hour and a half mark.

Anyone who can nub one of these without his face blowing off get's a cold draft from me.


@jhedrick83 just asked me what the actual vintage was on this stick. The guy I got them from told me he'd gotten them on a recommendation from another friend right after they launched in 2006. That's nigh-on 9 years and if this one is any indication, they'll go at least 15 and I'll bet well beyond. This could be a legitimate "extreme age" cigar, making it into the 20-25 realm.

It's also amazing that there were only 15,000 total boxes, yet their still available.

[BKDW]

Thanks for the heads up--will try to grab some for storage.

[Tman]

Thanks for the post Don! I'm always intrigued by these cigars since they're under the radar so much. I'm pretty sure I've got one approaching 5 year mark. Kinda interested to fire one up soon!

[SeaGarr]

Thanks for the heads up--will try to grab some for storage.

FWIW - They go for a song on Cigar Auctioneer.

[BKDW]

FWIW - They go for a song on Cigar Auctioneer.

Great, because I like singing.

Thanks for the tip.

[Herf N Turf]

Great, because I like singing.

Thanks for the tip.

Look what the cat dragged back in...

[Jordan23]

I need to buy some and put them up then. I like most of Oliva's line, but I never liked this cigar. I smoked mine about the year and half mark. They may just need more time.