Oliva Master Blends I ~ Robusto

[badwhale]

Smoke: Oliva Master Blends I ~ Robusto
Drink: Stone IPA
Tunes: N/A
Date Smoked: 5/16/13

Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Draw: Light to medium draw
Burn: great
Misc: n/a

Pre-light: Colorado shade wrapper. Burned in insignia and really artistic band. Really nice wrapper and construction. Smells faint musty / cedar. Not much prelight flavor.





Light: Easy with a Bic. Light to medium draw.

1st 3rd: Smooth with a tiny bit of spice and oil. Has a nutty like walnut / cashew esque flavor. Yeah…nutty with some spice and oil. Medium body; medium flavors sofar and very smooth.



Ash: Funny, like shattered glass look. Yellowish white. Only holds on for ¾”



2nd 3rd: A dryer profile. Sweet tobacco notes subdued into the subtle nutty flavors. The nice walnut skin oily bitter is dominant, but blends well. Very smooth, but not a creamy category. Very pleasant.



3rd 3rd: Had a bit of tar buildup, so slipped a tiny bit off the head. Lots of the same smooth, nutty flavors with subtle sweetness. Has advanced to a medium to full body now. Excellent, relaxing and enjoyable!



Overall impression: Thanks to he who shall not be named for letting me smoke 1 of 375,000 cigars made. Great!

Will

[kingbeefy]

Wow, an MBI. Do you know what year this was rolled/released? Thanks for the review.

[BowhuntnHoosier]

WOW....looks delicious. As much as I love the MB3 would love to try one of these babys. So NOOB question did they make a MB2? I suppose they did but don't know for sure.

[ashauler]

Nice review of one of my favorite cigars.

BHH--Yes, there is an MBII.

[badwhale]

In 2003, the Oliva Family of Cigars introduced perhaps their most legendary cigar, the Master Blends 1. It was the first it what has become a trilogy of Oliva’s most storied releases. The Master Blends 1 was a cigar that shed the idea of simple and practical and embraced the idea of extravagance, ornateness and from some perspective, gaudy.

But that was the packaging, not the tobacco itself. José Oliva explained to Smoke Magazine:

The Master Blend is a very limited-run cigar; only 15,000 boxes were made. We had a tremendous time doing it, and it is something that we hope to continue to do in the future. We took tobaccos that were not plentiful enough for a production cigar, one you are going to make year-in and year-out. Usually these tobaccos come from trial crops on a small piece of land to see how a strain develops or how it handles certain conditions. Sometimes you end up with tremendous tobacco in very small quantities. So we rolled some of this tobacco, put a Habano wrapper around it, and created Master Blend.

There were three sizes of the Master Blends 1 were made:
Robusto — 5 x 50
Torpedo — 6 1/2 x 52
Churchill — 7 x 50

I cut / paste that from a halfwheel review / article.

Will

[kingbeefy]

Thanks. I actually looked into it after I asked the question and found the same article. Glad you had the chance to smoke one.