Oliva Melanio Figurado Maduro
Late 2019 Oliva released a limited edition Melanio Figurado Maduro, key word here is Maduro. This is not your regular 2014 Cigar of the Year Figurado, this is the Figurado 2.0! This blend of Nicaraguan Habano long-fillers wrapped in a Dark San Andres maduro wrapper.
So what did I get from this cigar? First, lets start with a disclaimer. Anyone who has ever smoked with me knows that I am not your typical cigar tasting connoisseur, that picks up on notes of cocoa, pepper, and latte macchiato. No, my simplistic demeanor takes me to 3 simple factors. Blend, Construction, and purpose intended.
Blend, Oliva brought out its best Dark San Andres wrapper, it is limited not because they can’t put together a San Andres wrapper with Habano fillers. It is a limited edition, because of the age in the wrapper. As soon as you spark, a POW sensation just hits your tongue. Instantaneous San Andres Maduro funneled thru a Figurado tip, this blend does not disappoint. Perfectly balanced cigar with all the complexity of a figurado. It slowly increases intensity (as you would expect from a Figurado) as your smoking towards the ring.
Construction, Oliva is known for their consistency and well constructed cigars. This figurado is no different. Even with a small cut to preserve a fine funneled tip on the smoking end, you still had the right amount of resistance on the draft. Light it, and it’ll smoke slow and even.
Purpose intended, why would Oliva want to mess with the already perfect Melanio? This is actually not a new cigar. This is an old blend re-launched, and in my opinion perfected. This Cigar Journal gave this cigar a 96 rating. Like I said its the award winning 2014 Melanio in a 2.0 version.
It is still unknown if Oliva will continue to follow up with the Figurado, but they have made the Robusto, Torpedo, and Churchill part of their line up. If they are able to continously maintain production of the Figurado maduro, I don’t see how this cigar does not win Cigar of the Year, again.