JC Newman

May 13, 2012

Vindicator robusto (made by Oliva) 5 x 50




Vindicator by Oliva cigars are an all-Nicaraguan blend of triple-fermented Ligero and Viso longfillers in Habano-seed binders and wrappers.

This cigar is made by Oliva for Famous Smoke Shop.



Video review HERE.





The test draw after cutting the cap was very good; effortless. Very good for such a dense cigar. It is nice and weighty in the hand.




I am not a big fan of the band. It reminds me too much of a Gurhka band. Nevertheless, a band is just a band.


The initial flavors at light up are very sweet. There are coffee notes, vanilla and cedar.





About 1/4 inch in the flavors have settled down into a very sweet cedar with some undertones of tangerine citrus and coffee. The pepper is very nice and lingers nicely on the finish, which is one of vanilla.



Another 1/4 inch in the cedar notes are very rich and sweet. They are the predominant flavor. The tangerine notes are secondary. The coffee notes round out the flavors. The pepper blends very well with the sweet flavors. The cigar is almost candy like in it's sweetness. There is nohing subtle about the sweetness. These cigars are priced very good also. These robustos are about $60 a box of 20. The vanilla finish has become creamy and what I would call a French vanilla.




About 2 inches in the cigar is medium bodied with signs it may move toward full bodied. The flavors are still just as I previously described.



Although these cigars are "new" they are ready to smoke. Oh, I'd let them sit for about a week before smoking them but they burn great. The burn is very even.





With about 2 inches left the overwhelming sweetness has decreased somewhat and the coffee notes are more prominent. The cedar notes are still very good and the tangerine notes have decreased significantly. The pepper remains very good. The finish has not changed.





As I finished the cigar I was very pleased with this cigar. The burn was perfect. This cigar has a sneaky ligero where you can feel it a little past the midpoint but it's not overpowering. The flavors were great. the cigar finished up in the medium to full bodied category. The sweetness was great. Only in the final third did some of the flavors decrease but not significantly enough to ruin the cigar. The rich cedar notes were great. The tangerine notes were very good until the final third where they decreased. The coffee notes remained throughout. The finish was very consistent with French vanilla notes and lingering black pepper.





Again, I am not a fan of the band but I do not judge cigars based on a band. This is a good cigar and anyone who likes very sweet cigars with a little punch will really love this cigar. Try them for yourself.


Score: 89

4 comments:

Brother James said...

Yumm, sounds like the lovechild of a Serie G and a Serie V. I haven't been sweet on the big 'net shops lately, but being a big fan of Oliva, I'll have to score me at least a handful of these.

Tim Rollins said...

Sort of but no Cameroon. It's sweet though, VERY sweet! I really liked it!

CigarAdvisor said...

Nice review. We're pretty much in-sync on this one, though I didn't find it as sweet as you did.

Tim Rollins said...

I have one more to smoke but this cigar was very sweet! Comparing the two, the Inferno and the Vindicator, this is the sweetest but not nearly as full bodied.