Oliva Serie V Maduro Toro Review
Filed under: Cigar Bands · Tight Draw · Ligero / Seco / Viso · Maduro Is a Process · Mexico · Nicaragua · The Ash · Relighting · Retrohale · San Andrés · Strength vs Body · The Draw · What Cigars Cost · Bitter Cigar?
Verdict: The Oliva Serie V Maduro Toro is a Not Even Free (1/4) at about $13 street... a draw so tight it took four or five passes with the draw tool and still tunneled, around a heavy wood, leather, black coffee and earth profile with almost no sweetness that turned to bitter earth and killed my palate, so I laid it down a quarter inch into the final third. Even with a perfect draw, this flavor profile is not my cigar.
- Brand
- Oliva
- Line
- Serie V Maduro
- Vitola
- Toro
- Size
- 6 x 50
- Wrapper
- Mexican San Andrés maduro
- Binder
- Nicaraguan
- Filler
- Nicaraguan
- Made in
- Nicaragua
- Factory
- Oliva (Estelí)
- Strength
- Medium-plus
- Street price
- $13
The Serie V Maduro is the Serie V blend under a Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper instead of the Ecuadorian Habano on the regular Serie V. It spent years as a once-a-year release before Oliva made it regular production, and the retailer listings put it at that San Andrés wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler, rolled at Oliva's factory in Estelí. The regular Serie V Toro landed a Five-Pack (3/4) here, and the Serie V Melanio Figurado landed a Hand-Me-One (2/4).
The Setup
- Cigar: Oliva Serie V Maduro, Toro, 6 x 50. Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, Nicaraguan filler. Made by Oliva in Estelí, Nicaragua.
- Street price: about $13 a single online. The two shops that sell singles were at $13.20 and $11.40, and the five-packs at the other two work out to $12.40 to $13.20 a stick. A box of 10 runs about $117 to $125 online, right around $12 a stick.
- What I paid: $13.20 for a single, ordered online in May 2026, with an order-level discount that brought it down to about $11. My own money.
- Storage: the Herf-a-Dor at 69% RH, resting a little over five months.
- When/where: lit about 4:45 on a Saturday afternoon on my back deck. Beautifully sunny, not a cloud in the sky, 69°, feels like 72, 42% humidity.
- Smoke time: laid it down for good about 6:25, a quarter inch into the final third. About half an hour of that was time away from the cigar, so call it an hour and ten minutes of actual smoking.
- Food beforehand: a smash burger with water and a milkshake about four hours before, then some water crackers about 20 minutes before I lit it to clean my palate.
- First cigar of the day, paired with water. Cut with the Xikar XO, lit with my Guevara Lux single torch.
Light Up and First Third
It's a very dark brown wrapper, lightly toothy across the whole thing, with a double cap and a good-looking foot. Nice construction to look at. It feels like it has a little more weight than a typical toro. The cut with the Xikar XO felt decently thick. The cold draw was lightly sweet and a little bit tight, and I figured I'd see whether it opened up once it was lit, stayed that tight, or got tighter.
During the toast, dark chocolate was the primary flavor. Once it was lit, a single draw gave leather, a touch of pepper, some coffee and a little bit of chocolate. A double draw still had that touch of pepper, a stronger leather, and a little bit of pepper that sits on your palate, just enough to let you know it's there. The retrohale was a bit of a chili pepper spice, leather, coffee, and some cream on the finish. A decent cigar to start.
The draw was decently tight, though, so I went to the draw tool. I ran it in four or five times and pulled out a decent amount of tobacco, down to about where the end of the band sits. It felt like it was hitting a plug. That made it better, but not perfect.
The ash was burning well at that point, slightly wavy, but just slightly. A very tight ash, stacking really well.
A little over half an inch in, a single draw was a mild black pepper and leather on the retro, with a little bit of nuttiness, some leather, and some woodiness like a dark black coffee. On a double draw that woodiness became the main flavor. Not much of any nuttiness, but leather and black coffee for sure, and that little bit of spice or black pepper that hits your palate and sits on the sides of your tongue. Smoke production was a bit thin on a single draw, which I'm pretty sure was just the snug draw, but more than adequate on a double.
At the end of the first third the burn was a touch wavy, not bad, and the ash was very tight, stacked very well, and looked very firm. A single draw had an almost burned nuttiness, woodiness, heavy leather, deep dark black coffee, and a little bit of earthiness. A double draw was heavy woodiness, leather and earth, with that same dark, strong black coffee. The retrohale was a strong black pepper, heavy woodiness, then some leather, that deep black coffee, and a touch of earthiness on the finish. The burn line was a touch wavy, but I didn't think it needed a touch-up even after I ashed it.
After ashing, a nice point from the ligero. The flavor profile was the same, no changes. The smoke production had improved a little, even on a single draw, and the double draw was about the same, good either way. The draw was still tight, but getting a little bit looser.
Strength sat at medium-plus, and it stayed there the whole time. Water had been my friend with this cigar. It's not overly bitter, it's not really bitter at all, there's just very little sweetness to it. What I'd call a dark, heavy, woody leather, dark black coffee, earthy profile is the consistent thing I was getting, and it's just not my jam. Not that I was drinking a ton of water, but I'd definitely been sipping it throughout.
At 5:29 I set the cigar down. I had a couple of other things to go do.
Second Third
I came back to it at 5:44, knocked all the ash off, and before relighting I pulled the secondary band, since the burn was close enough to it. It came off with zero problem, lightly glued to itself, no issues at all. Then I touched it up and relit it.
I was about halfway into the second third at that point. The flavor on the relight was the same exact thing, although there was more earth on it now. The main tone was woodiness, then leather, very dark black coffee, and earth. Definitely not my lane. The draw was definitely better than before, still a hair snug, but at the point where I wouldn't have bothered running a draw tool through it if this had been the original draw.
The retrohale was a very strong black pepper, woodiness, leather, earth, and a touch of cream in there, but that pepper was strong enough that I didn't want to do it again. From there I only retrohaled when I was calling it out for the review, because that was a very strong black pepper.
Then the relight started acting up, and I'm guessing it's because of how much tobacco I'd pulled out of the center. I was having to do three draws. The first draw was almost like the cigar was going out, very, very low smoke production. The second was still low. The third draw was very dusty, along with the woodiness, leather, black coffee and earth, and a pepper that was biting all the sides of my tongue and a little on top as well.
At 5:55 I had to set it down again for a few minutes.
Final Third
I was back at 6:10, knocked the ash off, and there was a good hole in the center. The main band slid straight off on its own. I grabbed a photo from both ends, because that's how much I'd had to take out of it to get the draw anywhere near decent, and I was sure it was going to affect the flavor.
This was basically the start of the final third, and I relit it. The initial draw after the relight was like an overly roasted, almost burned nuttiness, woodiness, leather and coffee, with no earth on that one. On a double draw there was no nuttiness at all, straight to woodiness, leather and earth, and that earthiness bites your tongue, all around it, top, sides, tip, everything. Smoke production was good and the draw was decent at this point. That almost-going-out problem from the last relight wasn't the case on this one. The burn line was wavy now, which hadn't been a thing before.
Otherwise it was still a very woody, leather, earthy cigar, with some coffee every once in a while.
A quarter inch into the final third, I laid it down. It was nothing but bitter earth. Sometimes you'd get some woodiness and leather out of it, and a little bit of coffee, but every draw was just earth, and it was killing my palate. It was not enjoyable at all. I smoke to enjoy, not to smoke, and I just couldn't do this one anymore.
Construction
- Wrapper: very dark brown, lightly toothy across the whole cigar, double cap, good-looking foot. It felt a little heavier than a typical toro. Decently thick cut with the Xikar XO.
- Draw: tight from the cold draw. The draw tool went in four or five times and pulled out a decent amount of tobacco, down to about the band, and it still felt like it was hitting a plug. Better after that, not perfect. It loosened a little through the first third and was only a hair snug by the second. The cost showed up later: a hole down the center by the final third, and a relight that took three draws to get going.
- Burn: slightly wavy through the first third and never needed a touch-up on its own. Two relights, both because I set the cigar down to go do other things, not because the cigar went out on me. That's on me, not the cigar. The burn went wavy in the final third, which it hadn't been before.
- Ash: great. Very tight, stacked really well, firm, with a nice point from the ligero after the first ash.
- Smoke output: a bit thin on a single draw early because of the snug draw, more than adequate on a double, and better on a single after the first ash. Very low for the first two draws after the 5:44 relight, then good again after the 6:10 relight.
- Band: two bands. The secondary band came off with zero problem before the first relight, lightly glued to itself. The main band slid straight off on its own at the start of the final third once the tunnel opened up.
Bottom Line
This is a heavy, dark, woody cigar. Wood, leather, very dark black coffee and earth were the profile from the first third on, with a strong black pepper on the retrohale, a touch of cream early, and very little sweetness anywhere. It never changed direction. It just kept getting darker and darker the longer I went, until a quarter inch into the final third it was nothing but bitter earth on every draw, and I laid it down.
The construction is a mixed story. The ash was great and stacked well, and the burn only went wavy at the very end. But the draw was tight enough off the cold draw that I ran the draw tool through it four or five times, it still felt plugged, and by the final third there was a hole down the center of the cigar and the band fell off on its own. Water was my friend with this one. Strength was medium-plus the whole way, so it isn't a strength story, it's a flavor story.
Would I smoke it again? Not Even Free (1/4). Super tight draw, and not my flavor profile. The ash was great, and it didn't need any touch-ups or relights except for the times I had to step away, which is on me. But the flavor is what kills it for me. Even if the draw were fixed and the next one drew fantastic, with a great burn, this profile is still just not mine, and I wouldn't waste my time smoking another one.
Best for: someone who wants a dark, heavy wood, leather, black coffee and earth cigar with almost no sweetness in it, and who doesn't mind a strong black pepper retrohale. If you want some sweetness in your maduro, like I do, this isn't it.
My scale, one question only... would I spend my own money on this again? 4 Box Buy (box on hand, always) / 3 Five-Pack (yes, a few live in the humidor) / 2 Hand-Me-One (wouldn't buy it, wouldn't turn one down) / 1 Not Even Free (I'd rather smoke nothing).
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