Oliveros King Havano Black Knight Mace

Being a Nicaraguan puro, and having the name “Mace” (like the pepper spray, right?), I expected a peppery, flavor bomb of a cigar. As it would turn out, “Mace” is referring to the medieval weapon instead–a crushing implement of pain.

Statistics

CotM: October 2012







Chosen by: cmich

cmich





Shape: Box-Press Parejo







Size: 6 x 60







Country of Origin: Nicaragua







Wrapper: Nicaraguan







Binder: Nicaraguan







Filler: Nicaraguan







Color: Maduro







Strength: Full







Price Paid: $2.20







Smoke Date: 6/29/2013

6/29/2013





Age: 6 weeks

Accessories Used

Cuban Crafters Perfect Cutter (Silver & Carbon Fiber), Bugatti B-2002 lighter with “pyramid” double-flame torch, Handmade English walnut ashtray made by wedgewoodrings.

Pairing

The end of my bottle of Flor de Cana Centenario Gold 18 year old Nicaraguan rum with one hexagonal ice cube, served in a Sagaform rocking whiskey glass.

Appearance/Nose

The wrapper was dark and oily and beautiful with a decent amount of tooth. The cigar had two bands. The top band was wider, with an extremely ornate design in different shades of gold and brown. The foot band is more simple, in tri-tones of gold, black, and white. The box press was very “square” on this cigar (rather than rectangular). The nose was of plain tobacco and a hint of coffee.

Construction

The double cap was perfectly straight, and there only appeared to be one large vein. The cigar did feel a bit spongy when pressed, leading me to expect a fast burn and a loose draw. The gray/black ash was good for about an inch at a time.

Cold Draw

The draw was tighter than I expected from the lightness and sponginess of the stick. The taste was of hay.

Smoking

First third

After lighting, the initial puff tasted of plain tobacco, with a note of burnt coffee. Retrohale intensified the burnt flavor and stale hay. Surprisingly, the draw remained firm after lighting. A bit of a valley appeared in the burn line on the band-facing side right from the start.

Though the burnt flavor dissipated after the first couple puffs, I was not able to tease out any flavors other than tobacco and coffee for the first inch. The draw did open up to medium before the first third was finished.

After a while, a slight sweetness began to emerge, but it was unpleasant, like flat cola or spoiled fruit. Despite all my efforts of rotating, the canoeing burn continued. There was no spice. The flavor remained flat for the whole first third.

Second third

Moving into the second third, an earthy taste came through. This was the first interesting flavor put out by the cigar. I hoped it wouldn’t be the last.

The burn finally evened out too. The hay flavor went away, leaving just the earthy flavor, rancid fruit, and some plain coffee, with nothing additional in the retrohale. There was still nothing good about the flavor this cigar.

Occasionally, the burnt flavor crept back in to let me know I was smoking too fast. (Really, I was just trying to get done with this thing already. If I wasn’t doing a review, I would have given up by now, but for the sake of the CotM project, I’m being a trooper.)

Final third

No noticeable change in the final third. The rum is incredibly smooth, and doesn’t do as good a job as I would like at washing away the taste of the Black Knight Mace. I should have used cheap tequila instead–maybe bathtub gin.

Notes

Draw: Medium

Medium





Body: Medium

Medium





Primary Flavors: Burnt coffee, dirt

Burnt coffee, dirt





Smoke Output: Low-Medium

Low-Medium





Smoke Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Overall

Well, this is one of the worst cigars I’ve ever smoked. It was garbage the whole way through. I might have only “disliked” it if it were a smaller vitola, but 6 x 60 is a lot to smoke when it’s lousy tobacco. Figuring I might have gotten a bum stick, I lit up a second one (I got a these in a 5-pack) and had the same experience. Dog rocket. Not recommended. Blargh.

Rating