Oliva is generally better known for their full-bodied cigars such as the Serie G, Serie O, and Serie V. The Connecticut Reserve is a special line of Oliva that is meant to appeal to mild-bodied cigar smokers who aren’t looking for an over-powering cigar. The Connecticut Reserve comes in five sizes: Churchill, Lonsdale, Robusto, Torpedo, and Toro. This review will cover the Toro vitola.

Also an interesting tidbit is that you will not find anything about the Connecticut Reserve on Oliva’s website except on their ratings page, not sure why that is.

Oliva Connecticut Reserve Toro

Construction

For the price, these cigars are absolutely gorgeous! Solidly constructed and firm when squeezed, the Oliva’s Connecticut wrapper has a nice caramel color with no visible discoloration or blemishes.

Inspecting the foot, it looks well rolled with a good amount of tobacco. The Oliva Connecticut Reserve has, what looks like, a double-cap on the head. There are very small veins  throughout the wrapper and for the value, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better looking cigar. I think this is probably one of the best looking cigars I’ve had.

This cigar in the Toro format certainly feels long in my hands, given my general preference for Robusto sized cigars. The burn is decent, requiring the occasional minor touch-ups to keep the burn even, and stayed lit when I had to put it down for restroom breaks. The salt-and-pepper ash stays planted to the cigar anywhere from 1-to-2 inches before breaking off.

One thing I’ve found is that the wrapper leaf is extremely thin and can easily tear or rip if you’re not gentle with it, so take care when removing the cigar band.

Flavor & Taste

The best part of this cigar are the flavors and taste. Prelight taste is muted with just a bit of sweetness one would expect from the Connecticut wrapper and once lit, the predominant flavors of toasted almonds and creamy butter explode on your palate for a wonderful experience. The first time I had the Connecticut Reserve, I was blown away at how flavorful it is. Originally penned as a light-bodied cigar, I’ve found the Oliva Connecticut Reserve is more of a light-to-medium-bodied cigar, that is hardly overpowering. My buddy, who I gave two to try, has said: “This is the cigar I would give to someone who is new to smoking cigars.”

The flavors don’t really change much as the cigar progresses, but the taste does get smoother with a hint of bitterness starts developing at about the 2/3rd mark which I think helps balance the sweetness of the Connecticut wrapper.

Value

The Oliva Connecticut Reserve is definitely worth a box purchase. You can find these guys for like $5 or less online. I got lucky and scored a 10-pack from JoeCigar.com for $2.99 a cigar! Well worth it.

Conclusion

I can’t really find anything bad to say about this cigar. For the price, the taste, and the looks, this cigar is a winner in my book.  This is a great morning or lunch cigar, something light that won’t make you sick and works just as well as an after dinner cigar. A number of times if I’m enjoying a cigar with my buddy and I finish before him, I’ll light up a Oliva Connecticut Reserve and it works out perfectly.

If you haven’t tried an Oliva, definitely try one! If you’re looking for a cigar that has a lots of flavor but not over-powering, try the Connecticut Reserve and even if you’re accustomed to stronger bodied cigars, try one of these anyways as you might find it compliments your taste.

Be sure to checkout these other great reviews:

• ACigarSmoker.com
• BeerReviewDude.com
• CigarInspector.com
• CigarRants.com
• NiceTightAsh.com
• Puff.com
• StogieReview.com
• ToastedFoot.com

Oliva Connecticut Reserve Toro Gallery Pics

Easy: it is a Maduro cigar and I don’t like those full-bodied cigar, until I tried it today. I figured this cigar might have been a bit too strong in taste for my liking, but I’m glad I took the plunge and tried my very first full bodied Maduro cigar. Goes to show you that you really can judge a book by it’s cover. I also apologize for the lack of my own pictures, I was expecting to be disappointed with this cigar and didn’t bring my camera out. Instead enjoy some of Tom’s great pics of the CAO MX2 on his blog.

CAO MX2

Appearance & Construction

First two things you quickly notice with the CAO MX2 Toro is that it’s a BIG cigar (52 ring by 6 inches). Then it has a gorgeous dark chocolate wrapper that for the last two years have been intimidating for me as I prefer the mild to medium body taste. The CAO is beautifully constructed with a decent amount of veins in the wrapper, but nicely rolled with no visible defects. The cap is nicely applied. Squeezing about, there aren’t any soft spots and it feels nicely packed with tobacco.

One of the neat features of CAO’s MX2 line is that the outer wrapper is a Connecticut Maduro wrapper with a Brazilian Maduro binder which is the significance of “MX2″ or “Maduro times 2″ (Tom’s Cigar).

Flavor & Smoke

I lit the Toro with my dual flame Blazer butane and it lit nicely without any problems. One of the first things I noticed was the heavy gray smoke that appeared, no mistaking this for a mild or medium flavored cigar. The initial draw surprised me: it was full bodied but not overpowering taste of pepper and coffee with some slight dark chocolate. As I continued to take more puffs, I was surprised at how creamy, rich, and satisfying the taste was, the aftertaste was very similar to what you would get after having a piece of dark chocolate. Prior to this, I never fully understood what other cigar aficionados meant when they described a cigar with “complex flavors” and now I know. The pepper, coffee bean, and dark chocolate taste continued consistently until halfway the dark chocolate taste started becoming a bit stronger, certainly not a bad thing.

The CAO MX2 continued to burn fairly evenly requiring very few burn adjustments, most likely caused by the windy weather of the day. The ash produced was mostly white and it was strong enough to stay for about an inch at a time before breaking off, also most likely caused by the slight windiness.

The draw was quite smooth and it’s very easy to draw in a large amount of smoke. The MX2 didn’t go out once as I occasional have happen with the H.Upmann Magnum 46 Cuban cigars.

Value

At Cigars Direct, the cost for a 5-pack is $35.00 and a box of 20 for $109.95 which, in my opinion, is a great value for a Maduro cigar that taste great, looks greats, and is a nice long smoke. I’ve heard from numerous online reviews that you can’t really go wrong with CAO cigars.

Conclusion

I didn’t get an opportunity to enjoy the CAO MX2 Toro for as long as I would like. This is definitely not a breakfast or lunch cigar (which was my mistake for trying), but rather for after dinner. I did not smoke the cigar down to the nub, rather choosing to stop about a quarter inch, if not less, from the band as I was running out of time and the flavor started getting stronger and I didn’t want to get sick. This is one of those cigars where when you feel it’s time to stop, it’s best to listen and stop. I made the mistake of ignoring that once and was rewarded with a good few hours of nausea and slight stomachache.

When I had stopped, the timer on my iPhone indicated it took me 48 minutes to get to that point; not surprising for a cigar of this size and heft. Your time may vary as it depends on how many and how long each draw you take. Obviously cigar smoking isn’t a race to the nub for me as it is something I do in enjoyment so I like to take my time with puffs.

Now that I’ve had this full bodied cigar from CAO and turned out to really like it, I certainly would have no problems recommending this to my cigar buddies and even picking up a box for my humidor, especially given the price. The flavors and length of time it takes to smoke the MX2 toro means this won’t necessarily be a daily smoke for me, but I would imagine reaching for it when I’m looking for something different or hanging out with friends. I’m starting to have an affinity for Robusto sized cigars and fortunately CAO MX2 has a Robusto offering which I may consider trying.

I’m now open to trying other full bodied cigars and speaking of which, I was recently given some Montecristo Edmundo Cuban cigars, which are medium-to-full bodied cigars I’m itching to try now. On the same note, from what I’ve read and experienced, Cuban cigars tend to be a bit stronger than the non-Cubans in the same taste. For example, the Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur No. II cigars I occasionally smoke are mild-to-medium bodied as are the H.Upmann Magnum 46 Cubans, but the Magnum 46 has a stronger taste. So I’m expecting the Montecristo Edmundos to be as strong or stronger in taste than the CAO MX2.

You can read more expert reviews of the CAO MX2 Toro at:

• Tom’s Cigar
• Cigar Aficionado Forum
• Smokenspirits.com
• CigarObsession.com