Don Fernando’s cigarblog

As you may have read, last October I got to smoke two El Cobre by Oliva cigars, a torpedo and a robusto. The El Cobre is a very heavy cigar, nicknamed ‘the lobotomizer’ and ‘el muerto fuerte’ and till this month only available at Brian Shapiro’s shop but now Non Plus Ultra in Den Bosch will start selling them too. As the torpedo’s were not available, I ordered a bundle of toro’s. When I got them last Thursday I thought that there was a mix up, as there toro’s look more like coronas to me with the 152mm length and ring 46.

The El Cobre cigars have a very nice appearance, dark wrapper and a sophisticated black and copper band. The wrapper has some nice veins which give it a strong and rough look, the aroma is heavy and full but the cigar does feel a bit hard, rolled to tight and that causes the predraw to be kind of heavy. The cigar was a bit dry though, so hopefully it will improve if I let them rest for a while in my humidor. The predraw gave a black pepper flavor.

The pepper is also clearly there when I light the cigar. It’s like being kicked in the balls, this cigar is heavy, very heavy. There was a piece of paper at the bottom of the bundle warning me, it said “super fuerte” but I thought I was a big boy, until I lit the cigar, damn, what a power. To the palate again, heavy black pepper with leather and after a couple of centimeters a few hints of dark chocolate. The pepper is so strong it completely overpowers the chocolate and all other flavors, if there were any. I do notice that the pepper is not really consistent, with some puffs the pepper is stronger then with the next puff or the puff before, sometimes is heavier and spicier then the other time.

At about ¾ of the cigar I start to feel light headed, like I drank too much wine in a short period of time. This cigar is beating me, it’s too strong for me. I felt like Michael Spinks in a fight with Mike Tyson (Spinks was the reigning champion in the light heavyweight champion who had the idea that he could beat Tyson back in 1988, “the fight of the champions” lasted 91 seconds). I try to take control and keep on smoking, but like a fish on a line, I know I will lose the fight anyway. This cigar got me and it got me good.

The draw is heavy, maybe because the cigar is too dry. The smoke is white, but it could be fuller and the burn is pretty and straight. The ash is fantastic, strong and firm. It breaks only once.

Construction: 14 / 20
Draw: 12 / 20
Appearance: 16 / 20
Smoke && ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 16 / 20
Aroma (foot) 7 / 10
Aroma (body) 7 / 10
Aroma (head) 7 / 10

The El Cobre by Oliva is a very special and unknown cigar, it is the personal blend of the old man Oliva, the father of current Oliva CEO Jose Oliva and they are only sold at the shop of Brian Shapiro in the USA. The blend was used for family use only and was named after a little mining town in Cuba and is nicknamed ‘the lobotomiser’ and ‘el muerto’ while discountcigars mentions on their website that this cigar should come with a warning label because it’s such a full bodied and full flavored cigar.

A friend of mine met Brian Shapiro and Jose Oliva at a dinner in Amsterdam and Brian Shapiro was kind enough to send a bundle of torpedo’s and a bundle of robusto’s to the Non Plus Ultra shop in Den Bosch, as the owner of NPU is also the official importer of Oliva cigars in The Netherlands. My friend invited me to come to Den Bosch to try the El Cobre torpedo & robusto in the smokers lounge at NPU. And I gladly accepted that invitation, my curiosity was bigger then my fear of the reputation of this powerhouse.

We started with the 6.5 inch ring 52 torpedo, which has a heavy scent of manure, a nice dark wrapper and a distinctive band that compliments the cigar. The predraw released some sweetness.

While we all expected a big bang right at the start, the cigar surprised us with a nice, easy coffee flavor, not a powerhouse at all, but we could feel that the cigar was building up to something heavy and something special. The coffee was replaced by herbs and pepper and about halfway I discovered dark chocolate, my favorite. At the end of the cigar the pepper made a comeback.

The El Cobre torpedo produced a lot of smoke and light gray ashes. The draw was fine.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, if it becomes available in Holland or online.

Construction: 16 / 20
Draw: 16 / 20
Appearance: 18 / 20
Smoke && ash: 8 / 10
Burn: 18 / 20
Aroma (foot) 8 / 10
Aroma (body) 8 / 10
Aroma (head) 9 / 10