The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Oliva Monticello - Robusto (Box Press) (5 x 50) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-04-24

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Good (3)

A super oily, dark espresso brown with heavy mottling. It’s so oily it nearly shines and leaves a slight residue on your fingers. There’s a little bit of tooth, and it has a soft-feeling texture in spite of the firm roll. I would consider the box press medium-aggressive, giving it a slightly rectangular shape but not as flat as others. The seams are tight, and the triple cap is neatly applied.

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Good (3) / Great (4)

The draw is ideal and the burn starts nicely and evenly. It creates a nearly white ash that stacks very nicely. The ash feathers just slightly but isn’t dropping any flakes. The burn line goes from just slightly wavy to dead-even throughout the smoke.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

The initial puffs are espresso, chocolate, light nuttiness, and a dark fruit sweetness. Then the spices come in—a mix of baking spice and a stronger pepper kick. For being aged tobacco, this has a really good spice level to it, but also the sweetness and refinement you expect.

Getting into the second third, the earthiness blends with charred, oaky wood notes. That, along with the pepper and a little bit of brown sugar sweetness, gives it a delightful mesquite BBQ-type flavor. Ever have a cigar make you crave dry-rubbed brisket? That’s a first for me, but these flavors are pure 🥩🌶️🔥.

Getting into the final third, the spiciness backs off a little and the sweetness ramps up. The espresso and chocolate flavors are still there, along with that toastiness. The entire smoke has been smooth and creamy. Absolute 🔥.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Excellent (5)

The complexity and flavors on the Monticello are just fantastic. This cigar brought everything I loved about the Serie V and Melanio, but remembered to pick up the sweetness and spice that I was missing in some of the other blends. All versions of the V and Melanio had me saying, “This is really good, BUT…” The Monticello doesn’t have those trade-offs and is definitely a new addition to my list of favorites. 

Review Base Rating (0-5):

5.00

Would I Buy It Again?

Without a doubt (box worthy)

Review Final Score (0-10):

10.00

Postscript

2026-04-05:  The only thing I can throw against the Monticello is the stupid, inflated price.  As of this update, Holt’s sells Robusto singles for $21.25 and 5-packs for $100.75.  That is a stupid price and as great as this cigar is, I can’t abide by it.  So you have two options.  The first is to wait for a sale where they drop the box price by roughly 40%.  I’m currently looking at a sale price of $169.99 for a box of 20 Robustos which is far more reasonable at $8.50 per cigar.  The second is to buy one of their samplers.  They do a Monticello sampler which includes 5 each of the Robusto, Toro, Churhill and Torpedo vitolas for  $159.95, averaging $8 per cigar in the bundle.  Again, far more reasonable.  Yeah, you’re buying 20 cigars but spending $20+ per for these is insane.  If 20 is too many for your, find some friends to split them with.  You DO have friends, right? 🤔

Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries

While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example!  This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo.  Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!

The Flavor Wheel

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.