This is a memorial edition of Gar-Talk, on the heels of Memorial Day, with a short Oliva Nub Cameroon cigar.

Draw: This cigar has a nice matte sheen. Strong appearance, as in “it has a strong stage presence”. It does have a strange lifting of the finish of the leaf, in two somewhat rectangular spots. It looks like it may be some glue-fingerprints. Lemon aroma? …something acrid…like urea. I like the difference. It also has a good, dense bunching of filler.

Punch: Great aroma – barnyard alfalfa hay – I love it. Punched, it gives a medium-tight draw. Pre-light draw yields a mild flavor. And, I’m finding a bit of a challenge getting it lit.

D: I agree on the draw. There’s a hazelnut flavor for me. And green tea! Toasting the foot reveals nothing new. I’m anxious; let’s torch this puppy. …okay, and I’m having trouble with the light, too. After several attempts, I’m hot-drawing the flame, and getting cherry sweetness and some light wheat toast. I’m sitting in the dark as I light this, and after repeated attempts I still cannot get the central bunch of filler to light!

P: I’m getting leather on the attack – old leather. And pepper on the finish – maybe a bell pepper. My wrapper is flaky, too.

D: YES, leather on the attack, plus I’m getting some pine, or maybe sage, with a touch of citrus…touch of lemon. The whole-wheat toast makes up some of the attack, and pretty much all of the middle. There’s not a lot of mid-note, and the toast that is there curls up at the front, on the roof of my mouth.

P: So Sunday, I had a Perdomo Fresco. An economy stick at 3.75”, there’s a natural and a maduro. Its fairly straight forward in flavor but a great value smoke. I had the light one and it was really decent in my opinion. I encourage our readers to pick up a Perdomo Fresco and see what you think!

D: I’ll have to see if my regular vendors have any available! Sounds comparable to a Villiger NicaRoma? We should do a review as soon as I find some.

As I’m leaving the first third of this Nub, I picked up a hint of cinnamon on one draw. It remains a fairly tight draw, but it doesn’t give me a hernia. The ash is really dense, light gray. This Nub smokes very slightly all the time, keeping itself at the ready. The smoke from the foot has a slight hint of turpentine, which is consistent with the slight pine flavor. It’s not as appealing of a smoke scent as we’ve had in others lately, but might not be as objectionable to others.

P: Approaching the middle I’m picking up some cedar – and I don’t notice the pepper finish so much.

D: I’ve had a full meal from Panda Express this evening, and am now enjoying a Singha Thai lager. Redrawing after a sip lets the toast come through while the mild hops cancel the pine.

Smoking in the full dark of night this Oliva Nub Cameroon is beautiful to watch idle; the burn line on the wrapper glows like a desert town considering slumber. And when the ash dropped off, there’s an amazing peak of glowing red like some volcano on the National Geographic channel.

P: With an inch to go, I’m starting to get dizzy, and it is getting hard to hold on to. After exactly an hour of smoking I’m calling this Oliva Nub Cameroon “done”.

D: I’ve got about an inch plus to go. The pine flavor is growing, with some cedar starting for me in the middle. There’s still pepper in the finish, but it remains subtle for me, and a touch of sweetness throughout, putting the pepper in the yellow to red bell pepper category, and it remains a hazelnut sweet at the front. The wheat toast is moving more to the finish or aftertaste. As I work my way down to three-quarters, all of the flavors seem to be combining into the flavor of shoe polish. Which is to say the pine-resin, while still mild overall, seems to be the only lasting flavor beginning-to-end of a puff. Yes, there’s still sweetness and still some wheat toast, but it is becoming a justification for why little kids eat shoe polish – at least in my mind.

Spurn it or Burn it?

P: There is not really any downside to burning this Oliva Nub Cameroon. Nothing bad, but nothing particularly good to say, either. Overall a mild to medium body, nice complexity which made it difficult for me to identify the flavors other than the starting pepper and the ending cedar – which didn’t get very strong. I had some difficulty holding this short and stubby stick. It is good smoke, but not one I would seek out.

D: I have to say I couldn’t disagree more, Gene. I’m giving this one a thumbs-up! It was a good smoke, with moderate complexity, and the flavors were mild enough to prevent overkill… But I really enjoyed this long burning, quality stick. I think I most enjoyed the different flavors with the constant subtle sweetness, making this a pleasant dessert cigar for your day or your meal. I’m looking forward to trying a few more and seeing if they all perform as well. You don’t need to nub this Nub though; the shoe polish is not something you need to experience. About 90 minutes of value with the Oliva Nub Cameroon.