Oliva cigars come from Oliva Cigar Co., a tobacco family whose story begins with Melanio Oliva growing tobacco in Pinar del Río, Cuba, in 1886. Its Serie V cigars are rolled at Tabolisa, the company’s primary factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, largely from Nicaraguan binder and filler under wrappers such as Ecuadorian leaf. The Oliva blends we list are tagged medium to full bodied. Oliva describes the flagship Serie V as complex tobacco with rich coffee and dark chocolate tones and a subtle, balanced spice, while our Oliva Serie V 135 Anniversary Limited Edition perfecto typically shows coffee, nuts and earth. Start with Oliva Serie V Melanio, the Ecuadorian-wrapped blend whose Figurado was Cigar Aficionado’s 2014 Cigar of the Year, or try Oliva Serie V Liga Especial, built on Nicaraguan tobaccos that include Jalapa Valley ligero.

Oliva Cigars

Oliva Cigars is a world-renowned cigar brand whose tobacco legacy dates back to 1886, when Melanio Oliva first began cultivating tobacco in Pinar del Río, Cuba. After generations of perseverance through war, revolution, and exile, Gilberto Oliva Sr. introduced the Gilberto Oliva cigar in 1995, made in one of Nestor Plasencia’s factories in Honduras. In 1996, the family opened its own Nicaraguan factory and shortened the brand name to Oliva. Gilberto Sr. left Cuba in 1964, eventually settled in Nicaragua and grew tobacco there on his own from 1969 until the 1979 Sandinista revolution, then grew in Honduras, Mexico, Panama and the Philippines before returning in 1995. Most Oliva cigars are handmade in Estelí, Nicaragua, with filler grown on the company’s Nicaraguan farms in Estelí, Condega and Jalapa, and wrappers from countries such as Ecuador, Cameroon, Mexico and the United States depending on the line. The flagship Oliva Serie V features an Ecuadorian Habano Sun Grown wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler that includes specially fermented Jalapa Valley ligero, which Oliva says gives complex tobacco with rich coffee and dark chocolate tones and a subtle, balanced spice. The Oliva Serie V Melanio—named in honor of the family patriarch—pairs an Ecuadorian wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler, and its Figurado was named Cigar Aficionado’s 2014 Cigar of the Year. The lineup also includes the Nicaraguan Habano puro Oliva Serie O, the African Cameroon-wrapped Oliva Serie G, the limited Oliva Master Blends 3, the Gilberto Oliva Reserva series, and the short, thick Nub format, created in Estelí in 2008 to reach the cigar’s ‘sweet spot’ from the first draw.