Oliva Cigars: From Pinar del Rio in 1886 to Esteli Today

Oliva is one of the great comeback stories in tobacco. Melanio Oliva began growing in Pinar del Río, Cuba in 1886, then left the farm to fight in the Cuban War of Independence. Three generations later Gilberto Oliva Sr. fled the revolution and worked as a tobacco broker in Nicaragua, and in 1995 the family established the modern company there, first as Gilberto Oliva and then simply as Oliva. Our Oliva collection carries Serie V, Serie V Melanio, Serie O and Connecticut Reserve.

This profile covers the family, the ownership change, the two Estelí factories, every line with its wrapper and sizes, and the awards record, which is one of the strongest in the category.

1886 to 1995

The family history starts with Melanio Oliva in Pinar del Río in 1886. His name is on the company's best cigar more than a century later, which is not sentiment: the Serie V Melanio is the line the family chose to carry it.

Gilberto Oliva Sr. left Cuba during the revolution and worked as a tobacco broker in Nicaragua before establishing the company in 1995, running both a cigar factory and a box factory in Estelí. He died at 86, survived by his wife, five children and fourteen grandchildren.

The Serie V Melanio, size by size

The line the family named for its founder, in four formats.

Who owns Oliva now

In 2016, J. Cortès purchased Oliva Cigar Co. J. Cortès is a Belgian cigar manufacturer run by the Vandermarliere family and established in 1926; Fred Vandermarliere is the owner. Cory Bappert is Oliva's chief executive. The company does not publish a named master blender.

TABOLISA 1 and 2

Oliva makes its cigars at Tabacalera Oliva de Nicaragua S.A., known as TABOLISA, in Estelí, and at a second factory, TABOLISA II. After remodelling, TABOLISA 1 runs at around 90,000 cigars a day and TABOLISA 2 at 25,000.

TABOLISA is also the factory behind the Elie Bleu and Oliva Trilogy limited edition, a collaboration with the French humidor house we profile here.

Every line, wrapper by wrapper

Also in the range: Gilberto Oliva Reserva and Reserva Blanc, and Flor de Oliva in Gold, Corojo and Maduro.

Published sizes. Serie V Melanio: Petit Corona 4.5x46, Robusto 5x52, Toro 6x52, Torpedo 6.5x52, Figurado 6.5x54, Churchill 7x50, Double Toro 6x60. Serie V: No. 4 5x43, Belicoso 5x54, Double Robusto 5x54, Torpedo 6x56, Double Toro 6x60, Special V Figurado 6x60, Lancero 7x38, Churchill Extra 7x52. Serie G: Special G 3.75x48, Robusto 4.5x50, Belicoso 5x52, Double Robusto 5x54, Toro 6x50, Torpedo 6.5x52, Figurado 6.5x60, Churchill 7x50.

The Serie V Lancero at 7 by 38 is worth singling out. A thin ring gauge concentrates wrapper flavour and keeps the smoke cool, and on a blend this full it changes the cigar considerably. See our Lancero collection. The Cameroon wrapped Serie G sits alongside our other Cameroon wrapped cigars.

The Melanio Maduro and the anniversary sizes

Serie V Melanio

The Melanio is Oliva's answer to the question of what the family can do without a price ceiling. It uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler, built on a carefully aged Jalapa blend with expertly fermented ligero.

Jalapa matters here. It is the northernmost of Nicaragua's major growing valleys and it produces the sweetest, most aromatic leaf in the country, where Estelí gives strength and pepper. A blend built on Jalapa ligero is aiming for richness rather than force, and that is exactly what the Melanio delivers.

One note on the record: sources disagree on the Melanio Figurado's dimensions, with the brand listing 6.5 by 54 and trade press listing 6 by 52. We carry it as 6.5 by 54.

The awards

These are the awards Oliva publishes on its own line pages. Very few houses can point at four separate lines with recognition of this order.

The value end, and the samplers

What we notice first-hand

Oliva is the brand that best answers the question we get most often, which is some version of what should I smoke that is very good but not silly money. The Melanio is a Cigar of the Year winner in the mid teens. That combination is rare enough to be the whole recommendation.

Within the line, the Toro at 6 by 52 is the reference format and the Torpedo is the one enthusiasts prefer, because the tapered head concentrates the Sumatra wrapper. The Melanio Maduro is a genuinely different cigar rather than a darker version of the same one, and it is worth buying both to compare.

Serie G is the sleeper. Cameroon is an unfashionable wrapper and this is one of very few affordable cigars that uses it well: nutty, softly sweet, and completely unlike the Nicaraguan pepper most people expect from Estelí. If you have only ever smoked Nicaraguan puros, this is the cheapest way to find out that Nicaragua is not one flavour.

And the samplers here are unusually good value. The Taste of Oliva and the Special Release sampler both work out cheaper than the singles.

The samplers

Oliva at Cigar Inc., live

Browse all Oliva

The bottom line

Connecticut Reserve for mild, Serie O for everyday, Serie G if you want Cameroon, Serie V if you want full, and Serie V Melanio when you want the best cigar this family makes. Very few brands cover that much ground without a weak link.

If you want to compare Oliva against the other Estelí houses we carry, the Plasencia and Espinosa profiles are the natural next reads, or start with the Cigar Finder.

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