Oliva Cigars
Oliva cigars enjoy a tremendous fan base among both novices and connoisseurs. Regarded for producing a range of flavors with varying degrees of strength, Oliva has scooped up several top ratings and awards over the years, including Cigar Aficionado’s coveted ‘#1 Cigar of the Year’ honor. Fantastic construction, quality and consistency are reflected in each cigar with a focus on medium to full-bodied Nicaraguan profiles. Oliva cigars have been in the regular rotation of cigar lovers who seek out quality cigars for a good value.
CIGARS
Flor de Oliva
Price Per Cigar:$3.54 - $3.894 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Sumatra18 Reviewsread more
Flor de Oliva Corojo
Price Per Cigar:Only $4.394 options availableStrength: FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Corojo13 Reviewsread more
Flor de Oliva Gold
Price Per Cigar:Only $4.394 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Connecticut18 Reviewsread more
Flor de Oliva Maduro
Price Per Cigar:Only $4.394 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf13 Reviewsread more
Oliva Connecticut Reserve
Price Per Cigar:$5.99 - $13.2014 options availableStrength: Mild-MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Connecticut176 Reviewsread more
Oliva Gilberto Oliva Reserva
Price Per Cigar:$4.74 - $8.2010 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Sumatra131 Reviewsread more
Oliva Gilberto Oliva Reserva Blanc
Price Per Cigar:$5.24 - $8.8010 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Connecticut98 Reviewsread more
Oliva Master Blends 3
Price Per Cigar:$6.49 - $17.7012 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf349 Reviewsread more
Oliva Monticello
Price Per Cigar:$6.99 - $24.0015 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Nicaraguan153 Reviewsread more
Oliva Serie G
Price Per Cigar:$4.79 - $9.3610 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Cameroon114 Reviewsread more
Oliva Serie G Maduro
Price Per Cigar:$4.99 - $8.928 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: San Andres88 Reviewsread more
Oliva Serie O
Price Per Cigar:$5.49 - $11.4010 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Habano114 Reviewsread more
Oliva Serie O Maduro
Price Per Cigar:$6.24 - $13.008 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf78 Reviewsread more
Oliva Serie V
Price Per Cigar:$7.49 - $15.7526 options availableStrength: FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Habano141 Reviewsread more
Oliva Serie V Maduro
Price Per Cigar:$7.99 - $13.808 options availableStrength: FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: San Andres58 Reviewsread more
Oliva Serie V Melanio
Price Per Cigar:$9.09 - $19.2021 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Sumatra215 Reviewsread more
Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Año
Price Per Cigar:$17.99 - $20.003 options availableStrength: FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Sumatraread more
Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro
Price Per Cigar:$9.09 - $19.2021 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: San Andres117 Reviewsread more
SAMPLERS
ACCESSORIES
OLIVA BRAND HISTORY
The Oliva Cigar Company produces a popular portfolio of premium cigars handcrafted in Estelí, Nicaragua. Much of the company’s tobacco is grown from Cuban-seed in the regions of Estelí, Condega, and Jalapa in the fertile soils of the Nicaraguan landscape.
The Oliva family traces its roots in the cigar industry back to Cuba in the late 1800s when Melanio Oliva first began growing tobacco in Pinar Del Rio. His grandson, Gilberto Oliva, would effectively establish the family as makers of premium cigars in a tradition that has spanned generations. Gilberto Oliva left Cuba in 1964 due to increasing government restrictions on smaller businesses, cigar-makers in particular, following Castro’s rise to power. He moved to Spain and then to Nicaragua.
By 1973, Gilberto’s wife, Carmen, was pregnant with their fourth child. Gilberto wanted the child to be born in America, so at seven-and-a-half-months pregnant, Carmen flew with her children to Miami and then to New Jersey where she gave birth to José Oliva, who would go on to run the family’s cigar-making business.
Gilberto Oliva traveled throughout Central America and the Caribbean in search of tobacco that measured up to the quality of the Cuban tobacco he loved. He eventually came to work for Nestor Plasencia Sr. in Honduras where, in 1995, Oliva and his son, Gilberto Oliva Jr., introduced a cigar rolled in Plasencia’s factory. They named it Gilberto Oliva. The Cigar Boom was well underway and the family managed to save enough money to open their own cigar factory in Nicaragua with the help of a 30-day loan from Plasencia. They shortened their brand name to Oliva.
Establishing their brand in the midst of the Cigar Boom proved exceptionally challenging. Although demand for cigars skyrocketed at an unprecedented level, by 1997 many of the biggest producers had remedied their supply issues and the U.S. market quickly became flooded with an abundance of cigars. Up to that time, demand for tobacco grown in Nicaragua was still in its infancy. The family began making cigars entirely from Nicaraguan tobaccos as a cost-saving measure and to avoid importing filler leaves.
The family’s commitment to self-sufficiency represented a critical and advantageous shift in their fortunes. The family focused on making Nicaraguan Puros at a time when consumers were just beginning to embrace Nicaraguan tobaccos as never before. Gilberto Sr. believed Nicaraguan tobacco was far superior and closest to that of Cuba, having grown crops in Mexico, Honduras, Panama, and the Philippines.
Oliva expanded patiently and pragmatically, growing the business with a number of inexpensive bundle brands. The company still produces an entire portfolio of bundles called Flor de Oliva which are as popular as they’ve ever been with value-centric cigar lovers. It was in 2007, however, when the family officially graduated into the premium spectrum with the release of Oliva Serie V. The cigar’s full-bodied spicy Nicaraguan profile and Cuban-seed wrapper leaf were an instant hit with consumers fixated on embracing stronger blends.
In 2014, Oliva won its first ‘#1 Cigar of the Year’ title from Cigar Aficionado for Oliva Serie V Melanio with a 96-point rating and a medium-bodied profile of aged Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos drafted beneath a caramel-hued Ecuador Habano wrapper leaf. Oliva Cigar Company is also home to the Nub and Cain cigar brands, which enjoy a notable consumer audience in their own right, and add depth to the wildly popular Oliva portfolio.
Throughout the company’s successful strides, Oliva President and CEO José Oliva embarked on a thriving career in politics. Today, he serves as a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives for the 110th District, a post to which he first won election in 2011, winning 93% of the vote. After winning his second term, Oliva was voted to assume the position of Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives by his colleagues in the legislature for the 2018-2020 legislative session.
In 2016, the family sold Oliva Cigar Company to J. Cortès N.V., a family-owned business based in Belgium that specializes in machine-made cigars. Members of the Oliva family still run the company as prior to the sale and José Oliva continues to serve as CEO.
At the tender age of 86, Gilberto Oliva Sr. passed away in December of 2017. His legacy is celebrated and his contribution to the world of premium cigars is tremendously missed.
OLIVA BRAND OVERVIEW
For a number of cigar lovers who’ve been fans of Oliva cigars since the brand’s early days, bargain bundles like Flor de Oliva remain popular as inexpensive everyday smokes. Flor de Oliva is handcrafted in a variety of blends and shapes drafted with Sumatra, Corojo, Ecuador Connecticut, and Connecticut Broadleaf wrappers.
Oliva Serie V cemented the brand’s place in the premium market with a full-bodied profile of earthy spices and notes of leather, espresso beans, and cayenne handcrafted from hearty Nicaraguan long-fillers and an Ecuador Habano wrapper leaf. With an extensive list of 90+ ratings, Oliva Serie V received a 95-point score and ‘#3 Cigar of the Year’ honors from Cigar Aficionado as recent as 2017.
Oliva Serie V Melanio is an equally lauded cigar, responsible for the company’s first ‘#1 Cigar of the Year’ title, which it received from Cigar Aficionado in 2014 with a 96-point rating for its concentrated Figurado shape. Oliva Serie V Melanio delivers a rich but less intense profile of coffee bean notes, caramel, and wood with a medium-brown Cuban-seed wrapper grown in Ecuador and a distinctive recipe of premium Nicaraguan long-fillers. Additionally, the blend received a 94-point rating in the Robusto size. The cigar is now available with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper in the 92-rated Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro for those who prefer an enhanced sweetness in the profile.
Back in 2012, the all-Nicaraguan profile of Oliva Serie O earned a 94-point rating as well a ‘Top 25 Cigars of the Year’ ranking. Medium-bodied flavors of cedar, cashews, and cocoa present a tempered, but familiar signature of spices and smokiness. The cigar is also produced with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper in the 90-rated Oliva Serie O Maduro.
The company’s highly sought-after limited edition, Oliva Master Blends 3, is a 92-rated gem celebrated among the brand’s core audience and boutique connoisseurs alike. A luscious recipe of dark chocolate and brown sugar notes is both sweet and peppery courtesy of a glistening Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and a premium aged interior of select Nicaraguan tobaccos.
Oliva Connecticut Reserve appeals to lovers of milder cigars with an elegant Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and a creamier recipe of Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. Nutty flavors of buttered toast and coffee with cream accompany balanced spices throughout an easy-going finish.
Oliva Serie G and Oliva Serie G Maduro deliver a medium-bodied, full-flavored profile in a Cameroon or Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, respectively. Tasting notes of cedar, leather, molasses, and dark cocoa feature prominently.
Notes of oak, earth, nutmeg, and a bit of cocoa characterize the 90-rated Oliva Gilberto Oliva Reserva with its caramel-hued wrapper leaf and a core of premium Nicaraguan long-fillers. The blend is named for the brand’s celebrated late patriarch Gilberto Oliva Sr. It is also produced with a golden-blond Ecuador Connecticut wrapper leaf in Oliva Gilberto Oliva Reserva Blanc. The Connecticut-seed varietal furnishes a nuttier taste with a silky finish.
There is no shortage of options to begin with when you’re exploring Oliva. A number of our most popular and fastest-selling samplers are produced by the brand. The Oliva 8-Cigar Assortment, Oliva Master Blends Monster Deal, and Oliva Serie V 5-Cigar Sampler represent an excellent introduction to one of Nicaragua’s premier premium cigar brands.
Related Articles
Jump To:
