Oliva Serie V Melanio cigars are hand rolled using expertly fermented ligero long fillers. These are leaves known for their robust and deeply rich flavor. A special cigar that’s sure to exceed a premium cigar smoker’s highest expectation. This carefully aged Jalapa blend produces a particularly flavored smoke. Rated 96 and winner of Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year in 2014.
The Oliva cigar heritage dates back well over 100 years, when Melanio Oliva cultivated his first tobacco crop in the fertile Pinar Del Rio region of Cuba in 1886. His growing operations were suspended while he fought in the Cuban War of Independence. Upon returning from the war, Melanio again took up cigar manufacturing. In the 1920’s Melanio’s son Facundo Oliva took the mantle of the cigar production, and he cultivated the Oliva family fields for many decades.
As the communists took over Cuba, the tobacco landscape changed and Facundo’s son Gilberto Oliva shifted from the growing business, to brokering tobacco. Then in the early 60’s the political pressure in Cuba became too great and, like so many in the business, Gilberto was forced to seek a country where the conditions allowed him to recreate that distinctive Cuban taste.
Gilberto finally found that fertile ground in Nicaragua, and today Gilberto along with his family are Nicaragua’s second largest grower of Cuban seed tobacco. From the same time tested methods of growing, curing, blending, and cigar rolling that built an empire, the Oliva cigar range has since earned many top industry accolades, awards and top ratings, from industry experts, publications and consumers alike. None greater than 2014 when Cigar Aficionado Magazine awarding the Oliva Serie V Melanio Figurado Cigar of the Year.
Stryder –
Incredible, almost left me speechless. lives up to its 96 rating. The craftsmanship of these sticks is amazing, an even burn with loads of smoke.