Oliva Serie V Figuriño Returning for Wider Release

In 2021, Oliva announced that it would release a collaboration with Elie Bleu, the French humidor maker. Inside the special humidor was a variety of cigars, most notably 21 Oliva Serie V Melanio Figuriños, a new cigar. Oliva opted for a 21 theme: 21 humidors, each with 21 Figuriños, priced at $21,000 or €21,000.

Later this year, the Figuriño will get a much larger release as it has been selected as the Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Año 2023. The Figuriño is a unique 5 1/2 x 52 perfecto shape, though it is sometimes listed as a 54-ring gauge. While it uses the same blend as the regular production Serie V Melanio—an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over tobaccos from Nicaragua—it is round, as opposed to the box-pressed shape of most Serie V Melanios.

“Figuriño came about after long discussions between myself, Gilberto (Oliva) and the team at Elie Bleu,” said Fred Vandermarliere, owner of Oliva, in a press release when the humidors were announced in 2021.

The Figuriño will have an MSRP of $20 and is limited to 14,500 boxes of 10 cigars. It will be on display at the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show, which takes place July 8-11 in Las Vegas. These cigars use different packaging than the cigars that came in the aforementioned Elie Bleu humidors. In addition, the inside of the box shows Hacienda de Ernesto, Oliva’s tobacco growing operations in Jalapa, Nicaragua.

Oliva’s Edición Año is an annual tradition that dates back more than a decade. Brian Shapiro, who has led Oliva’s international efforts, would have the company create an exclusive size to use as a limited edition for non-U.S. markets. Originally, these cigars were oftentimes Serie Vs, but since 2017, the company has used the Serie V Melanio. Typically, the cigars have been round versions of Melanio, a cigar that is normally sold as a box-pressed size.

• Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Limitada 2017 (6 x 60) — 2017 — 1,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (15,000 Total Cigars)
• Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Limitada 2018 (5 x 50) — 2018 — 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
• Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Limitada 2019 (6 3/4 x 48) — 2019 — 2,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (25,000 Total Cigars)
• Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Limitada 2020 (6 x 54) — 2020 — 3,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)
• Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Limitada 2021 (4 x 60) — 2021 — 3,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)
• Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Año 2022 (6 1/2 x 44) — 2022 — 4,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (40,000 Total Cigars)
• Oliva Serie V Melanio Edición Año 2023 (5 1/2 x 52) — 2023 — 14,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (145,000 Total Cigars)

This will be the first year when the cigar will be sold in the U.S., though it will also be offered to international stores. Oliva says it expects to ship the cigar in September, following the InterTabac 2023, an international tobacco trade show, in Dortmund, Germany.

Update (June 6, 2023) — Oliva sent out a press release.