Earlier this month, Oliva quietly began shipping its latest offerings in the Melanio line, maduro versions of the churchill and robusto. The company announced the cigars in February and previewed them at the D.C. Cigar Tweetup last month.

Both cigars are identical in size and price to the regular offerings in the lines. This makes the Melanio Maduro Churchill a 7 x 50 box-pressed cigar at $13.65, while the 5 x 52 Melanio Maduro Robusto retails for just under $10.

The cigar features the same Nicaraguan fillers as the regular Melanio line, but uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper in lieu of the Ecuadorian wrapper found on the normal release.

Unlike the original Melanio Maduro, these two sizes will be offered on an ongoing basis although production is limited compared to the regular line. Oliva has had a maduro version of the regular Serie V since 2008, but it’s always been limited.

The cigars are produced at Tabacalera Oliva de Nicaragua S.A. (TABOLISA) in Estelí, Nicaragua.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.