Oliva Cigars

The connoisseur of Oliva family cigars will know how to cut, light and lastly how to smoke it without puffing or inhaling but allowing the palate to savour it.

From ancient times man has been smoking, inhaling, chewing and drinking potent stuff to be able to cope with the travails of survival with a smile and a shrug. Although society is full of frowns and admonitions there is no denying the fact that a puff here and a swig there takes away a lot of the tension and peps vitality into the blood. One does not have to spend thousands and mope in doctor’s clinics for this. It is a natural tonic taken in moderation. Moderation of course is the key word to everything. Even drinking too much of water can be harmful. One of the best products in this line is the cigar.

Tobacco that has been dried and fermented is tightly rolled into a bundle to make a cigar. One end is lighted while the smoker draws in the smoke from the other. Most do not inhale it. The special tobacco for cigars is grown profusely in South America and especially in Cuba. The most famous are Havana cigars. In the 19th century cigars were more in use than cigarettes. Cigar production is a giant industry. The rare ones are still rolled by hand but otherwise machines have come into play for mass production.

The tobacco leaves are gathered and aged for 25/45 days. Next in the fermentation process the leaves are allowed to carefully rot. The finished product is then rolled in special wrappers. Three types of tobacco leaves make up the cigar whose variations contribute to difference in flavour. The wrappers are from the broadest part of the tobacco plant. The categorization depends on the size and shape or the vitola.

All cigar manufacturers of today are part of a family business going back many generations. There is a Cigar Hall of Fame and pride of place goes to Angel Oliva Senior, the founder of Oliva Tobacco Co, Tampa in Florida, USA.

The Oliva family has fields in Nicaragua from where they harvest the fillers. African-Cameroon wrappers are used to roll the cigars. In 2006 the Cigar Aficionado magazine recognized Oliva cigars to be the very best. Melanio Okiva was the first one to grow tobacco in Cuba in 1886.

During the Cuban War of Independence his work remained suspended while he took part in it. In 1920 his son Hipolito Oliva took over the reins for many decades. With the coming of the communists the picture changed and Hipolito’s son, Gilberto Oliva became a broker from a grower of tobacco. Under great pressure he traveled around trying to preserve the correct Cuban flavour from getting lost. Today they are Nicaraguans and the second biggest grower of Cuban tobacco (seed).

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