Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

Given its place as a staple on humidor shelves across the country, as well as a regularly featured item in the emails I get from online retailers, the Oliva Serie V line should need little in the way of an introduction. Launched in 2007, it was the line that transformed Oliva from a company best known for its bundled Flor de Oliva line into one that is synonymous with high-quality premium cigars.

Despite having debuted nearly 20 years ago, the line remains not just relevant but continues to have new vitolas added to the seemingly dozens that have already been released. Case in point, Oliva borrowed from one of the Serie V’s spinoff lines, the Serie V Melanio, for a new release that was part of Cigar Rights of America’s (CRA) Winter 2025 Freedom Sampler.

Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

These samplers are used to generate funds to support CRA’s budget, which in turn supports the organization’s lobbying and outreach efforts. The cigars are donated by 10 different companies, with one of each cigar put into a custom Boveda bag to ensure humidity and then sold to retailers to offer to their customers.

The Winter 2025 Freedom Sampler contains the following cigars and comes with a suggested retail price of $240:

• Ashton VSG Belicoso No. 1 (5 1/4 x 52)
• Fuente Fuente OpusX Oro Rosado Oscuro Reserva d’Chateau (7 x 48)
• Diamond Crown Maximus Toro No. 4 (6 x 50)
• La Flor Dominicana Andalusian Bull (6 1/2 x 64)
• My Father García y García Robusto Deluxe (5 3/4 x 52)
• Oliva Serie V Box-Pressed Figurado (6 x 60)
• Padrón Black No. 600 Maduro (5 3/4 x 54)
• Plasencia Alma Fuerte Nestor IV (6 1/4 x 54)
• Sixty by Rocky Patel Toro (6 1/2 x 52)
• Tatuaje Smashed Pumpkin Corojo (6 x 52)

While many of the cigars are available outside of the sampler, there are a couple of new additions, notably from Tatuaje and Oliva.

Oliva’s 6 x 60 box-pressed figurado is a spin on the regular production Special V Figurado shape, as it gets a box press, resulting in a very distinctive shape that is similar to ones found in the Serie V Melanio and Serie V Melanio Maduro lines, just with different measurements. The blend of the Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed remains the same, with an Ecuadorian wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler, which includes what the company describes as “specially fermented” ligero grown in Nicaragua’s Jalapa Valley.

A total of 5,000 samplers were produced, which arrived at stores in mid-December 2025.

• Cigar Reviewed: Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Tabacalera Oliva de Nicaragua S.A.
• Wrapper: Ecuador
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 60
• Shape: Pressed
• MSRP: $24 (Sampler of 10, $240)
• Release Date: December 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: 5,000 Samplers of 1 Cigar (5,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Given the sheer number of Oliva Serie V releases over the years, and that similar vitolas appear in the Serie V Melanio and Serie V Melanio Maduro lines, the Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed doesn’t immediately stand out as being unique. That said, having written and read about it, I know it is. The first cigar’s wrapper is smooth overall with a little bit of texture, but very small veins. The second cigar has what appears to be a small chip on its back side, about an inch up from the foot. The third cigar’s wrapper is quite smooth, waxy more than oily, with the head offering a bit of fine grit texture. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

The cigars all have some give to them, both front to back and side to side but I don’t find any spots that stand out, so I’m not too concerned about the way the bunches were made. Given the small foot opening, I focus on the wrapper’s aroma more than that of the foot; the first cigar has a lot of fall leaves with a bit of sweetness on the finish. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

The second cigar has a light waxiness in place of the sweetness, while the third is the richest and reminds me of a fall leaf potpourri. The first and second cigar’s draws are a touch firm but still smooth, and I’m fairly confident that once the cigar is lit, the draw will open a touch. The third cigar doesn’t have the sensation of the tapered foot, and I wouldn’t know it had it if smoking the cigar blind. The flavor is pretty mellow here, a consistently very soft sensation of tobacco and some cotton fabric. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

The Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed starts off much like what I’d expect from the Serie V blend: some dry, rich earth gets complemented by a bit of black pepper, with a long, bright finish. There are moments of some creaminess, predominantly via the flavor, as the retrohales don’t show it as much. About 20 minutes into the cigar—yes, I smoke slowly—the draw opens right up as I expected, as the burn line gets through the foot and into the wide bulb portion of the cigar. It requires a bit of a touch-up to get the burn line even, but nothing problematic. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

There is a bit of heat and gritty earth that comes with this more open draw, neither of which helps the profile, but are minor enough so as not to be distracting. Retrohales are pretty tame, adding a bit more pepper to the experience but not really adding anything notable. The creaminess holds on, giving a really pleasant contribution to the flavor, which is medium to medium-plius, while the body is medium and strength is mild. Construction and combustion are both very good. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

The second third of the Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed has some roughness that I didn’t experience in the first third. It’s a shift in the earthiness more than anything, not too much but not necessarily a better version of what the first third offered. Around the midpoint, I get a juicier version of the flavor, reminding me of the sensation of chewing tobacco leaves as part of the blending process. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

It’s an interesting sensation, and I’m always fascinated by how dry tobacco can produce this kind of sensation. As the burn line progresses, the flavor begins to dry out bit by bit, returning to a slightly airy profile that has light earth and touches of pepper leading the way. It’s a familiar profile, but in this size, it comes across as airier and less concentrated than I was expecting based on what I remember from other vitolas. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

Retrohales continue to serve as an accent with a little bit of pepper, but like the experience on my taste buds, the sensation feels a bit thin. Flavor is medium, body is medium-minus and strength is mild. The combustion of the second cigar is a bit more finicky, seemingly waiting for me to deviate from its required puffing rate and then punishing me by either going out or getting close to it. Otherwise, the draw, burn line and smoke production are all good. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

The second cigar starts its final third by picking up some chalkiness, and then a sensation that gets me thinking there might be some tar at play. Sure enough, a bit of the brown liquid has formed on the head, which I promptly clip off, yielding a more open draw as a byproduct. The other two cigars don’t pick up the tar, but the third cigar does add a bit of light chalk. I keep finding myself trying to make sense of the thinner body of the smoke, as the flavor continues to feel a bit diluted. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

That begins to change a bit, as there’s more contribution from some woodiness that has been dancing around the profile but never getting onto the dance floor. This reduces the amount of space in the profile that the earth takes up, while holding the pepper steady or occasionally increasing its sensation, as the wood and pepper seem to amplify each other. Retrohales are still on the thin side when it comes to the body of the smoke, but the sensation is smokier and more charred than it was earlier. Oliva Serie V Figurado Box Pressed

The flavor holds pretty steady as the burn line gets into the home stretch, though, like the retrohale, it gets a bit smokier and with a bit of char to it. That change pushes the flavor to medium-full, while the body still feels medium-minus, and strength is medium-minus. On the whole, construction is very good, especially when it comes to the draw and burn line. The combustion and smoke production remain a bit more finicky, with the quality of the former dictating the amount of the latter. Fortunately, as long as puffs are taken at a slightly quicker-than-average rate by my standards, the cigar keeps burning well.

Final Notes

• Given the shape of this cigar, I make an effort to only light the nipple-shaped foot. While I’m reviewing a double-flame torch lighter at the moment, I opted for a single-flame torch in this case.
• I’m fascinated to see what Oliva might have planned for the Serie V’s 20th anniversary.
• Back in January 2012, Brooks Whittington reviewed the Oliva Serie V Culebra, one of the most limited vitolas ever produced for the Serie V line, and one that I was fortunate enough to be gifted many years ago. He reduxed it in January 2013.
• Oliva advertises on bestcigar.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by bestcigar.

• The company lists these as a 6 x 60 box-pressed figurado. The numbers above are the measurements we found for the three cigars used for this review.
• Final smoking time was right around two hours on average.