About oliva tobacco
For 87 years, our family has had the honor and privilege of supplying the world’s premier cigar producers with fine leaf tobacco. Four generations have devoted their lives to learning the secrets of planting, cultivating, harvesting, curing, and grading tobacco and earning the trust and confidence of our valued customers. Today we continue the tradition on our South and Central American farms, including our contract farms.
Oliva Tobacco leaf is highly coveted, because of our almost obsessive commitment to every facet of the premium tobacco growing process.
We spend a lot of time on the ground – judging the soil, selecting the seed, evaluating the crops, inspecting the curing barns, and working with our farming partners. Further critical attention is given to our tobacco fermentation process. PROCENICSA, our Nicaragua subsidiary, is renowned as one of the finest tobacco fermentation and processing facilities in the cigar trade.
Our Farms
The Oliva Tobacco Company has been growing and brokering its own fine tobacco since 1934 and currently operates farms and processing facilities in Nicaragua and Ecuador.
Nicaragua
Farm Name: La Joya in Esteli
Farm Name: Finca Guadalupe
Processing facility: PROCENICSA in Esteli
Ecuador
Operation 1
Farm Name: La Meca
Farm Name: La Lydia
Both are located in Bucay Ecuador at the foot of the Andes in the province of Guayas.
Operation 2:
Farm Name: Don Angel
Farm Name: La Francey
Farm Name: La Luchita
Farm Name: La Angela
Farm Name: La Paulina
Located throughout the province of Quevedo, Ecuador.
Our Leaders
John Oliva, Sr.
Chairman of the Board
Oversees the entire Oliva Tobacco operation, coordinates every detail to ensure tobaccos are ultimately delivered on time in the proper quantities.
Angel Oliva, Jr.
Director
Acts in an advisory capacity and administers projects outside Oliva Tobacco Company’s main business.
John E. Oliva, Jr.
President
John E. Oliva, Jr. handles domestic and international sales. Directs company tobacco operations in Central and South America.
Angel “Trey” Oliva, III
Vice President
Renders hands-on coordination of outside projects and investments. Oversees family tobacco growing operations in Central and South America.
Joseph Del Rosal
CFO
Oversees financial and tax reporting across the entire organization. Engages with stakeholders, lenders, and business partners to support operations.
Gustavo Cura
Nicaragua Operations Manager
Oversees all of OTC’s Nicaraguan tobacco farming, as well as it’s tobacco processing subsidiary PROCENICSA.
Our Tampa Headquarters
Oliva Tobacco Company moved to its current location, 3104 N. Armenia Avenue, in 1999. The structure was built in 1882 as the Bonded Havana Cigar Company. Its history from there is somewhat vague until 1907 when Alvaro Garcia and Jose Vega (Garcia y Vega) took over the building to produce ten brands of cigars. The “Garcia y Vega” name remains on the exterior of the building.
The Ybor City Headquarters from 1978 to 2001 was located on the Southeast Corner of Palm Avenue and Angel Oliva Sr. Street (formerly 18th Street). The building was constructed in the late 1800’s as a cigar factory and is most noted for housing the Monett Cigar Company early on. It was originally a wood structure but was gradually transformed into more heat-resistant construction after a fire in Ybor City in 1908 destroyed 55 acres of factories, residences and commercial structures.
First Ybor Office 1947 to 1980. 1313 Eighth Avenue – Originally Tampa Fire Station #4. Formerly housing Ybor City’s very first fire station. The building was also notable for stabling Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders horses before the launch of the Spanish American War. This was Oliva Tobacco Company’s home for more than 30 years. Subsequently it became a nightclub, bar, and brewery when Ybor suddenly exploded with nightlife.
The former Oliva Tobacco headquarters is shown here as it was during its tobacco years … and as it looks today.
First Tampa Office 1934 to 1947, 1717 North Franklin Street. Oliva Tobacco Company was incorporated in the State of Florida in 1934 and set up shop at 1717 N. Franklin Street, just south of Henderson Avenue at the north edge of downtown, the same year. The company was just over a block from the main branch of the Tampa Public Library at that time. The photo at right (about 1945), was taken in front of the building and shows, from left: Marcelino Oliva, Angel’s brother; Jose Suarez, Angel’s early partner who drove the delivery truck and oversaw the warehouse; Martin Oliva, Angel’s brother who assisted in sales; Alice Oliva, who came to work as office manager for the company early on and eventually married Martin; and Angel Oliva Sr.
The company grew and prospered to the point a larger facility was necessary. Oliva Tobacco’s next home was the old Ybor fire station almost two miles away.
Our Clientele
Prestigious brands and customers utilizing our wrappers.
Agrotobaccos S.A.
AJ Fernandez Cigar Co
Altadis
Arrango Cigars
Arturo Fuente y Cia.
Ashton Cigars
Cigar Factory New Orleans
CLE Cigars
Crowned Heads Cigars
Dapper Cigar Co
Drew Estate
Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust
El Titan de Bronze
Excelsior Tobacco, LLC (Doña Lydia Cigars)
Foundation Cigars
General Cigar Co
Gran Habano
Graycliff Cigars
JC Newman Cigar Company
Joya de Nicaragua
LA Flor Dominica
Mombacho Cigars
My Father Cigars
Nicaragua America Cigar S.A.
Nicasueño Cigars
Oscar Vallardes
Oveja Negra Cigars
Patina Cigars
Perdomo Cigar Co
Rocky Patel
Sindicato Cigars
Tabacalera La Zona S.A.
Tatjuae Cigars
Oliva Tobacco in the News
What Sets Us Apart
Our Company is over 60 years old and I believe the secret to our success has been the honesty, loyalty and integrity with which we have treated everyone. My wife and I have tried to pass this quality on to our children. I am proud to say we have been successful in doing so. I believe our future really is in the generations that follow. For this reason, I have dedicated a large part of my financial resources to help such organizations as The University of Tampa, The Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Tampa, The Children’s Home and other institutions that will guide young people to a productive and fruitful life. Our Company has provided scholarships to people who are Doctors, Professors, and Engineers not only here but in Central and South America where the standard of living does not match ours by any stretch of the imagination.