Initial Thoughts
If you have ever heard of Aganorsa leaf then you are much more versed in tobacco than I am. During my latest visit to my local B&M the manager directed me towards this Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro. It was something new he was carrying and wanted to know what I thought about it. So I said I’d give it a try. I had never smoked a Casa Fernandez before, so I picked one up.
This particular cigar comes in two sizes: El Supremo (6×58) and Robusto Extra (5×54, the one I’m smoking). As you probably guessed this cigar is a Maduro. The wrapper is a San Andres Mexico Maduro to be accurate. The binders and fillers are 100% Nicaragua and grown by Aganorsa S.A. throughout 4 different farms in 2 growing regions in Nicaragua. Aganorsa S.A. is a tobacco growing company in Nicaragua and they have many other tobacco clients including Padron, Illusione, and Padilla. However, the company’s own brand is this Casa Fernandez line. I’m excited to hop into this review so lets dive on in!
Looks
First look at this Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro and you might not know what to think. The box is fairly standard and unassuming. Unless you’re looking at a brand new one, in which it has a beautiful maroon ribbon laying across the cigars holding them in place. The rest of the box doesn’t have much going on though.
The band on this cigar is what really caught my eye. It’s a nice cream colored background with a big bold maroon F sitting right in the middle begging for attention. I’ve seen this band before on other reviews online and I instantly knew the brand when the cigar store manager was showing it to me. Like I said before I had never smoked anything from the brand so I was willing to give it a try.
Below the main and is the secondary band that explains the difference in this cigar. The background of this band reminds me of a nice dark old vine zin wine. The deep rich burgundy color with some gold trimming gives it a classy look. The printing on the band is a little difficult to read in certain light. I did finally figure out that it says Aganorsa Leaf in cursive and below that it makes the maduro statement in smaller bold face all caps print. I love the border on this secondary band, it’s trimmed with gold and has small burgundy dots on it to break up the solid gold lines.
The wrapper on this Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro is interesting. At some points it looks rugged and others it’s a beautiful dark consistent maduro. It all depends on the light though. It’s somewhat hard to tell though in the pictures because some of the poor lighting so you’ll have to take my word for it. I would imagine some of the rugged-ness is due to the fact that it’s a San Andres wrapper. In my experience the wrappers coming out of Mexico aren’t always the prettiest to look at, but they do pack quite a flavor punch. Time for the pre light ritual!
Function
After I brought this cigar home from the store I let it rest for a couple of weeks and get it acclimated to my humidor. So it should be good to go, but I’ll double check it anyway. The pinch test is a little bit harder to do on this cigar because it’s box pressed. The corners are slightly rounded and I don’t want to break the wrapper by pinching too hard. I’ve rarely had any sort of draw issue on a box-pressed cigar though so I’m not too worried about the pinch test. It bounces back enough for me to be happy with the result.
Look at the cap on this Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro I’m having difficulty determining whether it’s a triple cap or a double cap. There appears to be 3 distinct lines, so for that sake I’m going to say it’s a triple cap. Feel free to argue below in the comments. Either way to cap is about to be sliced up like a “pizza piah”!
I took out the ole capped back guillotine cutter and went to town on the head of this cigar. It only took one quick snip and then I was testing the dry draw. Air was flowing perfectly through the barrel so I figured it had passed all the pre flight checks and was ready to fire it up!
Smoking
Again I’m trying the three match lighting approach for this cigar. It’s worked well in the past so I’m going to stick with it. Unfortunately for this particular cigar the foot didn’t get completely lit during the three match trick. So I had to bring in re-enforcements. My trusty Xikar Stratosphere came and saved the day. I touched up the outer edge of the foot and got this thing burning on the straight and narrow again.
The first third of this Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro smoked perfectly. The draw was just right, a little bit of resistance but plenty of airflow. The burn line got a little wonky, but nothing out of control that required any touch ups.
The ash held on very well, it was easily over an inch before I tapped it off. The next third continued in the same manner. The ash was slightly gray with some dark black rings to it. It wasn’t flaky and held a fairly solid roll to itself.
Continuing through the cigar the 2nd and final thirds smoked perfectly. Again, the burn line wasn’t razor sharp, but it wasn’t out of control and warranting any touch ups. Can’t ask for much more than that. Overall a great smoking experience. Let’s see what Aganorsa has in store in terms of flavor for us!
Flavor
During the pre-light exam I picked up a ton of sweet tobacco notes. Lots of leather and some mild hints of earth as well. However, the aroma wasn’t overwhelming on the wrapper. On the dry draw I picked up some light hay notes and a hint of spice. Nothing really coming through though which I was a little surprised given the aroma on the barrel.
After take off the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro began to open up somewhat. The first third brought out a hefty spice. Initially there were hints of leather and coffee, both traditional Nicaraguan flavors. Then all of a sudden they melded into a black pepper that finished with a fiery cayenne pepper kick. Talk about a roller coaster!
The 2nd third changed it up and brought out some bitter flavors. Very akin to drinking coffee black. These bitter notes were followed by hints of dark earthy-ness. Almost as if smoking peat moss. Very interesting change in flavors.
For the final third I knocked off the ash and purged the cigar to make sure the bitterness in the 2nd third wasn’t due to tarry build up. After the purge that cayenne spice came back with a vengeance. It seemed even stronger this time around. Especially in the retrohale. However, I couldn’t quite shake this bitter flavor. In fact I think it got more intense during the final third and finally I had to cut this Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro short and let it burn out. There was just something about that flavor that I couldn’t shake.
Would I Buy It Again?
I think so, still on the fence about it.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
At around $10 / stick, not for me.
Would I Buy a Box?
Potentially, it’s an interesting cigar and I’d like to see how the maduro leaf reacts with some age to it.
Conclusion
Overall I enjoyed this cigar, until the end that is. I don’t mind the bitter flavors for a little while just to give it a change of pace. However it became overwhelming towards the end and I just wasn’t enjoying it any longer. The smoking experience was fantastic though. I think I’d try it again, just not sure when that will be.
