Signature taste of the Aganorsa Leaf cigar

The story is that in about 1998, Cuban born Eduardo Antonio Fernández Pujals who was looking to get into agriculture, visited Nicaragua and had a conversation with Nestor Plascencia. Prior to this, he is said to have been a banker in New York and a “pizza entrepreneur” in Spain.

As a result of what he saw and heard, he started growing cigar tobacco, through his company Agricola Ganadera Norteña. Acquiring land in the three main growing regions of the country, namely Jalapa, Condega and Estelí, the company has become one of Nicaragua’s largest growers of high-end cigar tobacco, providing to a variety of cigar brands. He also went back to his homeland to fetch Cuban agronomists well versed and extremely experienced in growing tobacco, Cuban-style with Cuban seed.

Fernandez is quoted as saying, “You have to control your destiny, you have to grow your own tobacco, you have to be vertically integrated.” In line with this philosophy, he also expanded into making his own cigars under the Casa Fernandez brand, producing cigars like the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Habano, the Casa Fernandez Miami, the Casa Fernandez Aniversario and the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf TABSA, in various vitolas.

In 2018, the cigar wing of the business underwent a name and brand change but they retained the distinct flavours in their cigars, which partly stem from the Cuban-seed Corojo 99 — a hybrid descendant of Cuba’s El Corojo seed and their signature leaf. In a post on their site, CEO Terence Reilly writes, “Aganorsa Leaf is famous for our Cuban-seed Corojo 99 leaf. Every blend we make contains some Corojo 99 and as the only major growers of this varietal in Nicaragua it is a crucial part of what gives us our signature taste.”

Cigar brands produced by Aganorsa Leaf are: Guardian of the Farm; JFR (which also includes the Lunatic series); New Cuba and Aganorsa Leaf (which includes Rare Leaf Corojo and Maduro); Supreme Leaf; La Validacion Series; Signature Corojo and Aniversario Series. A friend and cigar aficionado tells me that the limited edition Supreme Leaf is the best cigar that he has ever smoked.

To be honest, I hadn’t heard about Aganorsa Leaf until I walked into my cigar plug’s premises, where I was taken into a back room and shown a stack of cigar boxes. The first thing that struck me was the beauty of the boxes and the branding on each. Well, that and the sizes of the Lunatic Maduro, which range from the 4 ¼ x 52 Short Robusto, the 4 ¼ x 60 Short Titan and the 5 ½ x 80 El Grande to the 8 x 80 Mambo and the 10 x 100 “size that shall not be named”.

As my first foray into the world of Aganorsa Leaf, I picked the Aniversario Corojo Toro, which was released in 2021, particularly for its beautiful white and silver band and the opaque white band with the company name and logo covering the top part of the cigar. As part of the rebranding, the Casa Fernandez Aniversario was repackaged to reflect the new look of Aganorsa Leaf and comes in Maduro and Corojo. It is boxed pressed, rolled by Cuban rollers in Miami and is a Nicaraguan Puro with an Aganorsa Corojo wrapper around a Nicaraguan binder and filler, all grown on Aganorsa farms. The maduro wrapper is shade grown. 

The Corojo comes in a 5 x 54 Gran Robusto, 6 ¼ x 52 Toro, 6 x 58 Gran Toro and 7 ½ x 40 Lancero while the Maduro comes in 5 x 52 Robusto, 6 x 52 Toro, 6 ¼ x 52 Torpedo and 6 x 46 Corona Gorda. Aganorsa has also launched an Aniversario Connecticut which has an Ecuadorean Connecticut wrapper and comes in only two vitolas, namely a 5 x 54 Toro and 6 ¼ x 52 Gran Toro.

The Maduro has a black and silver embossed main band while the Connecticut has a blue and silver, all with the broader opaque paper at the top.

The Corojo Toro smokes consistently with hints of spice, cream, nuts and earth through all the thirds. The last third is a bit more intense when it comes to earthiness and creaminess. While I lean towards Maduro in general, having smoked the Maduro Toro as well, I surprisingly prefer the Corojo, although I enjoyed both. Medium to full bodied, they aren’t overpowering and make for a lovely evening smoke with a good book.