The Stogie Guys

A.J. Fernandez made his mark on the industry by producing top-selling cigars for the likes of Rocky Patel, Padilla, Graycliff, Gurkha, and others. This year he broke the mold and released his first nationally-distributed solo cigar.

The blend, San Lotano, was once a pre-Castro Cuban line. “Retired for decades, the line is being reintroduced by A.J. Fernandez, whose grandfather first started the brand in San Luis, Cuba,” reads a press release. Fernandez says that “San Lotano has been a project many years in the making for me, and it is made to honor the tradition of cigar making that I learned from my father and my father’s father.”

San Lotano is handmade at the Tabacalera Fernandez factory in Estelí, which turns out nine million cigars annually. The series is available in three wrapper variations: Habano (already being hailed in cigar circles), Maduro, and Connecticut. The latter features an Ecuadorian-grown outer leaf, a Nicaraguan binder, and a three-country filler blend from Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

The Robusto (5 x 52) retails for about $6 apiece. It has a golden, toothy wrapper that’s nearly flawless, a firm feel, and a foot that reveals a cross-section of tightly packed tobacco. The pre-light aroma is faint and nutty. The cold taste exposes an easy draw and some sweetness on the lips.

After lighting, the initial flavor is of hay, creamy coffee, and citrus. Flavorful, yet very similar to many of the other Connecticut-wrapped smokes on the market. Notes of almond and subtle peppery spice soon add depth. Thereafter, the profile takes on warm tobacco flavors.

The physical properties, as I’ve come to expect from A.J. Fernandez, are superb. The burn line is even, the white ash builds wonderfully off the foot, and the draw remains clear throughout the 50-minute smoke. If only every cigar smoked this well.

Still, is the San Lotano Connecticut remarkable? No. I can’t imagine many seasoned cigar veterans being blown away by this blend. But while I’ll save my high praise for the Habano version of this tobacconist-only line, I must say that this Robusto compares favorably to some of my favorite Connecticuts, including those made by Camacho and Oliva. For that, it earns four stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

A.J. Fernandez has made top-selling cigars for the likes of Rocky Patel, Padilla, and others, but a few weeks ago he released his first nationally-distributed solo blend. San Lotano, an old Cuban cigar line that Fernandez has brought back to life, comes in three wrapper varieties: Habano, Connecticut, and Maduro. The former has a combination of Brazilian, Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Dominican tobaccos that combine to produce voluminous, spicy tufts of smoke. Key flavors include leather, roasted coffee beans, caramel, and creamy coffee. Construction is near perfect. The Toro (6 x 52) is a must-try at around $8 apiece.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. Below is our latest Friday Sampler.

1) This week Cigar Aficionado reported A.J. Fernandez will open a new factory in Ocotál, a Nicaraguan town about 40 miles north of Estelí. It will be called San Lotano, which is the same name as Fernandez’s cigar brand and farm. Formerly known as San Rafael and the site of production for the Brickhouse and El Baton brands for J.C. Newman, the newly launched factory will help Fernandez meet growing demand now that his Tabacalera A.J. Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua factory is at capacity. The new facility will house 240 cigar makers and 120 rolling tables. Additionally, A.J. Fernandez will begin making the 601 brand for Erik Espinosa, who has been crafting his own brand out of his La Zona factory for nearly five years. “…I am unable to expand [La Zona’s] production since I have already outgrown it,” Espinosa told Cigar Aficionado. “It’s a perfect opportunity for me to finally meet the demand for my cigars.”

2) Inside the Industry: The 2017 International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show has been rescheduled and relocated. Now the show will run from July 10 to July 14 and be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The convention had originally been slated five days later at the Sands Convention Center—site of previous IPCPR Trade Shows—but the location administration cancelled on IPCPR, triggering a cancellation fee (likely because a bigger business opportunity arose on that date).

3) Perhaps you’ve heard all you want to about tobacco and the FDA. But a short article–thorough, well-written, and scary–from pipe-expert Rick Newcombe in Reason magazine is worth your time.

4) From the Archives: This week we unveiled parts one and two of our top cigars of 2016. But don’t forget the great cigars of the past. Not only should you check out our top cigars from recent years, but we highly recommend browsing through our list of top-rated smokes, which goes back to 2006.

5) Deal of the Week: Everyone loves a Top 25-rated cigar, so browse this year’s and past year’s winners here. You’ll find everything from Opus X to Padrón to Oliva to Rocky Patel. Use the coupon code “Stogie” at checkout to land 10% off your purchase.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: A.J. Fernandez Cigar Co.

photo credit: Drew Estate

A.J. Fernandez is one of the most respected cigar makers in the world. And deservedly so. He has one of the best résumés you could hope to come across in the industry.

Born in Cuba, Fernandez worked with the late Alejandro Robaina, Cuba’s foremost producer of top wrapper leaves and the namesake of the Vegas Robaina brand. Fernandez quickly gained fame making cigars for other companies including Rocky Patel, Padilla, Graycliff, and Gurkha, as well as crafting exclusive cigars for catalog giant Cigars International (for whom he makes Diesel, Man O’ War, La Herencia, and others.) Then, in 2010, he introduced his first solo national brand, San Lotano, which became a hit.

These days, Fernandez’s portfolio includes Pinolero, Mayimbe, New World, and five different San Lotano blends. He also has a line called Fallen Angel, which features an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper from the highest priming available around Nicaraguan tobaccos.

There are five Fallen Angel vitolas sold in the affordable $6-8 range: Churchill (7 x 48), Double Toro (6 x 60), Toro (6 x 50), Torpedo (6 x 52), and Robusto (5 x 52). The latter—gifted to me by the fine folks at CigarsFor.Me—is box-pressed with a clean, moderately oily wrapper that’s almost vein-free. The cap is executed well, the seams are barely noticeable, and the pre-light notes remind me of dry earth and milk chocolate.

As I set the light, I notice the draw is a little stiff. Still, once the foot is burning evenly, each puff seems to yield ample smoke. Once underway, a medium-bodied profile emerges with notes of oak, black pepper, and a syrupy sweetness. I find the flavor balanced and pleasing, though not terribly complex.

After an inch, a spicy aftertaste of cinnamon and cedar introduces itself—just in time to pique my interest after a start that’s, frankly, a little lackluster. Tastes of cream and pecan join the fray at the midway point. The final third is characterized by more intensity and more spice, though I can’t say the Robusto ever leaves the medium-bodied spectrum.

Throughout, the physical properties are exactly what you’d expect from Tabacalera Fernandez in Estelí: superb. The white ash holds incredibly well, the burn never requires so much as a touch-up, and the draw opens nicely after the first few puffs.

This is not A.J. Fernandez’s finest cigar, and I doubt it will amaze anyone. That said, it’s tasty, well-built, and affordable. You might consider keeping a few on hand for an afternoon complement to coffee, or to share with guests who are infrequent cigar smokers (this is a very approachable smoke). Overall, I rate the Fallen Angel Robusto three stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

A path to prominence in the cigar business can follow any of a number of routes. Consider for a minute the divergent ways that big players—people like Rocky Patel, Don Pepín García, Ernesto-Perez Carrillo, Dion Giolito, Sam Lecia, just to name a few—earned their reputations.

A.J. Fernandez rode a wave of catalog/online sales to cigar stardom. With Mayimbe, Spanish for “big shot,” he’s making another move.

This high-dollar cigar is a big ring gauge line (all 56) to compete with the likes of top Tatuajes and Fuentes. To my taste, Fernandez succeeded. He created a cigar with power and flavor that stands apart from most others in the humidor.

Mayimbe is described as a limited edition, packaged in boxes of 10 with a run of 2,500 boxes in each of four vitolas. The five-inch Robusto runs a bit over $14 per stick. Rolled at Fernandez’s Nicaraguan factory, the cigar features a Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and a Jamastran Honduran filler blended with Nicaraguan tobaccos and what’s called “AJF Privatio,” which I assume is a strain grown on the Ferandez farm.

The line sports a very large band as well as a foot wrap with the AJF logo. I’ve smoked two, supplied by the manufacturer in a sampler that included other Fernandez cigars.

Mayimbe is a tasty, complex cigar that’s up on the strength scale. The primary flavors are cedar and pepper, which ebb and flow throughout the length of the stick. Along the way, I also get some leather, which I often associate with Honduran tobacco, an interesting floral note, and an occasional nuttiness. This is a cigar that commands—and repays—careful attention. With its extra two inches, I can’t help but wonder what the fat Churchill would be like.

Construction and burn are excellent, as is smoke production. Strength is in the medium- to full-bodied range with a nice finish.

If you’re a Fernandez fan from his catalog productions like Man O’War or his widely available San Lotano smokes, you may find Mayimbe a bit of a surprise. For those who’ve never tried a Fernandez stick, Mayimbe could be a fine introduction. It earns a rating of four stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The other day I was browsing through our archive of cigar reviews, and I came across my colleague’s take on the Pinolero Toro from October 2012. It occurred to me I still hadn’t tried any of the Pinolero smokes—an oversight I needed to rectify given my respect for A.J. Fernandez as one of the industry’s best young cigar makers.

Fernandez, of course, has one of the best cigar résumés you’ll ever see. Born in Cuba, he worked with the late Alejandro Robaina, Cuba’s foremost producer of top wrapper leaves and the namesake of the Vegas Robaina brand. Fernandez quickly gained fame making cigars for other cigar companies including Rocky Patel, Padilla, Graycliff, and Gurkha, as well as making exclusive cigars for catalog giant Cigars International (for whom he makes Diesel, Man O’ War, La Herencia, and other smokes.) Then, at the 2010 industry trade show, he introduced his first solo national brand, San Lotano, which became a hit.

A few years later Fernandez added the highly anticipated Pinolero (Spanish for “local”) line to his portfolio. It includes either a Nicaraguan sun-grown wrapper or a Maduro wrapper around a Nicaraguan binder. The filler tobaccos are part Nicaraguan Habano-seed and part proprietary. “Filled with rich, luxurious long-fillers and wrapped in coveted Fernandez Family leaves, this medium- to full-bodied smoke not only captures the highly complex flavors of exotic regional Nicaraguan tobacco, but also affords a highly aromatic mellowness which has become the brand standard of A.J.’s highly coveted products,” reads the A.J. Fernandez website.

Pinolero comes in six vitolas that range in price from $7 to $10: Corona, Robusto, Toro, Figurado, Churchill, and Gran Toro. I smoked two Maduro Toros (6 x 52) for this review. The Maduro Toro is a dark, extremely toothy cigar with a few large veins and some protruding seams, particularly at the cap. It sports an interesting, colorful band with pre-light notes of chocolate and spice. Despite its firmness and weight, the cold draw has only the slightest resistance.

Once lit, a savory profile emerges that instantly reminds me of mesquite. Tangy, spicy, and a little sweet, the Pinolero Maduro Toro’s balanced flavor includes notes of syrup, brown sugar, and herbs. The smoke is dense and moist, and it confronts the palate head-on, though not in an overly intense way. Cocoa, espresso, and spice become more prominent towards the end.

True to A.J. Fernandez form, the physical properties are superb. Both of my samples displayed solid ashes, straight burn lines, smooth draws, and plenty of smoke production.

Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay the Pinolero Maduro Toro is it doesn’t taste like anything else on the market. That makes it interesting and memorable. I’m disappointed I didn’t lock on to this gem sooner. It’s a great smoke, a good value, and worthy of a commendable rating of four stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys