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| Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro – El Supremo |
The 2012 IPCPR Trade Show saw Casa Fernandez introduce the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Maduro. This release saw Casa Fernandez introduce a maduro offering using Aganorsa leaf tobacco. This offering complements the company’s original Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf – which is a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapped cigar featuring 100% Aganorsa tobacco. For the maduro offering, Casa Fernandez utilizes a San Andres wrapper from Mexico and Aganorsa tobacco for the remainder of the blend. The vitolas for this blend are in a box-press format. Recently, I’ve had a chance to sample the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro. Overall, this provided a nice, flavorful maduro smoking experience from start to finish.
Aganorsa tobacco refers to Nicaraguan-grown tobacco on farms owned by Aganorsa SA. Many cigar manufacturers covet the tobacco grown on these farms. In a discussion I had with Andre Farkas of Viaje Cigars at the 2012 IPCPR, he talked to me about how he considers this to be some of the best tobacco in the world to work with (and thus why he uses it as his tobacco of choice).
Let’s take a closer look at this cigar and see what it brings to the table:
Blend Profile
The Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro is not the first maduro under the Casa Fernandez line, however this is the first time the company has used a San Andres Mexican wrapper. The Nicaraguan tobaccos are 100% Aganorsa leaf.
Wrapper: San Andres Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan (Aganorsa)
Filler: Nicaraguan (Aganorsa)
Vitolas Available
As mentioned above, Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro is a box-press shaped cigar. There were two cigars launched in this line with both cigars skewed toward a bigger ring gauge.
El Supremo: 6 x 58
Robusto Extra: 5 x 54
Appearance
For this cigar experience, I smoked the El Supremo. The Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf maduro has a nice milk chocolate color to it. There are some visible wrapper seams as well as some visible veins. While the box-press was mostly well packed, on each of the cigars I smoked I did notice a little softness toward the footer of the cigar.
There are two bands on the cigar on the cigar. The primary band is similar to core Casa Fernandez Miami with yellow, brown, and red colors. At the center is a classic gothic styled “C/F” combination in red font. The text “Casa Fernandez” is on a pale yellow ribbon in black font just above the “C/F”. Below it is the text “Miami” on a pale yellow ribbon below it. This is in reference to the parent company, Tabacalera Tropical recently relocating the operations for the Casa Fernandez brand to Miami, Florida.
The secondary band has a red background with gold print. On tha band, it says “Aganorsa Leaf” in gold cursive. Below that band, it says “MADURO” – also in a smaller gold font. There are also some gold leaves and gold striping that adorn the band.
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
For my cigar experience of the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro El Supremo, I went with a straight cut into the cap of the cigar. Once the cap was removed, I proceeded with the pre-light draw. The dry draw provided a nice mix of leather, chocolate as well as a little floral spice. Overall, I considered this to be a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to light up the Aganorsa Leaf Maduro and see what the overall smoking experience would provide.
Flavor Profile
The initial flavors from the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro provided a mix of cedar and leather flavors to start. As the cigar moved through the early stages, the primary flavors became a mix of chocolate and floral notes with a light cedar spice in the background.
Later in the first third, the chocolate and floral notes remained primary. The cedar spice transitioned to more of a classic pepper spice. I also picked up a mineral component in the background
In the second third, the floral notes moved out slightly ahead of the chocolate notes as a primary note. The pepper notes in the background became more of a baker’s spice. This would pretty much be the flavor profile for the remainder of the smoking experience. The cigar was flavorful right until the end. There was no harshness at the end. The resulting nub was cool in temperature, but soft when touched.
Burn and Draw
From a burn perspective, the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro did tend to become uneven from time to time. It required multiple touch-ups from my butane lighter to keep the burn line straight. The resulting ash was on the grayish side. There was some occasionally flaking from the ash. While the burn temperature was ideal, the burn rate was rather fast on each sample I smoked. In the end, the fast burn really didn’t have a negative impact on the flavor profile.
As for the draw, there were no issues. I considered this a draw that wasn’t too tight, nor too loose. From my perspective while the burn was on the fast side, this wasn’t due to over-drawing on the cigar.
Strength and Body
From a strength perspective, I did not find the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro to be an overpowering smoke. I found it had just the right amount of strength falling square in the medium strength range. As for the flavors, they had some nice depth to them – resulting in a medium to full-bodied smoke for the Aganorsa Leaf Maduro. When comparing strength vs. body, I found this was a cigar that emphasized flavor over strength – giving the body an edge.
Final Thoughts
While some of the issues around the burn did take away some points, I still found the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro to be a fine cigar. I particularly liked the flavors this cigar produced. My big criticism of San Andres wrapper has been that it can be too pungent – at the expense of the flavors from the other tobaccos. I found no such problem with the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf Maduro. I found this to be a good cigar for the novice enthusiast who wants to smoke something that is a little deeper in flavors. Experienced cigar enthusiasts should appreciate the flavor profile of this cigar. This is definitely a cigar I would smoke again.
Summary
Burn: Fair
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: Nice to Have
Score: 89
Source: The cigars for this assessment were gifted to me by friends.
