Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion

In May 2023, South Florida retailer Smoke Inn announced that Aganorsa Leaf would deliver the 19th installment of its exclusive MicroBlend Series. The cigar would be dubbed the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion, the first installment of the series from Aganorsa Leaf, and the cigar would have three signature tobaccos that Aganorsa Leaf grows: Corojo ’99, Criollo ’98, and Corojo 2012. At a more abstract level, Rare Leaf Fusion would combine two limited releases that Aganorsa Leaf has released: Supreme Leaf (A Corojo ’99-centric blend) and Rare Leaf Reserve (A Criollo ’98-centric blend). In addition, the blend would incorporate Corojo 2012, a newer varietal that Aganorsa Leaf has been working with over the past couple of years. Today, we take a deeper dive into the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion.

The Smoke Inn Microblend Series concept involves Smoke Inn teaming up with some leading brands and manufacturers in the cigar industry to produce a small batch limited run exclusive to its shops. The series was launched late in 2010 to commemorate when Smoke Inn celebrated 15 years in business. It was initially planned to be a four-cigar series, but since then, it has remained a series of ongoing shop exclusives. For completeness, we list all of the MicroBlend releases:

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion features 100% Nicaraguan tobacco from the Aganorsa Leaf farms. The Corojo ’99 is utilized as the wrapper and for the filler. As for the Criollo ’98 and Corojo 2012, it is said to be used throughout the interior recipe. Production comes from Aganorsa’s Agricola Ganadera Norteña S.A. production facility in Estelí, Nicaragua – the factory previously known as TABSA.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo ’99
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Agricola Ganadera Norteña S.A.

Vitolas Offered

Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion comes in one size – a 6 x 54 Box Pressed Toro. The cigars are packaged in ten-count boxes, with a total of 500 boxes that have been produced.

Appearance

The Nicaraguan Corojo ’99 wrapper of the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion had a caramel color with a rosado tint. As opposed to oils, there was a silky texture on the surface of the wrapper. The surface of the wrapper had very few significant visible veins. There also were some visible wrapper seams. The box-press had a slightly soft Cuban-press shape to it.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

A straight cut was used to remove the cap of the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion. Once the cap was removed, it was time to commence the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered a mix of nut, leather, baker’s spice, and natural tobacco notes. Overall, this was an excellent pre-light draw experience. At this point, it was time to toast up the footer of the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion and see what the cigar experience would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion opened up with notes of nut, fruit, natural tobacco, earth, and baker’s spice. Early on, there was no dominant note on the tongue. As for the retro-hale, there were additional layers of mixed pepper and natural tobacco sweetness. As the cigar moved to the later part of the first third, the earth, and natural tobacco notes moved to the forefront. The nut, fruit, and baker’s spice moved into the background and were joined by some notes of white pepper on the tongue.

During the second third of the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion, the natural tobacco and earth notes remained the primary notes. The nut, fruit, baker’s spice, and white pepper notes remained in the background. As the cigar moved through the second third, the baker’s spice and white pepper increased in intensity. It was the baker’s spice that increased at a greater rate and became the most prominent secondary note.

The final third saw the natural tobacco and earth notes remain primary. There was an increase in the pepper notes, and these displaced the baker’s spice as the most prominent secondary note. There were touches of fruit notes, and most of the nut flavor had dissipated. The flavors seemed slightly muddled as the cigar experience came to a close. The Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion closed out with a soft, cool nub.

Burn

The Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion had a higher maintenance burn. This was a cigar that had a jagged burn line with a burn path prone to meandering. This cigar required multiple touch-ups. While the touch-ups helped, there were more touch-ups required than preferred. The resulting ash wasn’t overly firm but was not loose or flaky. This was an ash that had a silver-gray color to it. The burn rate was ideal, and the burn temperature was sometimes slightly cool.

Burn of the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion

Draw

I usually prefer a slight amount of resistance on a draw. With the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion, each cigar had more resistance than I wanted – particularly in the second third of the cigar. This made the Rare Fusion a higher-maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

The Aganorsa Leaf Rare Fusion delivered a medium-strength, medium-bodied smoke. During the smoking experience, there wasn’t much in the way of variance of the intensity levels for the strength and body. Regarding strength versus body, both attributes balanced each other nicely, with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES

I liked what Aganorsa Leaf did on the packaging of this cigar. Much like the blend combines elements from the Aganorsa Leaf Supreme Leaf and Aganorsa Leaf Rare Leaf Reserve, the packaging also incorporates these elements. The primary band is reminiscent of the band found on the Rare Leaf Reserve. The secondary band includes the purple color found on the Supreme Leaf Reserve.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

I’ll start out my summary thoughts by drawing an analogy to a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup – namely, it’s something that delivers chocolate and peanut butter elements. With the Aganorsa Leaf Rare Leaf Fusion, there was no point I felt I was picking up elements of the Supreme Leaf and elements of the Rare Leaf Reserve. I have no explanation other than I am sure the tobaccos (combined with the Corojo 2012) did some marrying. The flavors produced were average but lacked a wow factor. In addition, the burn and draw should have been better. In the end, the Rare Leaf Fusion scored a respectable 87 points. However, this is a cigar that I would still recommend trying a sample of before buying (at press time, Smoke Inn has these stock).

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Earth, Baker’s Spice, Nut, Fruit, Pepper
Burn: Good
Draw: Good
Complexity: Medium Plus
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Good