Aganorsa Leaf Arsenio Review — Aganorsa Leaf Arsenio Corona

Today, we review Aganorsa Leaf’s Arsenio in the Corona size. Arsenio is a line named for Arsenio Ramos, the company’s master blender, who passed away in 2018. When Aganorsa Leaf was known as Casa Fernandez, there were several lines with the Arsenio name. The Arsenio line has been largely inactive for the past few years. However, in 2024, Aganorsa Leaf revived the Arsenio line with a new blend. This blend is reportedly a personal favorite of Ramos, who created it himself. Today, we will be reviewing the Corona size, which is said to be Ramos’s preferred size.

Ramos was born in 1934 in Cuba and has spent his entire life working with tobacco. In Cuba, Arsenio was in charge of processing tobacco, specifically fermentation, for Cubatabaco in Pinar Del Rio. After working in Cuba for half a century, Arsenio came to work for Aganorsa in Nicaragua. Ramos spent 18 years establishing Aganorsa’s growing operations and played a crucial role in cultivating Aganorsa’s signature flavor and aroma.

Let’s break down the Aganorsa Leaf Arsenio Corona without further ado and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Aganorsa Leaf Arsenio Corona (2024) – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The new Arsenio is made from 100% Nicaraguan tobacco grown on Aganorsa farms. Production comes from Aganorsa’s factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo (Aganorsa)
Binder: Nicaraguan (Aganorsa)
Filler: Nicaraguan (Aganorsa)
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Agricola Ganadera Norteña S.A.

Vitolas Offered

Arsenio comes in three sizes, each in a 15-count box. When it was announced, Aganorsa Leaf said production was limited. In 2024, 2,000 boxes of the Toro and Robusto sizes were produced, while 1,500 boxes of the Corona were produced.

Robusto: 5 1/4 x 54
Corona: 6 x 44
Toro: 6 x 52

Appearance (*)

The Corojo wrapper of the Arsenio Corona had a pale cinnamon hue. The surface of this wrapper didn’t display much oil. While there were a few visible veins, the seams of the wrapper were hardly noticeable. In general, this cigar boasted a visually appealing wrapper.

Aganorsa Leaf Arsenio Corona – sleeve removed

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

Before lighting up the Arsenio Corona, I removed the paper sleeve on the cigar. From that point, a straight cut was used to remove the cap. After the cap was clipped off, it was time to commence with the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered a nice assortment of flavors, including natural tobacco, cherry sweetness, earth, and baker’s spice. After the enjoyable pre-light draw, it was time to toast up the footer of the Arsenio Corona and see what the smoking stage would deliver.

Tasting Notes

The Arsenio Corona opened up with more notes of natural tobacco, cherry sweetness, and earth. In addition, there were notes of cream and black pepper that surfaced. During the early stages of the first third, the natural tobacco and cherry sweetness moved into the forefront. The earth, cream, and pepper notes settled in the background. Gradually, the cherry sweetness dialed back, and the earth notes increased. Meanwhile, the retro-hale produced an extra layer of black pepper.

The second third of the Arsenio Corona opened with the natural tobacco notes joined by the earth notes in the forefront. The black pepper gradually increased on the tongue. The cherry notes became a secondary note. Most of the cream notes subsided. By midway, the earth had displaced natural tobacco as the primary note.

Going into the final third, the earth notes remained primary, while the pepper notes became the most prominent secondary note. At the same time, there was still enough sweetness from the natural tobacco and cherry to round things out. This is how the Arsenio Corona came to a close. The resulting nub was cool in temperature and slightly soft to the touch.

Burn

The Arsenio Corona’s burn performance was excellent. The cigar maintained a straight burn path from start to finish, requiring minimal touch-ups. The resulting ash was silver-gray, skewed toward the firmer side. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both maintained ideal levels.

Draw

Typically, I enjoy a slight resistance when drawing. However, with the Arsenio Corona, I noticed the draw was tighter than my usual preference. This made me exert more effort than I like to obtain the cigar’s flavor.

Strength and Body

The strength level of the Arsenio Corona was on the upper end of medium. Meanwhile, the flavors of the Aresenio Corona were on the lower side, from medium to full. Throughout the smoking experience, there wasn’t much of a change in the intensity levels of the strength and body.

In terms of strength versus body, the body maintained the edge from start to finish.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

The Arsenio might be my favorite packaging to date on an Aganorsa Leaf release. I really like the blue and gold on the band and the sleeve. Most importantly, I really liked the image of Arsenio Ramos on the band and box. Having the cigar in Mr. Ramos’ mouth with the “o” in Arsenio appearing to be a smoke ring were nice details. The box and the inside vista have a piano black and gold finish, which I think was appropriate for those packaging details.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

At the end of each review, I place references, and in the references is a link to our news story. Aganorsa Leaf did an exceptional job when they announced Arsenio, not only telling the story of the cigar but also recapping Arsenio – the person. There is a nice video that was part of the press announcement paying homage to Arsenio. You can access it in the news story or here.

The Arsenio Corona was an enjoyable cigar. It had some of the signature spice and sweet notes that Aganorsa is known for. It’s also a nicely balanced cigar. I would have liked the draw to be a little looser and for there to be more complexity to the blend. In the end, the pluses far outweighed the minuses. It’s a cigar I’d recommend to an experienced cigar enthusiast, but it’s also a nice cigar for someone looking to “graduate” to cigars medium to full in strength and body. As for myself, this is a cigar I would buy and smoke again. It’s also one I would try the other sizes of.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Cherry Sweetness, Earth, Cream, Black Pepper
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Good
Complexity: Medium Minus
Strength; Medium
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Very Good