Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 6 x 56
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $25.00
Date Released: October 2024
Quantity Released: 7,500 Boxes of 20
Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A
My cigars received 18 months of naked humidor time.
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
AJ calls it a Toro but it’s really a Gordo. Normally, I don’t review giant cigars because they take forever to flourish. This baby has 18 months of home imprisonment so it should be raring to go.
It’s a solid cigar but I can’t recollect any AJ’s built badly. Construction is always on Fernandez’s mind. The veins look like a map of Mars. The pointy cap reminds me of a suppository…not that there’s anything wrong with that. And the double cigar bands are classy.
Ooh, the wrapper smells lusciously chocolaty, nutty, cedary, and barnyardy. With after tones of baking spices, black earth, citrus, and schmeggle dust…which can only be found in flower arranging seminars in Bohners Lake, Wisconsin.
For fun, I try my PerfecPunch. If it works, I will show a photo. If not, I will retrieve every bit of my precious bodily fluid I donated to the baby maker bank in 1979. Speaking of which, does this look like a reservoir tip?
It becomes obvious that this is a heavy cigar the moment I decide to do the participle dangle from my lips. I once had great jaw strength…coupled with a masterful tongue. Now, I mostly drool while staring at fishing gear in my Farm & Fleet catalog and then get a sore tongue from unwarranted consumption of kosher chopped liver. Hold the gefilte fish.
The cold draw is mostly black coffee but has smaller sides of honeyed prunes, raw cashews, fresh pumpernickel, black pepper, and a deep earthiness.
Using vaporizing action, I light this beast. I taste a massive black pepper influence hoodwinked into nestling among wild nubiles in the black timberland. It smacks of rain saturated earth deep in the forest. Still doesn’t sound right. It good. That better. Mongo straight.
This ain’t no AJ I’ve ever smoked. If I had blind tasted this, AJ would be a fur piece down the list. But two minutes in, the assemblage of power keeps AJ in the top 5. It tastes similar to the fancy 601 La Bomba Warhead VII Churchill ($18 2025) or the Lure Cigars Redfish ($15 2025) or the Dunbarton Mi Querida The Emerald Fish ($16 2025).
This is one of those meaty cigars that fills your mouth and heart with visions of hunting wild boar in just a loin cloth. You’d be wearing a camo bikini. Imagine sticking your entire head into a large, tariffed barrel of expensive fertilizer. That’s how earthy it is.
Red pepper arrives as my mouth and sinuses go blind from the spiciness.
An inch in and the profile changes. It startled me. I lick my lips because I can’t identify this. It’s creamy, herby, and…I must cop that I read the HW review from December 2024 and I noticed that they described one of the flavors as pencil lead. I haven’t tasted a #2 pencil in a long time but I do now. The thing that surprises me is that it tastes great. Takes me back to 2nd grade. BTW, HW gave this cigar 91. Which is like $7.75 per gallon from me.
Oh man, I smoked one of these a year ago and maybe it was the wrong time, because it was just OK. Now, I’m like a wild boar in a loin cloth covering a new crop of merkins. And this isn’t my first cigar of the day. I remove the loin cloth, and I have two vaginal openings. One for storing my cigar accessories. And one to win me some beers at bars.
Inch two ends and it’s even meatier and spicier.
Normally, the gold lay in the second half. The only way this blend could improve is if the spiciness would calm the fuck down. By far, the spiciest cigar I’ve smoked in a boar’s age.
The first half was curmudgeonly. Because of the spice. Flavorful but not a relaxing cigar. It stands over you like your S&M fantasy boss with a cat o’ nine tails. It’s fun but not restful.
As the second half settles in, the spiciness calms. By doing so, it allows the subtle notes of fudge brownies, walnuts, and espresso to rise to the surface. I can finally notice serious complexity that was missing in the first half. There was always vigor, but it came from rich earthiness rather than dense layers.
The cigar’s strength began at medium/full right out of the gate. I expected an ass kicking but it has remained manageable without any signs of nicotine. In my old age, I don’t like nicotine…ever. As a young man of 65, it was no big deal. But now, at 104, it is disruptive to the cigar experience.
I’m working with Alex for a very cool Cigar Page May contest. Plus, we will be introducing a once-a-week flash sale that will also debut in May. Unfortunately for you, videos seem to be in my future.
This giant cigar requires a serious time commitment. If I write in the morning, I want the whole michegos to end even more than you. But in the afternoon, I can frolic. I can bathe Charlotte in her sensory deprivation tank. Or I can shave Sammy the Cat with my second-hand manscaping razor. Or I can nap in the iron lung that Dr. Rod gave me for being the best shill he’s ever seen.
Black cherries as the blend veers towards a more Padron 1926-like profile. The spiciness is manageable. Flavors congeal into a warm blankey. Complexity rules the roost. Transitions are appropriate. And the blend becomes a grownup cigar. I wish it was affordable. I make a living scouring seabeds for scallops whose deviated septums make them a delicacy. As the tainted Lake Michigan turns sea critters black, I spend a fortune on Clorox. Can I get a witness?
The last third sees the strength hit full tilt. No nicotine, just raw power. Thankfully, I dropped LSD when I was younger in order to avoid the draft. I was beaten up a lot in Quentin so I’m sensitive to big black tubular veiny things. I learned to skate across the yard while whistling from my ass.
This is a great cigar but if you can’t handle muscle, clout, sway, and dominance, keep on walking.
This cigar sold out quickly 18 months ago, but a couple retailers still have them. They aren’t sponsors so I face ridicule if I submit them for your approval. The first is Mike’s Cigars but you must buy an entire box for $500. Another is Cigar Place and you can snag a fiver for $106 instead of $125.
RATING: 95
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