
AJ Fernandez Cigars
AJ Fernandez is a boutique cigar-maker best known for producing the San Lotano, New World, Bellas Artes, and Last Call brands, in addition to a number of Cuban-legacy editions for Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, H. Upmann, Punch, and more. Born and raised in Cuba’s legendary tobacco-growing region, Pinar del Rio, AJ Fernandez began learning to grow, harvest, and ferment premium tobaccos before he turned thirteen. Today, AJ Fernandez produces a well-received portfolio of predominantly Nicaraguan blends, including the 93-rated San Lotano Dominicano, 93-Rated New World Puro Especial, and the 93-rated AJ Fernandez Last Call.
CIGARS
AJ Fernandez Bellas Artes
Price Per Cigar:$7.24 - $11.006 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Nicaraguan6 Reviewsread moreAJ Fernandez Bellas Artes Maduro
Price Per Cigar:$8.74 - $11.506 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Brazilian Maduro12 Reviewsread moreAJ Fernandez Dias de Gloria
Price Per Cigar:$8.99 - $12.506 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Nicaraguan9 Reviewsread moreAJ Fernandez Enclave
Price Per Cigar:$5.99 - $9.006 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Habano9 Reviewsread moreAJ Fernandez Enclave Broadleaf
Price Per Cigar:$6.74 - $10.506 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf9 Reviewsread moreAJ Fernandez Last Call
Price Per Cigar:$5.39 - $6.806 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Ecuador Habano20 Reviewsread moreAJ Fernandez Last Call Maduro
Price Per Cigar:$5.63 - $7.206 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Pennsylvania Broadleaf20 Reviewsread moreNew World by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$6.42 - $8.808 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Nicaraguan40 Reviewsread moreNew World Cameroon by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$5.74 - $8.408 options availableStrength: FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Cameroon36 Reviewsread moreNew World Connecticut by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$5.59 - $8.308 options availableStrength: Mild-MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Connecticut Shade15 Reviewsread moreNew World Dorado by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$9.89 - $12.808 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Nicaraguan9 Reviewsread moreNew World Puro Especial by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$8.14 - $10.006 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Nicaraguan7 Reviewsread moreSan Lotano Dominicano by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$6.99 - $10.508 options availableStrength: MediumCountry: Dominican RepublicWrapper: Brazilian9 Reviewsread moreSan Lotano Habano by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$6.59 - $10.508 options availableStrength: FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Habano7 Reviewsread moreSan Lotano Maduro by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$7.24 - $10.508 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: San Andres5 Reviewsread moreSan Lotano Oval by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$7.49 - $11.006 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Habano10 Reviewsread moreSan Lotano Oval Connecticut by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$7.49 - $11.006 options availableStrength: Mild-MediumCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Connecticut3 Reviewsread moreSan Lotano Oval Maduro by AJ Fernandez
Price Per Cigar:$7.49 - $11.006 options availableStrength: Medium-FullCountry: NicaraguaWrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf6 Reviewsread more
SAMPLERS
ACCESSORIES
AJ FERNANDEZ BRAND HISTORY
Boutique cigar-maker Abdel Josef Fernandez, best known as AJ Fernandez, hails from Cuba’s famous Pinar del Rio region, in an area called San Luís. There, Fernandez’s father, Ismael, and uncle worked in agriculture for the Cuban government in its tobacco sector. AJ’s early exposure to tobacco began with his family and also through a local tobacco farmer, Riccardo Ledezma, who took Fernandez under his wing at the age of thirteen. Under Ledezma, Fernandez learned the intricacies of planting, harvesting, priming, fermenting, and sorting premium tobaccos. His love of growing tobacco quickly outshone other interests.
In the mid-1990s, Fernandez’s father left Cuba to work for his cousin, Nestor Plasencia, in Nicaragua. In 2003, AJ followed and took a job with a tobacco grower in Nicaragua who sold tobacco to the Plasencias. Fernandez began making his own cigars in a modest fashion on three rolling tables in his house. During this time, AJ began to experiment with fermentation and eventually added another fifteen rolling tables beneath a canopy on the outside of his house. He produced 20,000 cigars per month for Nestor.
AJ’s first big opportunity came from Rocky Patel who contracted him to make a series of brands, including his seasonal releases, Rocky Patel Winter Collection and Rocky Patel Summer Collection. Fernandez was crafting up to 60,000 cigars a month for Rocky and eventually opened his own factory.
In his own space, Fernandez began to pick up business making inexpensive house brands such as Diesel and Man O’ War for catalog companies. He bought his first farm, a 28-acre plot in Estelí, Nicaragua. By 2006, Fernandez was producing roughly 4 million cigars per year.
For the next decade, Fernandez continued to expand his farming footprint, buying additional lands. In 2012, he completed work on a large new cigar factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Within a few short years, the factory was at capacity and AJ purchased an additional 117,000 square-foot facility in 2016 which he renovated in Ocotál, Nicaragua. Today, AJ Fernandez produces more than 30 different cigar brands across his burgeoning operation. These include a mix of inexpensive catalog brands and bundles, small-batch private labels, and several Cuban-legacy editions for Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, and H. Upmann. Fernandez also produces his own core brands: San Lotano, New World, Bellas Artes, and Last Call.
AJ FERNANDEZ BRAND OVERVIEW
While boutique cigar-making sensation AJ Fernandez got his start making cigars for others, he now produces a portfolio of his very own top-rated brands at his expansive farming and factory operations in Nicaragua.
The first brand Fernandez released of his own was San Lotano. Originally, the brand was to be called San Lutano, but the trademark registration office had mistaken the u for an o and Fernandez decided not to change it. San Lutano is the name given to the locals in the San Luís area of his childhood in Cuba. San Lutano is also the name of a cigar brand his grandfather made for a time.
San Lotano Oval gained popularity for its semi-pressed oval shape. The cigar’s contours rest comfortably in the mouth without the sharp corners of a standard trunk-pressed cigar. The original 91-rated blend debuted in 2011 with an Ecuador Habano wrapper leaf over a medium to full-bodied amalgam of Nicaraguan and Honduran long-fillers. The San Lotano Oval line has grown to include a 90-rated Maduro with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, as well as an elegant and nuttier Natural Connecticut-wrapped blend.
New World Puro Especial by AJ Fernandez scored 93 points and a ‘Top 25’ ranking from Cigar Aficionado in 2017. The all-Nicaraguan profile delivers a woody and nutty kick with notes of hickory, smoked almonds, and pepper. The popular profile is also drafted in a 90-rated Cameroon-wrapped version with full-bodied notes of cedar and coffee beans. A milder edition is available in New World Connecticut, which features a silky Connecticut Shade wrapper with a creamy taste and aroma. Rich, complex and medium to full-bodied notes of espresso and cracked black pepper harbor a touch of sweetness in the original New World blend, which is draped in an oily Nicaraguan wrapper leaf.
AJ Fernandez Bellas Artes consists of an intricate recipe of long-fillers from Nicaragua, Honduras, and Brazil beneath a succulent Nicaraguan wrapper leaf in a medium to full-bodied profile of cedar, spices, and earth. The Maduro version includes a balanced core of long-fillers from Nicaragua and San Andrés beneath a dark and shimmering Brazilian wrapper.
AJ Fernandez Last Call scored an impressive 93-point rating in a smaller format with a reddish-brown Ecuador Habano wrapper leaf and an all-Nicaraguan core of long-fillers. The chewy and leathery profile reveals a nutty finish. The blend is also available with a unique Nicaraguan Maduro wrapper leaf in AJ Fernandez Last Call Maduro.