Description
AJ Fernandez was raised in Cuba and steeped in the rich traditions of Fernandez Cigar. He produces unrivaled premium cigars in Esteli, Nicaragua. The day-to-day operations of Tabacalera AJ Fernandez ensure superior quality and are managed under AJ’s watchful eye.
About AJ Fernandez
AJ Fernandez is a family-oriented cigar company based in Miami, Florida. Each brand is a unique smoking experience, a testament to AJ’s talent as a tobacco grower and blender. All components of each blend are selected based on strength, aroma and flavor to achieve a smooth and balanced smoking experience. AJ is truly a master at balancing a cigar and always finds the perfect sweet spot of richness and flavor. When you put the finest fermented and aged tobaccos in AJ’s hands, the results are New World, San Lotano, Bellas Artes and Enclave, to name a few. With a cigar for every taste, you can be sure that when you smoke an AJ Fernandez portfolio cigar, you too will be all about passion, discipline and good tobacco!
Farms
Strategically located in the rich and fertile lands of Nicaragua, AJ has made huge investments across the country to produce its own tobacco from all the major growing regions. These regions include Condega, Jalapa, Esteli, Pueblo Nuevo, Quilali and the island of Ometepe. Each farm or finca, as they are called in their native language, has a name that is very significant to AJ. Some of the names are Finca La Providencia, La Lilia, Los Espejos, San Jose, La Soledad, San Lotano, San Diego, Los Cedros and Santa Lucia.
Early on, AJ understood that to produce a quality cigar year after year, one must grow their own tobacco to maintain a consistent and stable supply. In a short time, AJ has been able to amass a property portfolio like no other, allowing him to grow specific tobacco varieties for all of his blends.
The Process
Once the growing process is complete, the journey from seed to smoke continues. It is at this point that all those hands you have heard so much about begin to touch the precious leaves that will be gently and methodically bundled together to create a delicious smoking experience.
Each tobacco leaf is picked or prepared from the plant at the most opportune time. As these leaves are hung in tobacco drying houses along the countryside, they gently shed their light green color and take on new colors that mimic the seasons. Shades of yellow and brown gently take over the leaves as the main color. From the tobacco dryers, the leaves travel to their new home to be sorted and arranged in fermentation piles or pylons. Over the next six months to two years, these tobacco leaves will undergo a transformation that will develop the characteristics required to produce a premium cigar. From here, the tobacco leaves are sorted again and placed in bales that allow them to age for a few years before reaching the hands of the rollers.
The Factory
AJ Fernandez owns and operates two cigar factories in Nicaragua. Tabacalera AJ Fernandez de Nicaragua, SA is located in the heart of tobacco country in Estelí, Nicaragua. The San Lotano factory is located 70 kilometers north in Totogalpa. These two factories make it possible to produce over 100,000 cigars per day, all by hand. The artisans who assemble the blends and shape each cigar we enjoy do so using time-honored methods that have been passed down to AJ from generation to generation.
