At this year’s Premium Cigar Association (PCA) trade show, AGANORSA Leaf announced that the limited edition Aniversario Maduro will now be a full production cigar. The original Aniversario line was actually offered in 4 different vitolas, each as a limited release from August 2020 to December 2021. The new production line now features the updated AGANORSA Leaf branding and is expressed in three different vitolas, each packaged in 10-count boxes.
- Gran Robusto (5 x 54) – MSRP $13.50
- Toro (6 1/4 x 52) – MSRP $14.50
- Gran Toro (6 x 58) – MSRP $15.50
AGANORSA Leaf VP sales and marketing – Terence Reilly – noted in a press release:
“The Aniversario Maduro blend was a massive hit the last two years and there was great demand for this cigar to return to the market. Between the gorgeous presentation and the quality of the blend, we feel Aniversario Maduro will become one of our best sellers now that it will be consistently available. We encourage our retail partners to make sure to stop by our booth at PCA to ensure you have access to this amazing cigar.”
The blend is described as a Nicaraguan Puro:
- Wrapper – Nicaraguan Shade Grown Corojo Maduro
- Binder – Nicaraguan
- Filler – Nicaraguan
For this review, I sampled two of the AGANORSA Leaf Maduro Toros – which I purchased at the Underground Cigar Shop in Fort Worth, TX for this review.
Pre-Light Examination
The AGANORSA Leaf Maduro is cloaked in a dark, reddish brown, wrapper that has a decent oily sheen and exhibits minimal veins. It has a firm box pressing with no discernable soft spots . The wrapper is smooth to the touch and the cigar seems to be well packed. A simple cap finishes the presentation.
Two bands adorn the cigar. The Primary band uses the standard AGANORSA logo with a maroon outer border. A secondary band placed just below the primary, uses a gold, maroon, and white motif identifies the cigar as the “Maduro” blend.
Running the AGANORSA Leaf Maduro along the nose I noted the fermented leaf aroma along the barrel while notes of nut and pepper were present off the foot.
Uses CigarMedics Baller cutter to open the cap and proceeded to give it some cold draw puffs. I found the restriction to be a little tighter than I prefer but others may be fine with it. The cold draw offered peppery spice notes on the lips and pleasant natural sweetness and nut flavors on the palate.
I used my single torch lighter to gentle warm the foot, bringing it to an even orange glow and drew in the first puffs of chocolate and pepper laden smoke. Follow along as I burn this one to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Dark chocolate and pepper notes start the journey
- A natural sweetness begins to form a core background note
- Full volume of smoke
- White ash forms on top of a thin and slightly jagged burn line
- Sweet nutty aroma wafts off the foot
- Ash drops in inch plus chunk revealing an excellent burn cone
- Touch of earthiness and oak notes joins the profile midway
- Pepper morphs into a cinnamon spice note with an ever present back ground of natural sweetness
- Strength has slowly ratcheted up to medium plus
- Dark Chocolate has moved to what I would describe as an 80% dark chocolate with that slight and tasty bitterness
- Espresso notes form deep in the second third to add additional depth in the profile
- Aroma shifts to a pleasing sweet caramel note
- The pleasure keeps delivering with an added spice and caramel flavor down to the final
- Ash fell often (about every inch or so) but always with well formed burn cone
- Medium Plus in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 45 minutes
Final Analysis
I found the AGANORSA Leaf Maduro to be a spectacular cigar in both blend and construction. From the early dark chocolate and pepper notes to the naturally sweet undertones and even the midway cinnamon notes; the cigar was constantly pleasing the palate. The retro-hales were smooth and comfortable on the nose. Construction wise, the burn was decent but the ash did fall often. This is certainly one that I feel is box worthy and would recommend to any seasoned cigar enthusiast. I rate this a solid 95.
Point Deductions: (-1) Mild Jag in Burn; (-1) Ash Falls Often
Bonus Points: (+1) Buy a Box; (+1) Pleasant and Consistent across multiple samples; (-1) Pleasantly Complex and Balanced
