The Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Corojo Toro is a 6×52 all-Nicaraguan puro blended by Max Fernandez and rolled at the family's own TABSA factory in Esteli. Every leaf is Aganorsa-grown, including a rare half-leaf of medio tiempo, and it scores 88/100. It smokes medium-full over just under two hours, and the line placed No. 2 on a 2018 limited-edition cigar of the year list.
- BLC scores the Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Corojo Toro 88/100, a medium-full Nicaraguan puro that runs just under two hours.
- Every leaf is the company's own, grown on roughly 1,200 acres across Jalapa, Condega and Esteli, including a rare half-leaf of medio tiempo in the filler.
- The flavor core is peanuts, cedar, earth and cocoa with pepper on the retrohale, the draw starts snug and opens up after the first inch.
FROM THE PORCH
Dallas and I headed out to the deck today, each with our own priorities. He was looking forward to his cookie, and I was looking forward to lighting up the Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Corojo Toro.
I've recently become a big fan of Aganorsa Leaf and have been working my way through several of their different lines. Since I'm already a big Corojo fan, this one was an easy choice. I spent about 90 minutes relaxing with Dallas, getting to know the cigar, and putting together my review. Would I buy it again? Short answer: yes. All the details are below.
BEHIND THE BLEND
Aganorsa is a farm first and a cigar company second, that's the whole reason the name changed. Eduardo Fernandez Pujals got into Nicaraguan tobacco in 1998. Today the family works roughly 1,200 acres across Jalapa, Condega and Esteli, all of it feeding their own TABSA factory.
They retired the Casa Fernandez name in 2018 to put the growing front and center. Signature Selection shipped that September, blended by Eduardo's son Max entirely from the family's own leaf. Three days after it reached shops, Arsenio Ramos passed away at 83. He was the Cuban-born master blender who ran Aganorsa's growing for 18 years, and he taught Max the craft. Ramos didn't blend this one, his student did, and for me that's the story.
BLC BLEND BREAKDOWN
BLEND SPECS
THE VITOLA LINEUP
| VITOLA | SIZE | LAUNCH MSRP |
|---|---|---|
| Corona Gorda | 6 × 44 | $9.00 |
| Robusto | 5 × 52 | $9.75 |
| Toro ← reviewed | 6 × 52 | $9.99 |
| Belicoso | 6.25 × 52 | $9.99 |
If a shop lists a Signature Selection Torpedo, that's the Belicoso under a different name, there's no fifth size. The Toro buys you the longest session of the straight-sided sizes, just under two hours for me, and it's the one I'd start with.
THE COLD DRAW
I picked up mocha with cedar and leather. A clear pepper sits under all of it, and it comes straight back the second you light the cigar, mostly through the nose.
BLC CIGAR PROFILE
Burn: Straight the whole way, and the ash held in firm grey inches before I knocked it off.
Draw: Snug for the first inch, it opened up by the end of the first third and stayed open.
THE FIRST THIRD
I had to work the draw for the first inch. The payoff was worth it. Soft cocoa and milk chocolate with a hint of coffee and nuts from the very first puff.
The pepper is all in the retrohale, push smoke through your nose and you get a real burst of it. On the palate the spice barely registers. Behind the chocolate I found toast and possibly nutmeg. The finish was earthy, and I found that the draw loosened up.
THE SECOND THIRD
By the midpoint I was getting more earth than chocolate with a little cocoa.
I kept finding toast too. I kept finding oak, leather, and nutmeg, with, I believe, a caramelized sweetness. The retrohale pepper is still there, quieter now.
THE FINAL THIRD
The strength waited until the last third. Then it came in like a lion right as the sweetness went out like a lamb. More earth now, with oak, black pepper, and cedar, which stayed all the way to the finish.
I set it down at just under two hours. That's a full evening smoke.
OVERALL RATING
BLC OVERALL RATING
The construction sits near the top of its class. A firm roll, a straight burn, smooth smoke for two full hours. I like that every leaf came off the family's own farms. So why not the 90s. The draw makes you earn the first inch. The nut-and-cedar core, the long finish and the clean final third carry it to 88 for me. Every leaf came off the family's own dirt, and at ten bucks that was an easy yes.
WHO GRABS THIS CIGAR
You, if you like Nicaraguan puros that lean nutty and woody instead of dessert-sweet, and if two hours sounds like time well spent. It's medium-full without any rough edges, so it works after dinner without beating up your palate.
If you're looking for a sugar bomb Maduro, look somewhere else. If this story matters to you, every single leaf in this cigar came off the family's farm. In my opinion, that's a pretty cool fact.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common questions about the Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Corojo Toro.
