I’ll admit it, I’ve struggled to find Aganorsa branded cigars that hit my palate right. Not sure what it has been about the ones that I’ve sampled that I haven’t cared for, I’ve tried. I think Terence Reilly is a fine gentleman and I’ve known him a long time and feel like I can say we are friends, so I want to find something in the portfolio I like. I also like a lot of cigars that have been made in conjunction with Aganorsa. In my continuing quest I picked up a couple cigars in the La Validacion series last week when I stopped in New Tobacco Village in Whitehall, PA. As sometimes happens, I am remorseful that I didn’t pick up more. I started, as is my modus operandi, with the Maduro ( I threw some Latin in there for Terence). I selected the Gran Toro size, which is 6″ x 58, a nice compromise between a toro and a gordo. This has a San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan Aganorsa tobaccos in the binder and fillers. I thoroughly enjoyed this cigar! It was really good. It checked all the boxes for me, cocoa, coffee, some earth and spice, and I found it to be solidly medium bodied. This is the Aganorsa Leaf cigar for me!
I also picked up the Aganorsa Leaf La Validacion Corojo, also in Gran Toro. This one has an Aganorsa grown Corojo wrapper, over more Aganorsa binder and filler, making it a Nicaraguan Puro. Aside: Friday evening an old friend going back to the days of the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group days stopped by for a cigar or two. Bruce lives a few miles away now and we’ve kept in touch over the years. I think I met Bruce in the late ’90s, so I’ve probably known him for 25 years. Yesterday I met up with a friend I’ve known for much longer for a cigar at the new Cigar Mojo location (a mile from my house). I met Jeff when I was 7, so I’ve known him more than twice as long as I’ve known Bruce! We smoked Stolen Throne Three Kingdoms toros in the lounge while we caught up. Anyway, the Corojo is another cigar I want more of, I really liked it. The wrapper change gave it a lighter spice, and, although I wish the cigar had been a tad drier (it was a humid evening, rain, thunder, stuff like that), it was very tasty. I’ll buy more of these, and I now am anxious to try the Habano (and I’d probably try the shade if it were presented to me). I’m happy that I found cigars in Aganorsa’s portfolio that appeal to me, I was feeling bad. There seem to be companies that come along that you want to like their products but can’t find common ground, I suppose it’s better than loving cigars made by a company that you don’t like personally!
That’s all for today Good news for the cigar industry with the FDA regulations being vacated. Plenty of other sites covered this. I originally thought regulation was inevitable, I’m happy to have been wrong. Between all the hard work the family owned cigar companies and associations did fighting this and the FDA screwing up, it turned out good. I don’t think it’s over so keep supporting the efforts and we can’t let our guard down. You can start with the PCA site for details. Aaso Halfwheel has very good insights on the issue as always. Until the next time,
CigarCraig
