AJ Fernandez has really made a name for himself in the cigar industry over the last few years. He really made waves when he introduced the Oval to the world and since then, the man has been busy! Blending cigars for his own name and for a variety of other cigar makers, he is not stop on his road to success. AJ dropped the Dias de Gloria at the 2019 IPCPR. Let’s see what this cigar is all about!

Blend Profile
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Vitola: Robusto, 5.5×52

Appearance & Smell
It’s hard to tell because I forgot to turn my flash on the camera but this has a medium brown wrapper color that is almost reddish. The pre-light smell was rich earth and nutmeg.

Smoke Preparation
I used a Xikar Xi1 to put a nice flat cut into the cap and a Xikar Enigma double torch to get an even light on the end.

Burn & Draw
Wow, this cigar was VERY well rolled. The draw was not too tough at all but it had the perfect resistance. Even though this was the robusto size, it burned for an hour and 10 minutes with me steadily smoking. I didn’t have to touch up the cigar once, it burned evenly throughout the entire smoke. I knocked off my first ash out of habit but after that, I just let the ash go to see how long it got. It was very well constructed and not a flaky ash.

Strength & Body
The strength was a solid medium. I could see one of the longer vitolas getting into a medium-plus towards the end of the cigar but the robusto size was a solid medium. The body was really interesting. For the first third of the cigar there was a really rich earthy and cedary taste but it was rather boring. Once I got towards the middle of the cigar I started to enoy it much more. I picked up a little bit of red clay and some sort of sweet spice like cinnamon or nutmeg. Those flavors danced around each other going into the last third. In the last third the cedar came back into play but not nearly as strong as the first third.

Final Thoughts
I’m torn! I really didn’t enjoy the smoke until about the middle. This cigar MSRPs at about $9-$10 and I’m not sure I would pay that much to not enjoy the first half of my cigar. The second half was really good though… ugh! I think I might give this one a try again in the future to see if the first half has anything else to give me or if this cigar was just a fluke. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Source: IPCPR
Brand Information: AJ Fernandez