1502 Aniversario 10

Among the companies celebrating milestone anniversaries in 2022 is Global Premium Cigars, the company behind the 1502 brand, which is celebrating 10 years in the cigar business with a new cigar, the 1502 Aniversario 10.

Enrique Sánchez started 1502 as a tribute to his home country of Nicaragua, getting the name for the brand from the year in which Christopher Columbus arrived in the country. While 1502 is known for its Nicaraguan roots and use of Nicaraguan tobacco in many of its lines, the 1502 Aniversario 10 Toro draws on tobaccos from two other countries for its blend. The wrapper is an Ecuadorian habano leaf, while the binder comes from Mexico’s San Andrés region. The filler is entirely Nicaraguan, though the company has not disclosed any varietals or other specifics about those tobaccos.

The blend is made at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua in Estelí. It’s debuting in a single 6 x 50 toro vitola with an MSRP of $14 per cigar and $140 for a box of 10 cigars. While many anniversary and celebratory cigars are limited editions, the 1502 Aniversario 10 will be an ongoing, regular production release.

• Cigar Reviewed: 1502 Aniversario 10
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Habano)
• Binder: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Toro
• MSRP: $14 (Box of 10, $140)
• Release Date: July 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The 1502 Aniversario 10 sports a wrapper that has a bit of a milk chocolate color to it, with thin and prominent veins and what looks like a bit of tooth, though I don’t feel that texture on my fingers. There’s a bit of oiliness to be found in the wrapper, giving a bit of sheen and slickness. The cigar is rolled fairly firmly, not quite rock hard but also not allowing for much give. I like the band that the cigar wears, both for its familiarity with the company’s other lines. But it also has a new color combination which works well for the anniversary celebration, though I do wish it had a bit more visual pop. As I prepare to smell the foot, I’m reminded of the “locked foot” design that 1502 uses, not fully covering the foot with the wrapper leaf but using a few millimeters of tobacco to partially cover the foot. That locked foot has a fairly big aroma that starts with wheat bread and adds black pepper, half-and-half, and a bit of chocolate donut. The flavor on the cold draw is a bit more reserved, starting with a slightly sweet creaminess and feeling like it wants to take on a bit of mint in one particular cigar, though doesn’t fully commit. If it doesn’t go toward mint, I get a touch of caramel drizzle. What I’m most surprised by is that I don’t find any pepper in the cold draw of any of the three cigars. Airflow is very good on the whole, firm with a pleasant bit of resistance.

The 1502 Aniversario 10 starts with a fairly robust profile that would lead me to think this is either a Nicaraguan puro or uses a good amount of Nicaragua tobacco, though one of the three cigars has an earthiness that suggests Honduran terroir. The first puffs are medium-full and marked by a rich earthiness and some pepper, with a hearty finish that lingers on the taste buds, and which occasionally reminds me of the finish of a cup of cooled coffee. It also suggests that this could be a good pairing with some flavorful coffee, though it might be more of a stacking of flavors rather than a pairing of complementary or contrasting flavors. As the first third progresses, there are puffs that bring in nuttiness while keeping the pepper prominent on both the taste buds and in the nostrils, with the latter occasionally getting a bit of rockiness from the underlying earth flavor and aroma. Flavor is medium-full for most of the first third, while body is medium-plus and strength is mild thus far. The cigar smokes quite well, with plenty of smoke, an easy draw with just a touch of resistance, and a very even burn line.

By the start of the second third, I can tell that there is going to be some variance in how the flavors in each cigar progress and develop, as well as in the body of the smoke. The other two cigars are a bit lighter, with one contributing a cocoa powder flavor not long into this section, which is a lighter profile than the first cigar offered. The other cigar still has me thinking of Honduran terroir thanks to the lighter earthiness, though that has begun shifting more towards dry lumber. There’s also a bit lighter profile via retrohales, though the tingling finish is pretty consistent across the cigars. Ahead of the midpoint of the third sample, I find myself looking back on the three cigars and wondering if each one was being driven by a different component. My notes remind me that the first and second cigars were similar but the second felt as if the habano wrapper was really asserting itself more than it did in the first one. Meanwhile, the third one keeps leading me to thoughts of Honduran tobacco, even though there’s none listed in the blend notes. There is a bit of rich chocolate joining the profile at the end of the final third, something I pick up equally—if not a bit more—on the finish as I do from each puff. The flavor is a bit tamer in the second third, now medium-plus, while body is still medium-plus and strength is shy of medium. Construction and combustion both remain fantastic and absolutely problem-free, though the repeated whir of my DustBuster suggests the ash is dropping off too frequently on my desk.

While the specific path that the 1502 Aniversario 10 takes to the final third varies a bit, they lead to a fairly commonplace as this section gets underway. It’s a profile that has elements of almost all the flavors to this point, driven largely by earthiness and a lighter spin on black pepper. On the whole, the profile seems to get mellower as the cigar progresses, though retrohales are capable of punching things up a bit by way of a bit more pronounced earth and pepper combination. The sweetness from the various forms of chocolate seems to have departed completely, leaving a bit simpler profile, but one that is still plenty enjoyable, at least until the flavor sharpens up with about two inches left. My first inclination is that it was the result of over-smoking the cigar a bit, and slowing down reveals not only a more palatable temperature but also allows just a bit of creaminess to come in while revealing a slightly nuttier accent. Whatever suggestions the cigar previously gave about being a good pairing with some black coffee are also gone, though it still seems like it would be a decent combination. When smoked slowly, the cigar shows an impressive balance and complexity, rewarding pacing out the puffs a bit more than I might otherwise do. Flavor finishes around medium-plus, body holds steady at medium-plus, and strength is just barely medium. Construction and combustion continue to be solid all-around, made better by more frequent taps of the ash to make sure it ends up in the ashtray.

Final Notes

• The back of the 1502 Aniversario 10 band comes with a simple message, Relax & Enjoy, something I know I need to remind myself to do every so often.
• While the ash on the 1502 Aniversario 10 builds up well and looks like it is going to hold on just fine, I had several chunks suddenly break off and land on my desk.
• I have to give the blend credit for being well-balanced from start to finish. While the profile was never tasked with juggling more than about three distinct flavors at any given time, it handled what it did have to offer quite well.
• Likewise, the team at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua deserves recognition for how well these cigars were made. Each of the three samples burned flawlessly.
• None of the three cigars left me with much of a nicotine buzz, but one got decently close to the point where I’d say I could feel some nicotine.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was just over two hours on average, though I intentionally stretched one out to about two hours and 20 minutes in an attempt to smooth out the final inch or so.