AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro Toro (2021)

In June 2021, AGANORSA Leaf announced it was changing the name of its flagship Casa Fernández Aniversario brand to AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro as part of a larger marketing strategy that began back in 2018 when the company name was changed from Casa Fernández to AGANORSA Leaf. As part of that announcement, it announced two new vitolas for the blend.

Those two new vitolas in the AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro were a 5 3/8 x 48 Short Churchill and a 6 x 54 Toro, limited to 1,000 boxes of 10 and 1,500 boxes of 10, respectively. While both new sizes shipped to retailers in November 2021, the Toro was offered exclusively to retailers who attended the 2021 PCA Convention & Trade Show, while the Short Churchill was sold only to AGANORSA Leaf Select Accounts.

“The Aniversario Maduro blend was a massive hit last year and there was great demand for this cigar to return to the market,” said Terence Reilly, vp of sales and marketing for AGANORSA Leaf, in a press release. “We also updated the packaging to make it clear this is an AGANORSA blend when consumers see it in the humidor.”

As with the rest of the AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro line, the Toro incorporates a blend that includes a Nicaraguan shade-grown maduro wrapper covering Nicaraguan tobacco used in both the binder and filler. It had an MSRP of $13.75 per cigar and was rolled at AGANORSA’s Leaf small factory in its Miami headquarters.

Here is what I said about the AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro Toro in my original review back in February 2022:

While the AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro Toro starts out with an aggressive spice, pepper and earth combination, it was never overwhelming enough to push out the other main flavors in the profile, a list that includes cashews, charred meat and oak. In addition, there were some very interesting additional parts of the profile, including some distinct vanilla bean sweetness—which gets more distinct as the cigar burns down—and a green pepper note on the finish in the final two-thirds. In the end, the AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro Toro is an impressive addition to the company’s portfolio: strong yet smooth, well-balanced and quite well-constructed.

Last year, AGANORSA Leaf announced that it was making the Aniversario Maduro a regular production line with three new vitolas, one of which is a Toro. The regular production version is 6 1/4 x 52, while the limited edition 2021 vitola was 6 x 54.

• Cigar Reviewed: AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro Toro (2021)
• Country of Origin: U.S.A.
• Factory: Casa Fernández Miami
• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Corojo Maduro)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Toro Extra
• MSRP: $13.75 (Box of 10, $137.50)
• Release Date: Nov. 12, 2021
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (15,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 1

As was the case with the cigars I smoked for my first review, it is hard to discern much about the AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro Toro’s wrapper due to the combination of two bands and a vellum wrap that take up at least 80 percent of the total real estate of the cigar. Removing the latter allows me to see an attractive milk chocolate wrapper that is dry as a bone, albeit with very little tooth. In addition, the soft box press and covered foot add quite a bit to the overall presentation from a visual standpoint. Aromas from the wrapper include sweet earth, creamy leather, generic nuts, dark chocolate and barnyard along with just a touch of raisins. Aromas from the foot are noticeably sweeter, highlighted by milk chocolate, orange juice, oak and cinnamon. Finally, the cold draw includes flavors of strong dark chocolate, cinnamon, brewed black coffee, creamy oak, earth, creamy almonds and a slight floral note.

There is plenty of spice and black pepper as I light the foot of the cigar—albeit less than I remember from the first review—along with flavors of anise and oak. After eight puffs, the anise flavor recedes to the background, but the oak note remains on top of the profile, joined by a charred meat flavor. Secondary notes include cinnamon, gritty earth, powdery cocoa nibs, roasted espresso beans, creamy hay and sourdough bread. In addition, there is a distinct floral sweetness on the retrohale that combines nicely with a large amount of black pepper, although the latter note becomes less aggressive around the halfway point. Flavor ends the first half at medium-plus, body is at medium and the strength ends the first half at a solid medium but still obviously increasing.

Creamy nuts and charred meat lead the way during the second half of the Aniversario Maduro Toro, followed by secondary flavors of oak, cocoa nibs, toasted bread, cinnamon, leather tack and dry straw. The black pepper on the retrohale recedes a bit from its high point in the first third—although it is still very much a part of the profile—but the floral sweetness has increased slightly at the same time. Flavor continues to increase until it finally hits the full mark in the final third, the body reaches a point just over medium and the strength tops out at medium-plus. In terms of construction, the AGANORSA Leaf Aniversario Maduro knocks it out of the park, with a close-to-perfect draw and plenty of dense, gray smoke emanating from the foot. However, the burn was the highlight of the overall construction, as it maintained a razor-sharp burn line that rarely wavered during the two hours and three minutes of smoking time.