NAME: Ave Maria Argentum by AJ Fernandez
DATE: 11-1-2020
RATE: 88
PRICE: $8-$9
STRENGTH: 1 2 3 4 (5)
REVIEWER: Aaron M. Paoletta – www.lavegalounge.com
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AJ Fernandez, is one hell of a master cigar blender. He was raised in Cuba and came up in the tradition of making cigars and underneath the Fernandez Cigar legacy. AJ produces what some consider to be, “unparalleled“ premium Cigars in Esteli in Nicaragua. AJ Fernandez cigars are always under the watchful eye AJ himself. Although I’d like a lot of cigars that he created, I think he has his hands in so many different projects, some of the cigars start to taste the same. That being said, I have yet to try anything from this particular line so let’s dive right in.
When I first walked into a humidor at my cigar shop that I go to and I saw the cigar sitting on the shelf I thought to myself, “wow”. Impressive label, and it has a nutty yet oakey aroma to it. Impressive start. So I purchased it, set down and removed it from the plastic wrapper, clipped the tip and gave it a cold draw. Excellent so far. The taste of cocoa, cedar, caramel and some slight nuttiness.
Now that all that was taken care of I pulled out my lighter and sparked this bad boy up. What a blast of flavors and an aroma that filled the room. In the first third I tasted an earthy boldness with and out. I touch of licorice and a slight spice on the back of the pallet during retro Hale. it wasn’t too much spice that it would ruin it like a punch signature cigar that I’ve had before but just enough to let you know it was there. On the second third, some new flavors decided to appear. Now I can taste some molasses, peanuts and the draw is a bit smoother and creamier. But as we get into the final third it becomes a bit ashy. It went from beautiful flavors and aromas to tasting like I just breathed in an ashtray.
Extremely disappointed. but my overall opinion is for 8 dollars, I would not keep an entire box on hand but I would keep a few in the event that I wanted one. What started out phenomenally turned to ash. Now, when a particular Cigar turns to ash on me, I have to wonder, did I smoke too fast? is it a Cigar self? So many things run through my head because it is rare when a cigar turns to an ashy flavor. That being said, I actually purchased two more and smoked them on two different days. Same result only it was less on the third one. I stand by my rating on this one, unfortunately, but I have tried more from this lineup and this is the only one I gave this rating to.