Vitola: Box-pressed Toro- 6” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $11.99
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Something like 20 years a cigar blender fled Cuba and set up shop making Nicaraguan blends for US-based companies. Before you knew it, nearly every company had a blend from this cigar maker in their portfolio and the rest were clamoring for his services. Of course, I’m talking about Don Pepin Garcia, head of the My Father Cigar Company which at different times made cigars for themselves, Tatuaje, Miami Cigar & Company, Crowned Heads, and El Tiante. This review is not about one of his blends.
Likewise, A.J. Fernandez fled Cuba and worked with Meier & Dutch, a wholesale company closely tied to Cigars International and Cigar Bid…which is where you saw AJ’s Man o War and Diesel blend bring his name to prominence with value-seeking cigar smokers. He expanded to mainstream brick-and-mortar cigar shops with the San Lotano line in 2010, but what really put his company on the map was the New World, a medium-to-full-bodied Nicaraguan blend that delivered great flavor for an excellent price.
Now A.J. has the largest cigar factory in Central America and makes his eponymous lines, plus blends of classic Cuban brands for the American market. In the past few years, he has produced blends for Punch, Montecristo, H. Upmann, Romeo y Julieta, and now El Rey del Mundo, a brand distributed in the U.S. by Forged Cigars.
El Rey del Mundo by A.J. Fernandez was released in the first half of 2022, with only 3,800 boxes of 10 produced. It is made of Nicaraguan fillers, a Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and a Nicaraguan wrapper leaf. It was released in a single size and I’ve smoked about 4 before this review sample, all of which were purchased at Burns Tobacconist.
Prelight
The look of the El Rey del Mundo by AJ Fernandez is nice and relatively “high end” with a red foil main band and white trim and writing on it, as well as a matching foot band. In between the wrapper leaf is covered by white tissue paper. The one issue I’ve found with the several samples I’ve smoked is that the tissue paper ends up glued to the main band so you are forced to remove the main band to remove the tissue and get the cigar started…or tear the tissue off, leaving a ragged edge at the bottom of the main band. I hear some of you saying “I don’t smoke the band!” but appearances do matter…if I have to take off the band before I can smoke it, how do I tell people what I’m smoking when they ask? Honestly, it’s happened before and without the band, there are times I have to think about it…and even if I do remember what it is, I can’t show the other person the band so they can look for it easily. It’s minor but worth noting.
The wrapper I could see above the band was a milk chocolate brown in color, smooth and oily to the touch, and had an aroma of rich earth and unsweetened cocoa powder. The foot was more earth and a touch more sweetness in the cocoa aroma.
After clipping the head I got an excellent prelight draw that had notes of earth, semi-sweet chocolate, and berries.
Flavor
The El Rey del Mundo by AJ Fernandez started medium-plus in body with rich earth, smooth milk chocolate, and mild pepper notes. As I got deeper into the first third, I found more semi-sweet chocolate emerging, playing hide and seek with the earthiness, while the pepper never rose that high in the mix. The retrohale was natural tobacco, black pepper, and cedar.
The second third continued on mildly sweet with the addition of some floral notes and a decrease in earth, while a smooth coffee note came into play. Pepper was still a mild heat in the background.
There wasn’t a huge amount of change in the last third, but it kept up a good flavor and medium-plus body.
Construction
I had an excellent draw, even burn line, and solid ash.
Value
The price tag is a bit higher than other El Rey del Mundo releases, but is in line with the limited nature of the blend. And it had good flavor, so I think it’s worth the price of admission.
Conclusions
El Rey del Mundo by A.J. Fernandez is a nice, moderately expensive addition to the lineup. While a lot of people might know A.J. for his stronger, more aggressive Nicaraguan blends, this is a blend that shows some more nuance in a medium-bodied smoke that was always easy to enjoy. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be around long. Most of the time a larger company does a “limited edition” they end up producing 100,000 cigars (or sometimes twice that number) and they are pretty easy to find for a couple years. This time, with only 38,000 cigars made, it’s a pretty good bet that they won’t be around very long.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
