{"id":4559,"date":"2019-08-06T17:24:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T11:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/luxuryampersandfrolics.com\/?p=4559"},"modified":"2022-10-29T16:27:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-29T16:27:30","slug":"qa-eduardo-fernandez-aganorsa-leaf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/2019\/08\/06\/qa-eduardo-fernandez-aganorsa-leaf\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Eduardo Fern\u00e1ndez, Aganorsa Leaf"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Aganorsa (Agricola Norte\u00f1a S.A., the tobacco manufacturing arm of Casa Fernandez); Tabacalera Tropical (Nicaragua); cigar farm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After more than two decades in the business, entrepreneur Eduardo Fern\u00e1ndez has become a major player in Nicaragua\u2019s cigar industry. His agricultural operation,\u00a0 makes him one of the largest growers of premium cigar tobacco in all of Nicaragua.<\/p>\n

While the country\u2019s tobacco business is\u00a0that\u2019s showing no signs of slowing, Fernand\u00e9z controls a vast quantity of valuable acreage, but he isn\u2019t just a leaf man. The\u00a0factory in Estel\u00ed is responsible for some of Nicaragua\u2019s hottest cigar brands.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez came to\u00a0Cigar Aficionado<\/em>\u00a0headquarters in New York City and sat down with managing editor Greg Mottola for an enlightening talk about growing tobacco, producing cigars and managing the many facets of vertical integration.<\/p>\n

Cigar Aficionado:<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0When did you enter the tobacco business?
\nFern\u00e1ndez:<\/strong>\u00a0In 1998. I was looking at agricultural projects and I found that tobacco is a worldwide product. I met with\u00a0\u00a0and he explained the business in Nicaragua. He even told me where to grow and what to do. It was at the end of the cigar boom. Tobacco gives you immediate worldwide exposure.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Why Nicaragua?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0I went there with an open mind, and was deciding between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. I was taken aback by the friendliness and the opportunities of Nicaragua. On top of that, when you don\u2019t inherit land and have to buy it, it\u2019s expensive. Nicaragua was still in a post-revolution era, so the land was more available in Nicaragua than it was in Costa Rica.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Where in Nicaragua do you grow tobacco?
\nA<\/strong>: The three traditional areas: Jalapa, Condega and Estel\u00ed.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How many acres of tobacco do you grow there?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0About 1,200 acres. We expanded 20 percent last year in terms of land and we\u2019ll probably continue to grow 10 to 20 percent this year.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Across all three regions?
\nA<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Do you grow many different
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0We grow primarily two, traditional Criollo \u201998 and Corojo \u201999. This year, I have a new seed from Cuba called Corojo 2012. It\u2019s very much within our range of flavors. We started growing it now for trial purposes. We\u2019ll have a cigar in late 2020 with this tobacco.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0What do you mean by your range of flavors?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0At Aganorsa, we have a profile that fits into our blends. It\u2019s a refined, unique flavor that\u2019s a touch soft.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Can you describe the flavor?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0I think in terms of strength and sweetness. I don\u2019t get more sophisticated than that. I leave that to you writers [laughs].<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0You said the new Corojo 2012 is from Cuba, but Cuba doesn\u2019t sell its seeds. How did you get it?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0I got it in the States. Can\u2019t reveal any more than that. There are a lot of hybrids that come about. I\u2019m not partial to those.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0So these aren\u2019t
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0No. These are original seeds<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0You sell tobacco to a lot of the industry, don\u2019t you?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. About 80 percent of our tobacco is sold, because of how much we grow.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How do you determine what to sell and what to keep?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0We have our own profile and we know what we like. We look for specific flavor profiles in tobacco that can be repeated year in and year out. It has a lot to do with the origin of the tobacco.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0What about the highest grades of tobacco?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0The tobacco we choose goes to a warehouse. From there comes the different brands. We don\u2019t monopolize it just for ourselves. It becomes part of the blends that we formulate, so it all comes from the same basic stock.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0When did you open the TABSA factory?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0In 2002 originally. Then I closed it down. We reopened it about five or six years ago. For a time, we made cigars in Raices Cubanas [Honduras] with our tobacco and our own blends.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"igarQ:<\/strong>\u00a0You recently\u00a0Aganorsa Leaf. Why?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0It was a decision made by\u00a0[vice president of sales and marketing] and Max [Fern\u00e1ndez, Eduardo\u2019s son and factory manager]. Our leaf best defines who we are and why our tobacco is different. We wanted it all to be under one name. We\u2019re very proud and might be the only ones who gave a trademark to our leaf. It\u2019s very unique. It smokes different and taste different. It\u2019s from the soils of Nicaragua and basic Cuban seeds, but our process makes it unique to us.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0You have a factory in\u00a0. Doral. Has that been renamed Aganorsa Leaf as well?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Everything is officially named Aganorsa to carry the same message.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How many cigars does the Aganorsa Leaf factory produce each year?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Over seven million a year.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0And which brands do you own?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0JFR, the\u00a0Series and\u00a0. Those are our main brands.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0What are some of the third-party brands Aganorsa Leaf produces?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0almost all of [Nick] Melillo\u2019s \u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0Now, we\u2019re doing cigars for<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Would it be fair to say that the Illusione brand is what put you on the map? Sort of a star client?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Most definitely so.\u00a0\u00a0has an excellent palate and is totally involved. He took us to a higher level. Every time he visits he really gets involved in the nuts and bolts of production.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How much of your production consists of third-party, contract brands?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Half are third-party, half are ours.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Do you like working with third parties?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. There is nothing I like more than someone using my tobacco and finding his own expression. Anyone who has his own vision and does something interesting with it gives me great pleasure. I\u2019m very proud of our leaf. A different expression is like art. They\u2019re all artists in their own way. It doesn\u2019t have to be done by me. It\u2019s their expression with my leaf.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0last year. Was he a major contributor to the operation?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Absolutely. Arsenio taught me most of what I know about tobacco. He was a great teacher and super knowledgeable. Arsenio put his full effort and knowledge into our tobacco. He farmed and taught us about our leaf.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Who\u2019s the factory manager?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Max is our factory manager and basically does our blends.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong> Now that the is over, how many pounds of tobacco leaf did Aganorsa produce this year?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Let\u2019s see, what\u2019s 15,000 times 100? 1.5 million pounds.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0What percentage of that is wrapper?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Very little. About five percent. But we don\u2019t sell any wrapper. We use that only for ourselves or for clients of the factory. If our third parties make the cigar in our factories, they can use it.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0With Estel\u00ed being the center of Nicaragua\u2019s cigar industry, how has it changed in the last 10 years?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s grown with all the factories and with the fame of Nicaragua tobacco. Everybody wants Nicaraguan tobacco. Fields have grown especially in Estel\u00ed and Condega. More and more cigarmakers are coming and requesting Nicaraguan tobacco in their blends. We can\u2019t keep it in stock. It\u2019s scary.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0So you sell or use everything you grow?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Everything. We have a problem supplying customers, so we keep growing. I have certain very important customers we have to grow for.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Who are your biggest customers in terms of buying your tobacco?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0is one of our\u00a0biggest.\u00a0\u00a0as well.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How much more expensive has the price of land in Nicaragua become?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0In Estel\u00ed, it now costs about $30,000 a manzana, which would be close to $50,000 per acre. In the 90s, it cost about $800 per acre.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0That\u2019s a huge difference in 20 years.
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s an explosion. And every little piece of land is taken.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0You have a\u00a0\u00a0now. Let\u2019s talk about that.
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0All our wrapper is Corojo \u201999 tobacco, and it\u2019s all shade-grown. It adds a special sweetness to the cigar. At first, our land wasn\u2019t able to produce a good shade-grown maduro. It took 20 years to get the land up to the job. First, we used the right fertilizers, secondly we increased the PH level in Jalapa by using magnesium and calcium. On the industrial side, it\u2019s just pure fermentation, taking the leaf to that color with the right burn and right sheen on the leaf. We\u2019re very careful with the water and the humidity.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Do you ever steam the wrappers to achieve maduro color?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0No. We don\u2019t cut corners. You lose a lot of the flavor by using steam.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0On which brands can we find\u00a0this shade-grown Corojo \u201999 maduro?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0You\u2019ll find it on the\u00a0the \u00a0series and the\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0All the same priming wrapper on all the brands?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0Yes. Higher primings. All shade grown. All our wrappers in Nicaragua are shade grown and all wrappers are grown in Jalapa.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How many rollers do you have in the Aganorsa Leaf factory in Nicaragua?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0There are 90 rollers who work in pairs. In Miami, it\u2019s more Cuban style where every roller works alone, doing both bunching and wrapping. There, it\u2019s four rollers.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0Are you growing in terms of U.S. distribution?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0We recently started distributing cigars in California. We started our own distribution company there. It will allow us to participate more in that territory. Before, we were limited to working with only one or two distributors who had a license.<\/p>\n

Q:<\/strong>\u00a0How important is it to be vertically integrated?
\nA:<\/strong>\u00a0In the end, it\u2019s very important. The leaf is everything. It\u2019s the end result. With the three growing regions and seeds, we can do unbelievable things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After more than two decades in the business, entrepreneur Eduardo Fern\u00e1ndez has become a major player in Nicaragua\u2019s cigar industry. His agricultural operation,\u00a0 makes him one of the largest growers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,59,20,27,36],"tags":[2,3,5,63,45,37],"class_list":["post-4559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cigars","category-home-banner","category-india-cigar-club","category-news","category-nicaragua","tag-cigars","tag-indiacigarclub","tag-lifestyle","tag-cigar-aficionado","tag-cigarsindia","tag-nicaraguua"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4559\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indiacigarclub.com\/journal\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}