In Conversation with A.J. Fernandez Cigars

Tabacalera Fernandez, best known to the English-speaking world as A.J. Fernandez Cigars, is a maker of cigars primarily grown and produced in Nicaragua and sold worldwide.

The company is run by Abdel J. Fernandez, a third-generation cigarmaker, and is a prominent manufacturer of cigars sold under a variety of labels, including Man O’War, Diesel, and San Lotano. We sit down with Fernandez to learn about the brand.

How did you start in this business?

It was a family tradition, I have tobacco in my blood. Where I come from, in San Luis in Cuba, I saw tobacco growing on the left, on the right, everywhere. This is how it started.

So your family had a factory in Cuba?

In Cuba, nobody has a manufactury. Before the revolution, my grandfather had a small factory with a few others, and this is where the first San Lotano was made. I revived that brand, using Nicaraguan tobacco, in 2010.

Which year did you start producing cigars?

In 2003.

And how many cigars do you produce now?

About 15 million per year, split up between the family brands, and the private brands that we manufacture for.

Every year you launch one new brand. Do you get a sense of satisfaction that you’re producing the best you can at the time, or are you always looking to the future and thinking about doing better?

It depends. What is important to know in these kinds of things is that the palette, the taste, is very different. Some people will like this one better, and some people will like that one better. So it’s difficult to say. There is no ‘best’ in absolute terms.