Aganorsa Leaf, a premium cigar company whose motto, “Our strength is our leaf,” has evolved over the years. As a company, it holds a different place in different people’s lives. To some in the industry, Aganorsa Leaf is a go-to source of quality premium tobacco; to retailers and consumers, it’s the manufacturer of some humidor mainstays, including JFR, Lunatic, Guardian of the Farm, Supreme Leaf, and its namesake premium cigar brand, Aganorsa. To those on social media, Aganorsa Leaf is the source of photos featuring the brand’s fans flexing or in the process of “validating” a new smoke. There is one constant: Aganorsa Leaf knows how to grow some of the industry’s best tobacco and how to make a great cigar.
“Aganorsa is not a cult of personality brand or a lifestyle brand. Our tobacco has a signature flavor and aroma that people love, and that is the secret of our success,” shares Terence Reilly, Aganorsa Leaf’s vice president of sales and marketing. “If you are purchasing bales of tobacco from us, or making a private label brand with us, or simply a consumer who enjoys our cigars, the reason you are choosing Aganorsa is because of the love of our unique leaf.”
Though you may believe the goal of Aganorsa Leaf is to sell as much tobacco as possible and make the best cigars possible, Reilly states that his company’s long-term and short-term goals are to expand and increase consumer passion for its leaf. “This is the only metric of success,” he explains.
How do you get consumers to fall in love with the tobacco you grow? For Aganorsa Leaf, it’s a process that begins with asking questions. Learning what its retail partners, sales team and consumers are interested in—and what they are not—helps the company craft better blends. “Word on the street is a powerful tool to guide you as to what kind of cigar you should be trying to put out next,” says Reilly. “Occasionally, a great blend appears out of the head of Zeus like Pallas Athena, but that is the exception.”
Reilly and those who work at Aganorsa Leaf know their job is far more complex than simply selling cigars and growing good tobacco. For the Aganorsa Leaf brand to thrive, cigar enthusiasts must feel like they are getting value with every purchase.
“There is nothing more productive than combining meaningful work with meaningful relationships,” Reilly proclaims. “We want our retail partners to know that our vision is to create meaningful relationships with good people that significantly increase the enjoyment of life through an appreciation of great tobacco.”
From Growers to Makers
Long before there was a brand, there was just a dream to grow the finest tobacco the world had smoked. Eduardo Fernández’s family had no ties to the tobacco business. Eduardo was an entrepreneur, having attended the Wharton School of Business at Penn State University before becoming a banker and moving to Spain. He and his brother, Leopoldo, launched a successful company named TelePizza that they took public, and which helped them become financially set for life. Eduardo moved to Nicaragua to start a new business, this one set in the tobacco industry.
Eduardo wanted to grow tobacco but knew he needed help to do it successfully. After a trip to Cuba, he hired former Cuban tobacco agronomists to help him with his new tobacco business. These hires include Jacinto Iglesias, Chandito Gomez, and, most notably, Arsenio Ramos. With their help, Eduardo grew sought-after tobacco, enabling him to eventually expand into new areas of business.
“Our owner, Eduardo Fernandez, originally just wanted to grow tobacco. As time went on, some of the people he sold tobacco to kept insisting he make cigars for them,” Reilly explains. “Over time, we became vertically integrated—growing tobacco, making cigars and distributing our proprietary brands in the U.S.”
Becoming known for doing several things well has taken some trial and error. In the company’s early days, Aganorsa had to work on positioning itself in the market. “There were a lot of different names, different directions,” says Reilly. “Today, we are clear as to who we are and much more focused on where we want to go.”
Aganorsa Leaf has set itself apart from others in the premium tobacco space by creating cigars in a certain style better than anyone else rather than making cigars in a wide range of styles for different palates. “We have different expressions of strength and flavor, to be sure, and you will like some more than others, but you will always taste the signature Aganorsa flavor,” Reilly explains. “Aganorsa isn’t for everyone, but if you enjoy our signature flavor and aroma, there is no brand that you will love more.”
When crafting a blend, Aganorsa Leaf aims to consistently deliver a certain experience in terms of flavors and aroma. The new blends Aganorsa Leaf makes must address some underserved segments in the market or gaps within the company’s portfolio. The cigars must also be presented in a way that makes them easy for the end consumers to understand and identify with. Since Aganorsa Leaf has been making its own brands, retailers and consumers have responded positively. JFR, Lunatic and New Cuba are a “must” for every retailer, according to Reilly. These are the brands that practically sell themselves. Big ring gauges are big sellers, with the JFR and Lunatic being the most successful Aganorsa-produced cigars with 60-, 70-, and 80-ring gauges—made for enthusiasts seeking a cigar that is not only affordable but that doesn’t hold back on quality and flavor.
At the 2024 PCA trade show, Aganorsa Leaf introduced a new cigar line to honor Arsenio Ramos, the company’s master blender until his death in 2018. Before working at Aganorsa, Ramos was in charge of leaf processing in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba. Ramos typically smoked a corona-size cigar while working in the fields and farms. Last year, Aganorsa Leaf introduced the Arsenio Ramos cigar in three sizes to honor Ramos’s legacy and the Aganorsa flavor he helped to develop.
Celebrating a Milestone
This year, Aganorsa Leaf is celebrating its 25th anniversary—two years after the actual date—with a special release. This ultra-limited-edition cigar will be a Nicaraguan puro measuring 6.25 x 52. “We have been very methodical about this special release,” Reilly explains. “It will be the most expensive cigar we have ever released, and we want people to taste the difference. We have only 1,000 boxes total, and each cigar is a masterpiece.”
Though the company has been in business for well over a quarter of a century, brand awareness remains its biggest challenge today. As the company’s vice president of marketing and sales, Reilly focuses his efforts on getting more cigar enthusiasts familiar with Aganorsa Leaf’s great cigars and tobacco.
“How do we access the vast majority of cigar smokers who do not hang out in stores or attend cigar events, who do not read cigar blogs, who do not view cigars as anything more than a daily or weekly or occasional pleasure? That type of individual is the majority of consumers, and accessing them within the limitations of tobacco advertising is challenging,” Reilly admits. “I’ve found we have an excellent success rate of creating passionate Aganorsa Acolytes [fans of the Aganorsa Leaf brand] once they are introduced to our leaf, but we need to achieve this on a much larger scale than we have thus far.”
This year, Reilly and the Aganorsa Leaf team are setting out to strengthen their partnership with retailers who carry and believe in their brand. To achieve long-term success, Aganorsa Leaf offers retailers the chance to join its Aganorsa Select Program, which provides retailers with benefits for doing business with the company. The program has two levels, Platinum and Gold, both offering good benefits to retailers. The only time to join this program is in January of each year, but once a member is enrolled, this program gives retailers access to discounts, deals and special releases. Retailers can contact their local Aganorsa rep or the company’s main office to learn more about this program.
– Photography courtesy of Aganorsa Leaf and Antoine Reid. Story by Antoine Reid, content director at Premium Cigar Association (PCA). You can reach him at antoine@premiumcigars.org.
This story first appeared in PCA The Magazine, Volume 1, 2025. To receive a copy of this magazine, you must be a current PCA member. Join or renew today at premiumcigars.org/membership.