The Good Stuff: San Lotano is the latest brain child of master-blender AJ Fernandez. AJ is better known for his crazy successful blends such as the Man O’ War line, the Ave Maria, La Herencia, and even the AF1 and AF2 from Emilio cigars. Working backwards from mail-order production, AJ Fernandez has released the San Lotano which is a line exclusive only to Brick and Mortar shops. The San Lotano lines are blended in the Tabacalera Fernandez factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. The Oval in particular made it’s debut at this year’s IPCPR show in Las Vegas, sporting a top priming Ecuadorian Habano Ligero wrapper,  Nicaraguan binder, along with Nicaraguan, Honduran, and a top secret filler blend. The Oval comes in six different sizes: Petit Robusto – 4.5 x 54, Corona – 5 x 54, Robusto – 5.5 x 54, Toro – 6 x 54, Gordo – 6.5 x 60, and the Pyramid – 6.5 x 54 which will all range from $6 to about $9 a stick. These were kindly sent of to us by Spence over at AJ Fernandez Cigars.

Size:  6 x 54  -  Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Ligero  -  Binder: Nicaraguan  -  Filler: Nicaraguan, Honduran, Secret concoction

Prelight: The obvious stand-out characteristic in this cigar is the shape. Despite being a little quirky, and different then what I am used to, the rounded “oval” format of the Oval makes it incredible easy to hold. This reminds be a lot of the rounded box-press cigars that Padron has been making. Outside of the strange shape the San Lotano Oval sports the suburb quality and construction we have all grown to expect from AJ Fernandez. The body of the cigar is very firm with only a few veins leading up to the very round double cap. The band is identical to the rest of the San Lotano line with the cold print and AJ Fernandez crest, with the only difference being the dark greet “San Lotano Oval” slogan in the center of the band. The other blends tend to use a difference color background.  The wrapper is very thick, and durable carrying a nice milky, dark chocolate brown that’s extremely consistent until you get towards to cap of the cigar where the color begins to darken quite a bit. I love to see color differences in cigars. It gives them a much more natural, less dyed look.

The wrapper of the cigar gives off just a nice, smooth natural tobacco scent while the foot explodes with spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and just about every other sweet seasoning you’d find in a bakery. The aroma is incredible. It almost smells like a cinnamon roll. The Oval cut clean and actually very easy with my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw wasn’t as warn and toasty with cinnamon producing fun as I expected. The spice is there for sure, with a nice floral flavor then an overall natural earthy and tobacco flavor. Time to light this guy up and see what the real flavors end up like.

First Smoke: WOAH. Prepare for some flavor. The San Lotano Oval starts out with the just massive burst of cinnamon, sweet tobacco, slight pepper, and spice. All the flavors I picked up in the prelight really shine though and even the first few draws are flavor packed and ready to demand your attention. I’m not used to getting this much flavor off the bat of a larger ring gauged cigar. The draw is very easy and smooth giving a pretty nice sized mouthful of smoke with each puff. The Oval really doesn’t give off a lot of stationary smoke, and even then, despite all the flavor this cigar puts out the stationary smoke is relatively mild with only hints of spice and cedar. The burnline is dead even and razor sharp leaving behind a nice trail of solid, medium grey ash which held on for well over an inch before giving way. That’s a long way considering just how windy is was outside while I was smoking this.

Halfway There: At this point the pepper has completely dropped out of the picture. The San Lotano Oval is now pumping out a nice smooth, cinnamon, floral, cedar flavor with some interesting chocolate notes of the after taste. I am still impressed with the amount of flavor this larger ring gauged cigar has been able to kick out. I usually stay away from larger ring gauges for both flavor, and comfort reasons but the Oval Gordo, with it’s unique format doesn’t carry either of those two problems. The retrohale is awesome on this cigar coating your nasal passage with a very nice spice. I found myself retrohaling the hell out of this cigar. The burn is still solid and even and I’m barely feeling just a little nicotine kick from this cigar after the second third.

Finish: The San Lotano had a unique way of really smoothing out without losing the flavor. Usually cigars tend to ramp up in body into the final third but the Oval did just the opposite and actually weakened in body which really made up for the final flavors. The main flavors were still cinnamon, nutmeg, earth tobacco with nice chocolate notes, only a bit smoother and not as bold as the first two thirds making for a really creamy, smooth finish. No harshness, no heat buildup, just an all around smooth and enjoyable finish.

Overview: AJ Fernandez has been on a roll the last few years creating some of the best mail order blends money can buy. AJ and his Brick and Mortar exclusive San Lotano line just added a few notches in his belt. Not to mention, after smoking multiple vitolas of all the cigars in the line, the Oval has to be the stand out and one of the best cigars I have had this year. Top ten worthy? We’ll have to see. But what I can say is that this is a perfect cigar for any level of cigar smoker. Tons of flavor without overbearing body makes it enjoyable for both the Pro Cigar Smoker, and the Novice. The price is spot on, and this is boxworthy by far and will be in my regular rotation for some time to come.

Pairing: I decided to pair the San Lotano Oval with a bottle of New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Series “Kick”. I really want to stress that THIS IS NOT A BEER I WOULD RECOMMEND PAIRING WITH CIGARS. Kick is an ale brewed with 75% Pumpkin and Cranberry Juice and 25% Oak wooden barrel aged ale. That being said you would expect a sweet, low alcohol, smooth beer. No way. This is a very strong, VERY sour beer coming in at 8.5% ABV. This isn’t your beginners beer and if you aren’t a fan of sour ales, or have never tried them, you may want to stay away from this beer all together. Having smoked through the entire line of the San Lotano Oval I knew what this cigar was capable of. And to be honest, I knew that it would be one of the only cigars in my humidor that packed enough flavor to stand up to this beer. Did I make a wise decision? Shit yeah I did! The pumpkin and cranberry tart paired perfectly and even became an equalizer at some points with the Oval. If you can get your hands on this beer and enjoy sours, do it. It was a neat experiment that actually turned out the way that I had hoped.

Man O' War Ruination

I hadn’t had the pleasure of smoking one of these until now. There is a huge push in the Man O’ War brand, not only from a retailer standpoint but by the cigar aficionados as well. So much hype and talk has gotten me pretty interested in this cigar. I was lucky enough to have a few sent to me by the awesome “Agent 24″ at Cigar Spy. (Thanks Man!).

The Good Stuff: I was able to dig up quite a bit of information about the Man O’ War Ruintation. Man O’ War was developed by Abdel “AJ” Fernandez at Tabacalera Fernandez. AJ is a protégé of Don Alejandro Robaina, the man who is considered to be the “Godfather” of tobacco. AJ had spent most of his life under the practice Alejandro in Cuba before migrated to Nicaragua where he now resides creating some of the finest cigars out there. Aj is noted for creating Rocky Patel’s Fusion, Indian Tabac 10th Anniversary, Padilla Habano, and Sol Cubano Cuban Cabinet. But out of the list of fine cigars AJ considers the Man O’ War his finest piece of work.

Man O' War Ruination

The Man O’ War Ruination is constructed of Cuban-seed Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos. To add to the equation most of the tobacco leaves used to construct this cigar are Ligero leaves wrapped in Habano Ecuadorian tobacco leaves. The Ligero leaves are the strongest of all the tobacco leaves on a plant. They produce not only the most strength, but an incredibly spicy, bold taste as well.

Man O' War Ruination

Size: 5.7 x 56  -  Wrapper: Habano Ecuadorian  -  Filler: Cuban-seed Honduran and Nicaraguan Ligero  Flavor: Full

Prelight: The first thing that you notice about the Ruination is the dark, oily Ligero Wrapper. The wrapper is even darker then a lot of maduro wrapped cigars sitting in my humidor. The Ruination is a very heavy cigar. Probably the heaviest I have ever felt (I even did the: “wow, this is a heavy cigar. Sweetheart check this out”). Not to mention the tobacco is incredibly tightly packed in this bad boy. There were no signs of misconstruction and obviously no soft spots. I think I could probably throw this cigar through a window without harming it. The Ruination gives off a very grassy, musky smell before it is lit. The head of my cigar is oddly quite a bit darker than the foot. There were a few veins in the construction, but nothing that I forsee having any problems with.

Man O' War Ruination

First Smoke: This cigar took quite a while to light under my single flame colibri Torch.  I’m starting to see a similar trend in any ligero based cigars. I clipped just a bit off of the torpedo shaped tip. The first tastes were that of a dark chocolate, mixed with leather, and hints of vanilla. This wasn’t a pleasant hot cocoa mix I’m used to. The tobacco and flavor mixture is incredibly harsh, and even a bit over-powering. Someone had asked how I was enjoying the cigar and I could only respond with “It’s definitely a Man’s cigar”. I couldn’t get too much of a draw off of the ruination so i increased the cut to almost double what I normally do. I’m assuming that the plugging was due to how tightly this cigar is packed. After the extra cut the draw increased and the Ruination produced huge clouds of VERY thick smoke. I can usually 3-hit each draw, but this guy was too powerful, no more than 2. After a few draws the flavors balanced out a bit more to a very peppery, spicy, chocolate, espresso laced taste. It is a very great tasting cigar when not overpowered by the strength. Oddly, I only got about 3/4 of an inch in before the ash gave way.

Man O' War Ruination

Halfway There: About halfway in the cigar got much easier to handle. I don’t know if my body was getting used to it, or if the Ruination itself had actually balanced itself out. The strength has definitely held its own and the flavor is holding up as well. It’s much more peppery at this point, and I can feel the slight tingle from the tobacco on my lips and tongue. My second ash lasted well over an inch. This was much more expected that the first. It must have been a fluke, or maybe the wind. The cigar is burning pretty evenly, but it has the tendency to try and extinguish itself. I remedied that but touching the cigar up every now and then, even if it was still burning even.

Finish: Near the end I cut just a tad more off of the head. The moisture from my mouth was causing the cigar to slightly plug up. Towards the end I no longer had any burn issues, but the strength of the cigar was starting to take its toll on me. I had become a bit light-headed, but I wasn’t going to raise any white flags until I’ve nubbed the Ruination. The pepper flavor stood its ground towards the end of the cigar, vanquishing any other flavors at this point. The Man O’ War Ruination took a little over 2 hours to smoke in it entirety.

Man O' War Ruination

Overview: First of all, I can’t even believe I was able to finish this cigar. The Ruination in no way is intended for the novice cigar smoker. This cigar is intended to knock your socks off and that’s exactly what it did. Would I try this again? I plan on it. Just not on an empty stomach. This is a perfect cigar to have on those days where you feel you have a chip on your shoulder and need to just forget about life in general and enjoy a relaxing smoke.