AJ Fernandez New World Puro Especial Short Churchill. Oh My!

Two great cigars in a single day! Call me lucky. Yesterday, I went to West Coast Cigars to finish some work I had left. I needed to get out of the house because I was going stir crazy. I spent about five hours there and yes; I finished my work. My first cigar was the La Aurora Preferidos Broadleaf Edition Diamond Tubo. It was a fantastic cigar and I just ordered a box today. Amazing.

After I finished the Diamond, I took a breather, then went back into the humidor to find another smoke. When I first arrived at the shop, my gaze fell upon the Puro Especial and I mentally filed it away. But when I returned to the humidor for my second smoke, just as I was reaching for a Room 101 The Big Payback Maduro, I remembered the Puro Especial and decided to go with it since I had never had one.

Long story short, to me, this is the best stick I’ve had in the New World series. I’ve gone through boxes of every other one in the line, but it’s the Puro Especial that’s my new favorite. It used to be the Oscuro, but after smoking this one, the Oscuro pales in comparison.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really did just form this opinion after only smoking a single cigar. But I’ve had enough AJ cigars to know that they’re consistent from stick to stick, so what I tasted yesterday wasn’t going to change much when I smoke the next one. It really was that good!

First of all, I was amazed at the construction. The Short Churchill that I had was solid and seemed packed to the gills with nary a soft spot to be found. It was also impeccably rolled. And though the wrapper had some veins showing, the overall wrapping was even and smooth.

I used a v-cut for this one as I left my punch at home. The cold draw was… fruity… like dried apricots. It had a similar twang as well. And of course, I got cedar and a bit of barnyard as well and a touch of woodiness. That took me completely by surprise.

At light up, as expected with many AJ sticks I’ve had, I got a blast of black pepper and coffee, plus a background cayenne heat that coated my lips and mouth. As for the fruit, that didn’t return until I was about an inch into the stick. Mind you, this stick wasn’t sweet at all, but had that fruity quality that was amazing.

I’ll do a complete review once I get my box and it has sat for a while, but if you like red pepper spice, this cigar is for you. But unlike AJ’s Man O’ War Puro Authentico where pepper is king, the spice in this cigar creates a foundation on which all the other flavors dance and they do a wonderful, flowing dance. There isn’t a plethora of flavors in this cigar; rather, its complexity comes from the constant transitions. And the flavors (cream, leather, red pepper, black pepper, stone fruit, wood, to name a few) intensify as the cigar dwindles down as does the speed of the transitions. By the final third, the cigar had me guessing from puff to puff. To me, that’s a sign of a superior smoke!

Halfway through the smoke, my daughter called me to say dinner was ready, but I stayed put to finish the cigar. It was simply too good to just let burn, so I told her that the family could start without me. I’d eat dinner when I got home. That turned out to be an hour-and-a-half later. This was a 2-hour stick. I probably could’ve smoked it a bit faster, but I got into a great conversation with the owner of the shop. But despite several minutes passing between puffs, the cigar stayed lit. I never once had to correct the burn or relight it. That told me so much about the quality of the construction of that cigar.

What turned me on with this stick was that spice. I’m not normally a fan of spicy cigars, but in this case, it provided a verve and vibrancy that lifted the deep and rich flavors underpinned by the spice. That was amazing to me. I just didn’t want to put it down.

So yeah, I’ve also purchased a box of these. But the tremendous thing about this cigar is that you get all this for just over $5.00! If I did a blind taste test, I’d say this was easily a $10-$15 cigar, rivaling a Padron 4000 which is easily one of my favorites, so I don’t say that lightly.

If you get a chance, pick up a few of these. Even if you don’t like spicy cigars, I’d say give it a try. There’s so much going on with this stick that you could easily overlook the spice.