Cigars are more than my life’s work - they are my way of leaving a legacy worth remembering.
Long before AJ Fernández became a name known around the world, Abdel “AJ” Fernández was learning tobacco in San Luis, Pinar del Río, Cuba.
Growing up, AJ was surrounded by tobacco and learned from his father, Ismael, and the generations before him. He was also a natural entrepreneur. From a young age, he worked wherever he could, always finding ways to earn, sell, and create opportunities for himself. That work ethic and determination were part of AJ long before there was a company bearing his name.
In the 1990s, Ismael left Cuba for Nicaragua, where he worked alongside Néstor Plasencia in Ocotal and continued building his knowledge of tobacco. AJ followed in 2003, beginning his own chapter in Nicaragua. He started small, producing cigars for others and steadily building a reputation for his work.
As the operation grew, AJ began investing in land and growing his own tobacco, expanding across some of Nicaragua’s most important tobacco-growing regions. That connection between agriculture and cigar making became fundamental to AJ Fernández. From the seed and soil to fermentation, blending, and production, the company became increasingly involved in every stage of the process.
Over time, AJ also began building a portfolio of his own. San Lotano revived a name connected to his family’s tobacco history in San Luis. New World, introduced in 2014, marked his first blend created together with his father, Ismael. Enclave, Bellas Artes, Días de Gloria, Last Call, and the brands that followed each represent different moments in the evolution of AJ Fernández.
Today, that same approach extends across our farms and factories in Nicaragua. We grow much of the tobacco we use, oversee its fermentation and aging, develop our blends, and produce our cigars alongside teams whose knowledge and experience have helped build the company.
AJ remains closely connected to the fields, the tobacco, and the people behind the company bearing his name. And the knowledge once passed down to him continues forward, as a new generation of the family learns from what came before while helping shape what comes next.
More than two decades after AJ arrived in Nicaragua, the country remains the heart of AJ Fernández, the place where a small operation became the company we are today.
In Nicaragua
Est. 2003