Diesel Estelí Puro From A.J. Fernandez Coming in September
The new Diesel Estelí Puro, a cigar made entirely of tobacco from Nicaragua’s Estelí region, will be heading to cigar retailers next month. Produced by A.J. Fernandez in Nicaragua (the cigarmaker who crafts the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro, Cigar Aficionado’s 2019 Cigar of the Year), this is Diesel’s first region-specific blend, as the filler, binder and wrapper all come from Fernandez’s farms in Estelí.
Estelí is the city in Nicaragua where most of the nation’s cigars are rolled, but it’s also home to tobacco fields known in the industry for producing strong, spicy leaf. The upcoming brand is billed as being spice dominant.
The wrapper was grown on the La Lilia farm (named for Fernandez’s grandmother); the binder from the San José farm and the filler from several of Fernandez’s plots across Estelí, including the San Lotano farm.
Diesel Estelí Puro comes packaged in 20-count boxes and is offered in three sizes: Robusto, measuring 5 1/4 inches by 54 ring gauge; Toro, at 6 by 54 and Gigante, at 6 by 60. Suggested retail prices range from $8.99 to $9.99. Distributed by General Cigar Co., Diesel Estelí puro will hit the market on September 1.
The Diesel line has changed over the years. It started as a catalog brand for online retail giant Cigars International, which is owned by General’s parent company Scandinavian Tobacco Group. In 2017, General brought Diesel into the retail sector and created Diesel Grind just for brick-and-mortar tobacconists. Today, A.J. Fernandez makes a variety of Diesel lines for both brick-and-mortar shops and Cigars International.
