H. Upmann by AJ Fernandez Sunrise Toro 6″ * 54

The H. Upmann by AJ Fernandez Sunrise Toro is a Connecticut-wrapped toro from AJ Fernandez, handmade in Nicaragua. AJ Fernandez learned to grow and blend tobacco from his grandfather in Cuba before building one of Nicaragua’s most sought-after factories.

It blends an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler at a medium body, leading with cream, cedar, blanched almond, and a gentle white-pepper snap. At 6 by 54, it burns cool and even.

Connecticut Shade is grown under cloth to keep the sun off, which keeps the leaf thin, pale and mild. Ecuador is the exception worth knowing: the cloud cover there sits low enough year round that growers skip the cloth entirely and let nature do it.

Pairs well with coffee, cream ale, or amber ale.