blessednxs65
Is it Nicaraguan
One mans vision that has become an incredibly popular cigar brand
Los Angeles, October 12 The story is well known to cigar smokers: composer Avo Uvezian teams up with little-known cigar maker Hendrik Kelner in 1986 to create the Avo line that debuts in 1987.
Even though the Cigar Boom is some years off, the Avo line breaks through with smokers across the country and helps to ignite the expansion of interest in cigars that crests in the mid-to-late 1990s. And then Uvezian is rewarded with a multi-million dollar buyout of the brand by his distributor, Davidoff of Geneva.
Now 81, Uvezian continues to travel the globe to promote his cigars, which entertain smokers just as much as his music has to audiences for more than 50 years. Putting aside the hype, we wanted to take a taste of the line to see how it measured up after 20 years and how good the new and much-heralded Avo 787 was. As it turned out, we were in for quite a treat.
Avo Classic:
[Dominican Republic: available in 6 sizes]
This is the original blend introduced by Uvezian and Kelner in 1986 that created the brands impressive reputation for taste and quality. It will impress you again today.
Promoted as a mild cigar with rich taste, we found the blend to actually be medium-to-full in body, meaning it filled the mouth with flavor. It has a toasty, slightly spicy aroma featuring a Connecticut Shade wrapper and a marvelously caramelized taste with a medium-to-long finish.
One of the things that becomes obvious in smoking a number of these cigars is the quality of construction and dependability of the draw. Its almost perfect, with a consistently even burn and a solid ash that makes smoking these cigars a pleasure.
The blend stays consistent right to the end, smooth and delicious. The original is still the best and at retail prices of $7.00 to $9.40 each, is at least occasionally accessible to all smokers.
Overall grade: A+: Outstanding.
Avo Maduro:
[Dominican Republic: available in 6 sizes]
Once the Avo line became a success, naturally there was a call for maduro-wrapped shapes.
The call was answered in 2000 and today there is a six-shape Avo Maduro group. This is a medium-bodied cigar, a little thinner in the mouth than the Classic version. Theres a toasty, slightly sweet aroma to this cigar and a rich, deep, sweet flavor. Theres just a note of spice on the medium finish.
While theres plenty of flavor, the line doesnt show much finesse, but more of a constant power throughout. Theres a just a touch of pepper that comes in during the second half that underscores the brawn of this line, but it will be a favorite of smokers who appreciate rich flavors and like the sweetness of maduro.
The pricing is very similar to the Classic line at $7.40 to $9.40 each; all sizes are sold in boxes of 25.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.
Avo Signature:
[Dominican Republic: available in 5 sizes]
The Avo Signature line is a direct descendant of the first of the Avo Limited Editions, introduced in 2001 as the Avo 75" anniversary cigar. That blend offered in only one size (7 x 50) in boxes of 10 was so widely popular that it had to be part of the regular-production line.
By the end of 2001, the Avo Signature line was a reality, sporting a reddish band and offered in five sizes, but like the Avo 75, only in boxes of 10.
The samples we tried exhibited a slight spicy aroma and a medium body. The taste has a clean sweetness to it with just the barest pinch of spice that comes in on the medium finish. Its a balanced smoke with a consistent taste throughout thats easy to enjoy and like all Avos, burns perfectly.
The Signatures medium body makes it accessible to all smokers, but its priced a little higher than the other lines, at $8.10 for the Small Corona (4 1/2 x 43) to $13.80 for the Double Corona (7 x 50) without including local tobacco taxes.
Overall grade: A: Exceptional.
Avo XO:
[Dominican Republic: available in 5 sizes]
The XO pays tribute to Uvezians musical background with shape names taken from musical notations such as Intermezzo, Notturno and Preludio. And this blend plays very, very well.
Introduced as the second Avo series, in the early 1990s, we found it medium-to-full in body, with a toasty aroma and a note of spice. The flavor is rich and caramelized, with a modest, neutral finish thats devoid of spice.
That makes the XO a gentle, relaxed cigar through the first half and while a precisely-measured dash of spice enters on the finish in the second half, it serves to add depth and subtlety to the blend so that it does not become boring or monotonous.
Best of all, the XO line is well priced, ranging from $5.50 for the small Allegro (4 1/2 x 34) to $10.90 for the tubed Maestoso, the largest cigar in the line at seven inches and 48 ring, not including local tobacco taxes.
Overall grade: A: Exceptional.
Avo 787:
[Dominican Republic: available in 3 sizes]
In response to requests for a medium-bodied blend, Uvezian and Kelner created the Avo 787 that was released this past summer (2007) at the Retail Tobacco Dealers of American convention and trade show.
It features an Ecuadorian-grown wrapper and Dominican-grown binder and filler leaves and offers a completely unique taste, not just in comparison to its siblings in the Avo brand, but to almost any cigar we have tasted.
Theres a spicy aroma and a medium-bodied presence to the 787, but the flavor is stimulating and different. The core taste in this blend is a powerful, fruit-ish and tart-like flavor that could remind one of plums, but in a way which is much more savory than sweet. Its a deep flavor thats accented by a lightly-spiced, fairly long finish.
This remarkable taste experience continues with consistency throughout the cigar and its never sour or grassy. Its much more powerful than any of the other regular-production Avo lines and offers a taste which will not appeal to everyone, but which will develop a fanatical following that craves this completely original approach to taste and balance in a cigar.
The price is a bit higher than the others in the Avo brand, at $11.00 to $13.00 each, not including tobacco taxes. This is a cigar you must try because of its unique approach; it will broaden your idea of what tastes are possible in tobacco.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.
As evident by the top-end grades given to each blend, this is an outstanding line of cigars that will fully satisfy smokers looking for cigars on the brighter and sweeter side of life. In addition, Avo cigars age brilliantly and if you can hold on for 10 or more years to even a few cigars from a box, youll be rewarded with a marvelous taste and finesse thats well beyond the already wonderful characteristics of todays production.
Los Angeles, October 12 The story is well known to cigar smokers: composer Avo Uvezian teams up with little-known cigar maker Hendrik Kelner in 1986 to create the Avo line that debuts in 1987.
Even though the Cigar Boom is some years off, the Avo line breaks through with smokers across the country and helps to ignite the expansion of interest in cigars that crests in the mid-to-late 1990s. And then Uvezian is rewarded with a multi-million dollar buyout of the brand by his distributor, Davidoff of Geneva.
Now 81, Uvezian continues to travel the globe to promote his cigars, which entertain smokers just as much as his music has to audiences for more than 50 years. Putting aside the hype, we wanted to take a taste of the line to see how it measured up after 20 years and how good the new and much-heralded Avo 787 was. As it turned out, we were in for quite a treat.
Avo Classic:
[Dominican Republic: available in 6 sizes]
This is the original blend introduced by Uvezian and Kelner in 1986 that created the brands impressive reputation for taste and quality. It will impress you again today.
Promoted as a mild cigar with rich taste, we found the blend to actually be medium-to-full in body, meaning it filled the mouth with flavor. It has a toasty, slightly spicy aroma featuring a Connecticut Shade wrapper and a marvelously caramelized taste with a medium-to-long finish.
One of the things that becomes obvious in smoking a number of these cigars is the quality of construction and dependability of the draw. Its almost perfect, with a consistently even burn and a solid ash that makes smoking these cigars a pleasure.
The blend stays consistent right to the end, smooth and delicious. The original is still the best and at retail prices of $7.00 to $9.40 each, is at least occasionally accessible to all smokers.
Overall grade: A+: Outstanding.
Avo Maduro:
[Dominican Republic: available in 6 sizes]
Once the Avo line became a success, naturally there was a call for maduro-wrapped shapes.
The call was answered in 2000 and today there is a six-shape Avo Maduro group. This is a medium-bodied cigar, a little thinner in the mouth than the Classic version. Theres a toasty, slightly sweet aroma to this cigar and a rich, deep, sweet flavor. Theres just a note of spice on the medium finish.
While theres plenty of flavor, the line doesnt show much finesse, but more of a constant power throughout. Theres a just a touch of pepper that comes in during the second half that underscores the brawn of this line, but it will be a favorite of smokers who appreciate rich flavors and like the sweetness of maduro.
The pricing is very similar to the Classic line at $7.40 to $9.40 each; all sizes are sold in boxes of 25.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.
Avo Signature:
[Dominican Republic: available in 5 sizes]
The Avo Signature line is a direct descendant of the first of the Avo Limited Editions, introduced in 2001 as the Avo 75" anniversary cigar. That blend offered in only one size (7 x 50) in boxes of 10 was so widely popular that it had to be part of the regular-production line.
By the end of 2001, the Avo Signature line was a reality, sporting a reddish band and offered in five sizes, but like the Avo 75, only in boxes of 10.
The samples we tried exhibited a slight spicy aroma and a medium body. The taste has a clean sweetness to it with just the barest pinch of spice that comes in on the medium finish. Its a balanced smoke with a consistent taste throughout thats easy to enjoy and like all Avos, burns perfectly.
The Signatures medium body makes it accessible to all smokers, but its priced a little higher than the other lines, at $8.10 for the Small Corona (4 1/2 x 43) to $13.80 for the Double Corona (7 x 50) without including local tobacco taxes.
Overall grade: A: Exceptional.
Avo XO:
[Dominican Republic: available in 5 sizes]
The XO pays tribute to Uvezians musical background with shape names taken from musical notations such as Intermezzo, Notturno and Preludio. And this blend plays very, very well.
Introduced as the second Avo series, in the early 1990s, we found it medium-to-full in body, with a toasty aroma and a note of spice. The flavor is rich and caramelized, with a modest, neutral finish thats devoid of spice.
That makes the XO a gentle, relaxed cigar through the first half and while a precisely-measured dash of spice enters on the finish in the second half, it serves to add depth and subtlety to the blend so that it does not become boring or monotonous.
Best of all, the XO line is well priced, ranging from $5.50 for the small Allegro (4 1/2 x 34) to $10.90 for the tubed Maestoso, the largest cigar in the line at seven inches and 48 ring, not including local tobacco taxes.
Overall grade: A: Exceptional.
Avo 787:
[Dominican Republic: available in 3 sizes]
In response to requests for a medium-bodied blend, Uvezian and Kelner created the Avo 787 that was released this past summer (2007) at the Retail Tobacco Dealers of American convention and trade show.
It features an Ecuadorian-grown wrapper and Dominican-grown binder and filler leaves and offers a completely unique taste, not just in comparison to its siblings in the Avo brand, but to almost any cigar we have tasted.
Theres a spicy aroma and a medium-bodied presence to the 787, but the flavor is stimulating and different. The core taste in this blend is a powerful, fruit-ish and tart-like flavor that could remind one of plums, but in a way which is much more savory than sweet. Its a deep flavor thats accented by a lightly-spiced, fairly long finish.
This remarkable taste experience continues with consistency throughout the cigar and its never sour or grassy. Its much more powerful than any of the other regular-production Avo lines and offers a taste which will not appeal to everyone, but which will develop a fanatical following that craves this completely original approach to taste and balance in a cigar.
The price is a bit higher than the others in the Avo brand, at $11.00 to $13.00 each, not including tobacco taxes. This is a cigar you must try because of its unique approach; it will broaden your idea of what tastes are possible in tobacco.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.
As evident by the top-end grades given to each blend, this is an outstanding line of cigars that will fully satisfy smokers looking for cigars on the brighter and sweeter side of life. In addition, Avo cigars age brilliantly and if you can hold on for 10 or more years to even a few cigars from a box, youll be rewarded with a marvelous taste and finesse thats well beyond the already wonderful characteristics of todays production.
