The Good Stuff:

The Davidoff Yamasa is the newest offering from Davidoff which made it’s debut at this year’s IPCPR show in Las Vegas. What sets Yamasa apart is that much of the tobacco used in this cigar is grown in a region of the Dominican Republic that is not know for yielding tobacco crops due to the condition of the soil. Henke Kelner, Master Blender for Davidoff made it his personal mission to change that:

The new Davidoff Yamasá has been 20 years in the making. It all started out with Master Blender Henke Kelner’s impossible dream to turn the unforgiving swampland of the Yamasá region into a successful tobacco-growing field. When everyone said it couldn’t be done Henke persisted. He held an unwavering belief in the natural bounties and potential for the land.

And he was right. On an endless pursuit to bring cigar aficionados new tastes, experiences and pleasures, Henke Kelner and his team of experts relentlessly nurtured and cultivated the Yamasá soil – a soil that was relunctant to change. Discovering that the soil contained too much sand and loam, they added nitrate and calcium by hand to each and every single tobacco plant. In Henke’s own words, they “continued, continued and continued” until they got it right. Thanks to his determination, a journey into the new Davidoff Yamasá series is truly one to an undiscovered planet.

Great story there that touches on just how much patience, passion, knowledge, work, and craft goes into the production of not only Davidoff cigars, but cigars produced around the world. In the case of the Davidoff Yamasa, the cigar starts out with a Yamasa wrapper over a San Vicente seed Yamasa binder, packed with Dominican Piloto and Mejorado fillers along with Nicaraguan Esteli & Condega fillers. The Davidoff Yamasa comes in 4 sizes, the Petit Churchill (4 x 48), the Pyramids (6 1/2 x 52), the Robusto (5 x 50), and the toro (6 x 52) which all come packed in 12 count boxes with the exception of the Petite Churchill which comes packed in a 14 count box while the cigars range from $12.90 to $23.00 a stick. I picked a few of these up from our friends at 2 Guys Smoke Shop.

Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Yamasa
Binder: San Vicente see Yamasa
Filler: Dominican Piloto/Mehorado, Nicaraguan Esteli/Condega
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $19.70
Pairing: Brouwerij Verhaeghe Duchesse de Bourgogne (Flanders Red Ale 6% ABV)

Prelight:

As with all Davidoff cigars, the Yamasa is absolutely stunning. The cigar starts with a beautiful medium/darker brown thats incredible consistent in color. The darker shade on this wrapper sets it apart from most of the cigars we find in Davidoff’s portfolio. The cigar’s texture carries a good amount of tooth, and an insane amount of oils which actually transfer to the skin on my fingers as I inspect the cigar. The construction is flawless. The wrapper is laid perfectly, and seamlessly over itself for a perfect cigar from the cigar’s foot, to it’s round double cap. The cigar is very heavy, and very tightly packed while the Yamasa wrapper feels very dense and extremely hard. The cigar is polished off with the black and silver version of the Davidoff band that we have seen a few times in recent releases as well as a gorgeously elegant maroon double band with the word “YAMASA” embossed across the front.

The wrapper on the Davidoff Yamasa gives off a very musky/earthy aroma while the foot of the cigar carries much more spice and pepper with a good amount of musk as well. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar double bladed cutter. The cold draw carries a good amount of spice, pepper, and lots of musk much like the aromas the cigar gives off.

First Third:

The Davidoff Yamasa starts out with a huge pepper bang that I don’t normally expect from Davidoff cigars. The cayenne pepper lasted quite some time, tingling my tongue and lips. As the pepper began to fade I was left with tons of musk, oak, spice and earthiness. There is also a good amount of a mossy type flavor I reference whenever I am smoking a Davidoff cigar which I find in just about every one of their blends. The cigar starts out well in the medium/full range which is something I also don’t normally expect from a Davidoff blend. The burn line is a bit wavy, but not out of control leaving behind a flaky trail of medium and dark gray ash which held on for about 3/4 of an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

The pepper has completely disappeared at this point of the Davidoff Yamasa and the mossiness has really ramped up and I am loving it! The spice, musk and oak are still rocking hard and a really awesome sweetness has crept into the mix as well. The retrohale its so smooth, coating my nasal passage with a great musk and spice. The burn line is still a bit wavy, but I haven’t had to reach for my torch just yet. I close out the second third with only a tiny bit of nicotine.

Finish:

The flavors have really began to mashup as well as ramp up in the final third of the Davidoff Yamasa. The musk and moss still lead the charge backed by strong spice and oak and soft sweetness and earthiness. The flavors have really balanced out working together as one strong, high-medium/full force. The burn line has been a bit wavy throughout the entire experience but I never once had to reach for my torch so I’m totally ok with that. It took me an hour and a half to take the Yamasa down to the nub and I loved every second of it. The cigar never hit me with any harshness, or extra heat even into the final inch. I smoked this baby down to the nub.

Overview:

In my opinion, Davidoff has released some of the best cigars in their portfolio lately. The Eclipse, the Nicaraguan, and now, the Yamasa. Davidoff has always made great cigars, but often I find myself wishing that there was something just a bit bolder about them. Well, that’s been answered. The Yamasa is a great, medium/full cigar with enough body and complexity to keep me entertained, without losing what makes Davidoff cigars so special. These cigars are box-worthy for sure if you are willing to drop the coin on them, as they are a bit high in price. You have come to expect act with Davidoff though, and in most cases, they deliver.

Pairing:

Brouwerij Verhaeghe’s Duchesse de Bourgogne is a 6% ABV Flanders red ale brewed in Belgium and could quite possibly be my favorite beer of all time. The Duchesse starts out with a ton of up front sweetness, backed by pear, caramel, apple, malt, and a bit of sourness with a very light mouthfeel before finishing clean with more sweetness, spice, pear and apple as well as some good sourness. While the flavors didn’t necessarily match with the resident flavors in the Davidoff Yamasa outside of the spice, what the beer did was it helped to enhance and add to the sweetness the Yamasa had to offer creating an even better experience than what was already present.

The post Davidoff Yamasa appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now, unless you’ve been under a rock lately, you have probably heard of the Avo line of Limited Edition cigars that are released each year to commemorate Avo Uvezian’s birthday. We’ve covered a bunch of these starting with the 80th from 2006, the LE09 Companero (83rd), the LE10 (84th) and LE12 La Trompeta (86th). Click on any of those to see their reviews.

Now thanks to our good friend Martin I get to bring you our review of the AVO LE11, 85th Annirversary! Martin was kind enough to send this all the way up north through Tony and I finally had some time to sit down, enjoy and take notes for everyone.I’ve had a couple of these before but never jotted down a full review so I figured it was time to do that.

As you might guess, the AVO 85th is to celebrate Avo’s 85th birthday and like most of the limited editions, it was restricted to only 10,000 total cigars world-wide. If you managed to be lucky enough to get a box of these, you would have a beautiful lacquered box with a giant gold “85th” printed on the front, very classy!

The Avo Limiteds have always been excellent so that leaves a lot of expectations for this cigar to live up to. I’m sitting outside today to enjoy this cigar and am really looking forward to it, so lets jump on in and see what it has to offer.

Cigar: AVO 85th Anniversary
Drink: Sleeman Honey Brown Lager
Vitola: Diademas (6.625 x 50)
Wrapper: Sun Grown Dominican
Binder: Peruvian
Filler: San Vicente and Piloto
Price: Gifted by Martin (About $18)
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The two ends of the AVO 85th are tapered to almost the exact same ring gauge and the center of the cigar is perfectly even from end to end
• The cap is completed cleanly with one leaf and it blends seamlessly into the rest of the cigar
• You can’t see much of the foot due to it’s tapered nature but it looks to be very tightly packed from what I can see
• There is a soft springiness through the whole cigar
• I’m finding a few medium sized veins but nothing that looks to be a problem on this velvety smooth wrapper
• The draw is very nice even with the packed tapered foot which surprised me

Burn:
• The tiny foot on this AVO 85th lit up with ease and was evenly toasted in only a few seconds
• I usually run into a bunch of burn problems with a tapered foot like this but it seems to have burned through that section with no problems and stayed even
• I’ve had two minor touch ups as I hit the halfway point but otherwise the cigar has been burning at a nice pace and fairly straight
• A couple more minor touchups as the cigar continues to burn but nothing major to report otherwise

Smoke & Ash:
• Even with the two tapered ends I’m still getting a nice volume of smoke from each draw without needing to draw multiple times
• The ash was looking nice and clean but the tapered piece must have been a bit weaker, it fell off at about a half inch
• The next ash made it up to an inch before I tapped it off, it did look pretty fragile and flaky though
• Color of the ash is mostly light grey although there is a brownish/yellowish type of color in there too
• The ash continued to look a bit weak throughout so I kept tapping it off pretty early to avoid any messes

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper is giving off a soft subtle sweetness in it’s aroma
• The foot is the same subtle sweetness with an added touch of cedar
• Pre-light draw on this Avo 85th brought a bunch more cedar and a bit more sweetness, add to that some light baking spices now
• Initial draws are fairly mild and starting off with some light spice and cedar flavors
• The spices are developing nicely, like nutmeg and cinnamon, nothing too strong
• Retrohale has a tiny tiny bite to it a smooth cedar finish
• The flavor is still smooth and I’m getting some creaminess sneaking in there around the halfway mark
• Starting to get a bit of a leathery taste now and the cedar is fading out a bit, spices are also shifting over to some peppery notes
• Body has picked up a bit but we’re still in the medium range here
• The The spice really picked up near the last third now, lots more pepper sneaking in
• The Avo 85th finished smooth and tastefully with a slight spice kick and cedar

Final Thoughts:
Well I have to say once again that the Avo Limited Edition did not disappoint. The 85th turned out to be another tasty experience that I would go back to try again anytime and recommend it to all. The Avo’s have a way of bringing in lots of complex flavors into a well balanced experience and it never turns out to be muddled. Just smooth creamy flavors. I would have been slightly happier with no touch-ups but they were pretty minor so I can’t knock back too many points for that. The price here will tend to scare away a few customers but that’s the case for pretty much all LE’s. If you feel like spoiling yourself and see an Avo 85th on the shelf at your local shop, just pick it up and enjoy!

Pairings:
Today I went with a simple pairing, mainly because I ran out of other stuff and it was too early in the day to jump into some Port. It is a Sleeman Honey Brown Lager. I won’t dive too far into this beer, but it does have a darn interesting history dating back to 1834 including some bootlegging and smuggling across the border. It was shut down for a long time but eventually restarted using original recipes in 1988. Sapporo Brewery of Japan bought them in 2006. The Honey Brown lagers are simple and classic with clean and crisp flavors including touches of citrus. It’s not a craft brew by any means but it’s good to have a couple in the fridge, I think I like the history of the company more though ;). As for the pairing, the beer was a little overpowered by the flavors in the Avo 85th and I think a tasty Port would have made for the perfect pairing. Coffee would have worked nicely too but it was too damn hot out here!

The post Avo LE11 85th Anniversary appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

You might remember a while back Tony took a trip down to the Dominican Republic courtesy of our awesome friends over at General Cigar. He got a very neat tour and had an awesome time. You can read more about it from his recap here. He did an awesome job of detailing the whole trip including all the educational pieces that General Cigar mixed in. If you haven’t read it yet, make sure you do now.

While on the trip, Tony had the chance to blend and even help roll a special cigar of this own. He got to choose all the tobacco leaves that went into it and sprinkled a little bit of sunshine into the recipe! lol. When he came back, he graciously sent me one of his samples and today I am going to review it.

As a special treat, I also found out that Tony sent one of these sticks over to our friend Jeff, so I sneakily went behind his back and asked Jeff to review it as well. Check his thoughts out at the bottom of the post and a big Thanks to Jeff for sending it along to me!

So enough with the chatter, let’s see if Tony is next master cigar blender!

Cigar: Macanudo “Tony Casas”
Drink: Unibroue Raftman
Vitola: Corona (5.5 x 46)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Ometepe Ligero, Nicaraguan Viso, Brazillian Mata Fina and Piloto Cubano Seco (Can anyone say “Frankenstein’s Monster”? ;))
Price: Priceless!
Burn Time: About an hour

Construction:
• When squeezed, there is mostly a fairly squishy type of feel with some soft spots to be found
• Spotty cinnamon brown wrapper has no major veins to be worried about
• Foot appears very well packed and almost even tapered a bit towards the foot, interesting style there
• Cap seems like some sort of single cap with a messy application, but not too shabby for a first attempt (sorry Tony!)
• The cut was very easy and left me with a really nice draw

Burn:
• The toasting was super easy, probably due to the slight taper at the end, not sure if that was intentional or if the cigar got squeezed but I like the idea! lol
• There was a bit of a wave just near the foot after lighting but it quickly corrected itself without my help
• Through the first third I’m having a nice burn, not perfectly straight but still very nice
• I noticed that some big draws were over heating the cigar, causing very black burn lines and a change in the flavor, slowed it down a bit now
• Happy to report that I only needed one minor touch up around the halfway mark, the rest of the cigar burned pretty nicely

Smoke & Ash:
• Lots of smoke right from the start here and no need for any extra draws
• There’s a bit of resting smoke as I lay the cigar in the ashtray, just a burning wood aroma from there
• Ask is a bit flaky and messy, getting some bits falling off now and then
• Tapped the ash off at just about a half inch, was worried it would fall on my laptop
• The ash has some parts that are very light grey and others are super dark black
• After I changed my draw pattern, the ash is a consistent medium grey, not over heating it anymore
• Kept the ash under a half inch since it was flaky the whole way through

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper had a bit of a woodsy aroma to it but nothing too strong
• The foot is more woodsy aromas with a little bit of greenery tossed in there
• On the pre-light draw, I’m actually getting some tarty or fruity notes along with the woodsy and greenery
• First few draws were kind of burnt wood flavors, nothing interesting here
• I started get a bit of the tarty flavors coming out as I burned through the first third
• I realized that drawing too fast on this cigar is causing some really hot burning, so I slowed it down and all those burnt flavors are slowly disappearing
• Getting some nice woodsy and sort of cinnamon type of flavors into the mix now
• I also started picking up a bit of the tarty notes I had before lighting it up, they are peeking in and out
• The slightly burnt flavor never completely left but slowing down on my draws definitely reduced it
• For the most part the body was fairly mild, maybe just near medium towards the end
• No harshness or bitterness towards the end at all, a nice finish and some of the flavors really bolded up

Final Thoughts:
So what to say here? I’m not too sure. I’ll be easy on Tony since it was his first attempt. I have to point out the mess of fillers he put in this stick, it’s like he grabbed one leaf from every pile and put them together! Just joking, I’m sure it made sense in his head.
Aside from the over heating aspects, the Macanudo Tony Casas had some promising flavors to it and it actually burned quite well. The price was astronomically too high for this cigar though!
Good job Tony, you’re well on your way to becoming the best Texas grown cigar maker out there!

Pairings:
This isn’t a new pairing here but it is the last bottle I have (and probably last I will be able to get for a long time). This offering by Unibroue is called the Raftman and is brewed with whisky malts. I’ve only ever been able to find it when I was in Quebec which is a good 5-6 hour drive away. The flavors are fantastic with a great mix of oak, a hint of those whisky malts and a nice helping of regular malt. There’s even a touch of citrus in there too, very good stuff! It paired well with the Macanudo Tony Casas because it’s not an overpowering beer so it was a good choice.

Macanudo LE by Tony Casas (Review by Jeff Oda)

Pre-Light

The wrapper is fairly veiny and bumpy. The pack is firm with no discernible soft spots.
Wrapper smells of tobacco and light cedar with very faint barnyard.
Foot smells of tobacco, not much more.
The cold draw is snug and doesn’t offer up much other than tobacco flavor.

Light up!

First draws are of lightly sweet tobacco and cedar on the tongue with a slight pepper bite. It’s mild and smooth with some nice cedar on the retrohale. The stationary smoke is very light but has a nice aroma.

One inch in at 15 minutes, the draw has improved and ash held for 1”. Pepper has ramped up a bit,
feeling it in the back of the throat, but the body is still mild, although it is climbing a bit. The retrohale continues to be cedary and lightly sweet with a peppery sting.

Two inches in at 35 minutes, I’m now getting a bit of acidic brightness and pepper has faded but is still there. The small amount of sweetness that was there has also departed, but I’m enjoying the aroma through the nose as I take a draw.

Halfway through, I’m starting to pick up some creaminess, but not a lot. The body is at medium and I’m still getting a bit of peppery tickle at the back of the throat, though it seems to come and go. Burn-wise, I haven’t even had to think about it, a bit wavy at times, but mostly even.

Into the final third at 1 hour, the spice has faded once again and nuttiness has come into play. Further down, the pepper zing has surfaced again on the tongue and lips. With 1-1/2” left, the flavors have washed out, but the burn remains cool to the last inch, where I stopped at 1:20. Pretty slow burn on this one.

All in all, not bad, but I was hoping for more sweetness and creamy richness to intermingle and balance with the pepperiness and wood and tobacco flavors. I’m sure part of it may have to do with the tobaccos that were available for blending.* Would I smoke one again? Sure. Would I pay for it? I plead the 5th on that. I have to commend Tony on this first effort. The flavors were a bit thin and
unbalanced, but even though it wasn’t the prettiest cigar to look at, the construction, burn, and draw
were great. Now I’m really looking forward to trying the Drew Estate and Joya de Nicaragua blends he did.

I paired it with Lagunitas New DogTown Pale Ale, but I think it would go better with a cup of coffee.

Photo Courtesy of Jeff

The post General Cigar – Macanudo “Tony Casas” appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Avo Uvezian is the mastermind behind the AVO brand is also a very talented Jazz pianist. He was born into a family of musicians but he paved a different road for his family’s future when he began making cigars. It’s no secret that he has blended some very tasty sticks and for the last few years he has been blending a limited edition cigar to be released on his birthday.

Not long ago I reviewed the AVO 80th Anniversary which was released in 2006 to commemorate Avo’s 80th birthday. Tony also reviewed the AVO Limited Edition 2010 not long ago. Today’s cigar is called the Compañero and was released in 2009 to mark Avo’s 83rd birthday. On the cigar, you will find the classic and classy AVO logo with the name “Avo Uvezian” on one side and “LE09” written on the the other. Below this band is another dark burgundy band with the “Compañero” name written on it.

The blend in the AVO Limited Editions change a bit each year and the Compañero is no different. This year the cigar comes wrapped with an Ecuadorian leaf and bound with Dominican leaf. The interesting part of the blend is the filler which is made up of a couple types of Ligero and some Peruvian Seco tobacco.

I’m interested to see how this blend will play out. On paper it seems a bit strong but with at least 2 years of age on it I’m hoping it smoothed out. Let’s get onto the review and find out.

Cigar: AVO Compañero Limited Edition 2009
Drink: The Singleton of Glendullan 12 Year Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Vitola: Toro (6 x 54)
Wrapper: Cuban Seed Ecuadorian
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Criollo Ligero, Piloto Ligero, San Vicente Ligero, Peruvian Seco
Price: About $15
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The AVO Companero is an oil and dark looking cigar that sports a slightly toothy wrapper with a goldish-brown glow
• There are some veins running down the side of the cigar but most are fairly small and don’t really pose any issues
• The top of the cigar is cleanly finished with an expertly applied single cap while the foot shows signs of a well packed long-filler cigar
• For the most part, the cigar is very firm to the touch with only a very minor give when squeezed
• I made the cut super shallow and just basically trimmed off the cap without cutting into the filler, left me with an easy and perfect draw
• I “may” have accidentally “dropped” the cigar right before lighting it up… I’ll take that into account for any burn issues

Burn:
• Toasting was easy and even, it left me with a nicely glowing foot
• Despite some cracks on the wrapper near the foot due to my dropping it, the cigar is burning beautifully through the first couple of inches
• The cigar burned through the cracked wrapper like it wasn’t even there and I’m still going strong with a razor sharp burn!
• Ran into a few more wrapper issues caused by my drop, they still didn’t affect the burn much but I really regret dropping it!
• My super fail of a drop had more consequences than I had hoped for, the wrapper pretty much came off at the end but it’s totally my fault, do NOT take this as the regular burn for this cigar. Other Companero’s I’ve had burned without any issues.

Smoke & Ash:
• The AVO Companero is producing a heft amount of smoke from each draw, it’s thick and billowy to boot
• At a resting position, the cigar is producing a comfortable amount of smoke, nothing overpowering and it has a nice burning cedar aroma
• The ash is starting off a bit flaky but that’s probably my fault…
• The color of the ash is a very nice and consistent light grey
• Even with a bit of flaking, the ash lasted just past an inch before I gently tapped it off
• Now that I’m passed the cracked wrapper the ash is staying clean and tight
• The next ash fell off after about an inch jsut before I was going to take a picture… bad luck for me tonight! lol

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper of the cigars is hardly aromatic at all, it’s only a little bit woodsy and that’s it
• The foot on the other hand shows clear indications of spices, earthiness and a fresh cedar aroma
• The pre-light draw is very earthy and woodsy, with more of the fresh cedar from the foot
• Initial draws are filled with more earthy notes and little bit of the fresh peat flavor I’ve come to appreciate from most AVO cigars
• Some of the spice I picked up earlier is making a subtle appearance within the first inch, it’s just on the tip of my tongue making for an interesting touch to the profile
• The body of the AVO Companero is a smooth medium so far, well balanced and with a nice little bite on the retrohale
• The finish is also very tasting, coating my nasal passages with a fresh cedar touch
• I have to emphasize the “fresh” part of the cedar flavor, it’s not like a seasoned humidor smells but more like the aroma of a fresh, brand new humidor or freshly cut cedar plank, very pleasant!
• The woodsy and earthy notes are mixing so nicely and taking turns being prominent
• Along with those, the peat and freshness of the cedar add a very interesting and enjoyable flavor that I can’t get enough of
• Just past the halfway mark, the spices are coming in a little stronger and mixing perfectly with the fresh cedar and peat flavors, this cigar keeps getting better!
• The body has stayed more or less in the medium range and it’s still maintaining a very smooth retrohale
• Despite the wrapper pretty much falling off the cigar, I still managed to enjoy the last bit of spice, cedar and peat right to the end

Final Thoughts:
Right from the start, the AVO Companero was bringing me a bright and flavorful profile that instantly caught my attention. Each of the tastes were very full flavored and easily discernible making for a very enjoyable smoke. Even with my fat-fingered fall to the floor and some wrapper cracks, this cigar burned perfectly. I’m also very surprised to say the wrapper falling off didn’t change the cigars flavor too much and I was still able to enjoy it. That’s a sign of a well balanced cigar in my eyes, the flavor was not “all in the wrapper” as some people might think. This showed me that the cigar had a very good balance of wrapper, binder and filler. I’d actually even say this experience made me appreciate the blending that went into this cigar even more than I normally would have!

Pairings:
I’ve only ever come across the peat flavors in the AVO cigars so I knew heading into this review that I had to pair it with a nice Scotch. So I looked into what I had and decided to finish off this bottle of The Singleton 12 year Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Well, I was right! The smokey and peat flavors of the Scotch paired perfectly with the fresh cedar and matching peat flavors on the cigar. I would definitely recommend having a nice scotch with this cigar, so give it a try next time you pick up this cigar or pretty much anything in the AVO lineup.

The post AVO Companero LE09 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

So today I bring you the AVO 80th Anniversary cigar. The AVO brand was started by a Musician and Composer by the name of Avo Uvezian and was founded in 1988. The brand was met with open arms and soon after in 1995 the AVO brand was bought by Davidoff. Avo Uvezian remained very much a part of the company and still is. The cigars are made in the Dominican Republic in the same factory as Davidoff.

Many years ago, Avo Uvezian began releasing some special limited edition blends to celebrate his birthday. Most recently, the AVO 85th Anniversary was released. Today’s cigar marked Avo’s 80th birthday back in 2006 so it has roughly 5 years of age on it. Each of these limited editions is only released in one size, and the 80th Anniversary size was selected to be a Belicoso. Also make sure to check out Tony’s review of the AVO LE2010.

The cigar is made with a unique blend of 4 leaves in the filler. They are all from the Dominican Republic and consist of select Ligero and Seco grades of Piloto & San Vicente tobaccos. The cigar is finished with a beautiful Ecuadorian Sun-grown wrapper with a very nice shine and feel to it. What I like about this Limited Edition line by Avo is they always seem to produce a good number of cigars. So even though they are limited it’s fairly easy for the average person to grab a few and they aren’t reserved for the hardcore cigar hunters out there.

Cigar: AVO 80th Anniversary
Drink: Duchy Originals Organic Old Ruby Ale
Vitola: Belicoso (6 x 52)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sun-Grown
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: About $15
Burn Time: 1.5 Hours

Construction:
• The cigar is wrapper with a smooth and oily cinnamon brown tobacco leaf
• As with most tapered heads, the cap is composed of one smooth leaf that wraps around the cigar about 4 times
• The cigar is fairly even in diameter throughout with only a few smaller veins that are visible
• The firmness when squeezed offers very little give, a pretty firm cigar from end to end
• Foot appears very well packed which goes in line with the firmness I feel
• The cap clipped very clean and left me with a good draw
• The bands had a fair bit of glue on them and ended up taking a chuck of the wrapper with them

Burn:
• Toasting was nice and even and seemed to start the cigar off right
• First couple of inches are burning beautifully
• I like the fact that the cigar is staying lit without the need for me to constantly draw on it
• Going into the last third, I’m still super happy with the burn, no problems at all
• The cigar finished up with no issues at all in the burn department

Smoke & Ash:
• The first draw set the pace here with a big mouthful of smoke
• Even the resting smoke is fairly abundant
• The ash is showing to be strong and clean with a mostly white color to it
• Despite it’s strong and clean look, the ash fell off after about an inch
• Second ash had a sky diving accident and decided to take a plunge to the floor, but still held on for about an inch before falling to it’s doom
• All in all, the ash continued to stay nice and clean, just a bit weak

Tasting Notes:
• The aroma on the wrapper is mostly of sweet tobacco and cedar
• The foot offers the same tobacco sweetness aroma but adds to it some strong raw nutmeg
• The pre-light draw has a strong musty wood flavor to it with some more of the raw nutmeg spice
• Initial draws are not too exciting so far, I’m getting more of that mustiness with an interesting bit of bready flavors
• The musty flavors have sort of turned into a peat type of flavor, similar to a peaty scotch, very interesting
• The body of this cigar is in the mild-medium range so far and has a fairly dry finish
• I get more of the musty/peaty notes in the retrohale with a woodsy smooth finish
• The cigar is well balanced and smooth with a woodsy smooth finish
• There is an interesting mixture of spice making an appearance now and then, definitely some pepper and the original nutmeg
• Pushing into the last third, I’m getting some nice roasted nutty flavors mixed in the peaty and woodsy notes
• The body is also slowly creeping up on this cigar, getting to the higher end of the medium range
• The last third of the cigar is still progressing in body
• The flavors here have also intensified here with the peaty and nutty flavors being dominant and balanced nicely with the spice
• I’m also getting an odd cooling feeling after each draw, almost like a menthol but somewhat enjoyable and without the nasty taste, lol
• Smoked this down until my fingers were burning with no harshness at all

Final Thoughts:
This was an interesting cigar to say the least and I’m glad I had the chance to enjoy a few of them. It’s another cigar that I have to say had a very unique flavor profile to me. The strong peaty and musty notes is something I haven’t really had with this intensity before. Simply put, this cigar kept me interested the whole way through. The burn and ash were also superb on this cigar which gave me the chance to just sit back and enjoy the flavors(minus the one sky diving incident). The AVO 80th Anniversary is definitely something worth trying. The price is a bit high so I’m not sure I could justify a box of these, but having a few to try is worth it. It may be a profile you will love and opt for the box anyway. Although these were limited production cigar were released a few years ago I was still able to track some websites and B&M’s carrying them. So grab one and enjoy!

Pairings:
Today’s pairing is a new one I stumbled across the the liquor store the other day. It comes from Oxfordshire in the UK and is made by “Duchy Originals from Waitrose”. The company prides itself on providing various foods grown in sustainable conditions. In line with that belief, this is an Organic Old Ruby Ale. The “Old” in it’s title comes from the fact that it is made using an English barley that was first used in 1905, called “Plumage Archer”. The brew has some nice bright flavors to it, including a fair about of berries, malt and a noticeable hoppy bitterness. It’s a tasty brew and goes very well as a summer drink. It unfortunately was not the best pairing here though as I felt it was a bit light for the AVO 80th Anniversary and was overpowered by the cigar. With the peaty notes I was picking up from this cigar I’d have to say that a peaty scotch would have been an absolute perfect pairing. If not that, then something that can stand up to the bold flavors of this cigar such as a strong coffee or port.

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