AVO Classic Robusto

Having been around since the 1980’s, Avo Uvezian has made his mark in the cigar industry by making some of the most prestigious cigars on the market. Born in 1926 in Beirut, Lebanon, Uvezian was originally known as a musician turned composer, and he is most famously known for writing Frank Sinatra’s Strangers in the Night. In the mid 1980’s Uvezian met cigar master Hendrick Kelner in the Dominican Republic and together they started making some of the finest cigars in the industry. Later, in the mid 1990’s, AVO Cigars sold their distribution rights Davidoff Cigars. With Cigar Aficionado’s rating of 90, the AVO Classic is, well, a classic. There is simply no better way to put it. Hailing from the Dominican Republic, the AVO Classic is filled with five perfectly blended tobaccos from the Dominican’s famed Cibao Valley, and then is bound by a Dominican binder, and then finished off with a silky Ecuadorian Sun Grown Connecticut wrapper. This combination gives off a classic aroma and a smooth and creamy flavor profile that is consistent throughout this mild to medium smoke. We love this cigar and plan to enjoy this classic with The Lemmy – aka Jack & Coke.

Though tobacco is indigenous to Hispaniola, the tobacco industry in the Dominican Republic existed in the shadow of Cuba’s dominance through the 1960s. When the exodus of Cuban cigar makers began in the wake of the revolution, many decided the Dominican Republic would be ideal for the resumption of their livelihoods. Unrest in Nicaragua in the 1980s fueled the Dominican cigar industry further. The country now makes more than half of the premium cigars imported into the U.S.

The Cibao Valley and the nearby city of Santiago are the center of cigar production in the Dominican Republic. Three main varieties are grown here: the mild and native Olor Dominicano; the intense Piloto Cubano, brought from the Vuelta Abajo of Cuba; and San Vicente, a milder and more acidic Piloto hybrid. Dominican puros were once unheard of as it was widely thought impossible to grow quality wrapper leaf on the island, but new growing techniques are now allowing some exceptional puros to be produced.