An Avo XO, Some Sobremesa Cigars at Famous and a My Father Connecticut

I smoke a lot of different cigar across a wide spectrum, I try not to discriminate based on size, country of origin or manufacturer. So in the latter part of the week I found myself leaning toward the milder end of the spectrum for some reason. Maybe it;s the onset of Spring, I don’t know. Anyway, I started off with an Avo XO Legato, the toro in the line. It was Avo Uvesian’s  90th birthday this past week, so I thought it would be appropriate. This cigar came in a sampler from Davidoff from last year’s IPCPR show, which included some other Avo cigars, some Camacho, Room 101 and BG Meyer cigars.  The Avo XO Legato is 6″ x 54 with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper. The rest of the cigar is Dominican, and it was a nice, creamy cigar with a bit of sweetness. I’ve not been a huge fan of a lot of the Avo lines, but this was a really nice, well-balanced and enjoyable smoke. I see some more Avo sampling in my future.

Friday evening my wife and I took a trip up to Famous Smoke Shop‘s Leaf Cigar Bar in Easton, PA.  It was about an hour and a half drive, but Steve and Cindy Saka were in town visiting, and we wanted to stop in and say hello. I purchased some of Steve’s Sobremesa Robusto Largo and El Americano cigars as I hadn’t yet sampled the Robusto Largo size yet. Over the course of the evening I smoked said Robusto Largo and a Cervantes Fino generously gifted by Cindy, and thoroughly enjoyed them both, as well as the company. Both of the cigars were superb, with the Robusto Largo (5¼ x 52) having rounder, smoother flavors, much like the El Americano toro, and the Cervantes Fino (6¼ x 46) having a little sharper edge.  The Leaf bar and restaurant was hopping, with excellent service. The place is in the same building as Famous Smoke Shop’s enormous warehouse (which I’ve been promised a tour of one day), and it’s located outside of Easton in an industrial park, it’s an odd location for a retail store and lounge, but it still draws a crowd. It was noisy, which taxes my ability to hear conversation, but we had a great time catching up with Steve and Cindy. Later this year it will have been twenty years since the first time I talked to Steve on the phone, back when he was holding the Monthly Officious Taste Test on the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group, of which I was a part.

Yesterday I relaxed on the porch after a busy day with a cigar that has a special meaning to me, at least over the last year. I selected a My Father Connecticut robusto. From the website (which has music that plays automatically, which I really don’t like):

My Father Connecticut is going to be an extension of the already existing line My Father and My Father Le Bijou; the cigar is blended by Jose “Pepin” Garcia and his son Jaime Garcia at the My Father Cigar Factory in Nicaragua : It features an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, Nicaragua Corojo 99 Binder and Nicaragua Habano-Criollo filler, all the tobacco coming out of the Garcia’s farms with the exception of the wrapper which comes from Ecuador.

This is one of my favorite Connecticut wrapped cigars, not that the list of favorites is really short. There are a bunch that I enjoy, but this one is one I purchase and enjoy having in my humidor.  As a matter of fact, there’s a My Father event this week at one of my local shops that I might stop in on and pick up a few more.  It’s creamy, but flavorful and satisfying. I should make a note to buy some larger sizes, as this robusto was nice, but was over too soon. The band and overall presentation is really classy too.

That’s all I got, off to making a big breakfast for the family and eventually getting some nice cigars in this afternoon. Until the next time,

CigarCraig