Tag Archives: Avo

April 12, 2026 · 9:43 am

Davidoff Puro Dominicano, Avo Syncro and Camacho Ecuador Cigars

I was sorry to read about the passing of Gary Korb, who fairly recently retired from Famous Smoke Shop where he was the main guy behind their Cigar Advisor magazine site. I first had contact with Gary in 2004, he tried to weasel his way into a ticketed event I hosted as media. He was an inspiration, for sure! I had a pretty good rapport with him, last time I saw him he actually told me that he had mentioned my name in their search to replace him. I felt honored. My condolences to his family. He probably would have loved the cigars I’m about to talk about.

I’ll be honest, I probably wouldn’t smoke Davidoffs if they didn’t send me some to try. I consider myself fortunate to have done whatever I have done to warrant this consideration. I recently received some of the new Davidoff Puro Dominicano in their Black Band line. These come in three sizes, a Short Robusto (4½” x 52), a Corona Larga (5 7/8″ x 44), and a Perfecto (5½” x 50), which is the only figurado of this size in the Davidoff portfolio, which is what they sent. They used tobaccos from six regions in the DR, Yamasá for the wrapper, Martin Garcia for the binder, and Villa González, Mao, Piloto, Navarette and Yamasá in the filler. I went into this cigar wondering if it would be a good fit for me, many times I don’t appreciate the flavors found in Dominican puros, though a lot of folks do. This cigar was a delight. I was surprised by the prelight draw, which was very free. Odd for a perfecto. I’d say that it started off earthy, maybe loam or mushroomy, not usually my jam. The burn was perfect with a flat ember, no cone, no tunnel, just perfect. I sipped it, like I would a lancero, because the draw was so free I didn’t want it to heat up too much. I really enjoyed this cigar much more than I thought I would. I wanted to smoke another one this week, but I felt like that would be pretentious. $25 is a lot for a cigar, but they could probably have gotten away with asking more, this is a really nice smoke.

Somewhere along the way I came into possession of an Avo Syncro Nicaragua in a square tube. I can’t remember where or when, but it has to have been in my humidor for seven or eight years. I decided to smoke this one finally after hearing some discussion on KMA Radio about the square tubes, which Avo apparently released in 2015. This one was a bugger to get out of the tube. The cigar is a 6″ x 54 box press, which is probably obvious since it’s in a square tube. Who would put a round cigar in a square tube? By the way, Abe and Coop, CAO Anniversary had a square tube going back to 2003 or so, so Padron and Avo weren’t the pioneers in this area! ( while I’m at it, Coop: ” The Spanish phrase el reloj (the clock/watch) is phonetically pronounced el rreh-LOH or el rreh-LOHKH. The stress is on the second syllable of “reloj” (loh), with a rolled “rr” at the beginning and a soft “h” or slight “kh” sound at the end”. It’s my mission in life to correct Coop on this). I was surprised that this started with some harshness, but the dark fruit took over and it was really a nice cigar, very tasty. Kudos for not putting a cedar sleeve in the tube, I can’t seem to learn to take cigars out of tubes for long term storage because they always seem to just taste like cedar after a while. This one was good, I wonder if they are still available?

I had picked up a five pack of Camacho Ecuador Toros a few weeks back, and thought I remembered liking this blend. The toro is 6″ x 50, which feel like a corona in this day and age. It has an Ecuador wrapper of some sort, Brazilian binder and Dominican and Honduran fillers. These came out in May of 2014, so they’ve been around for a while. I realize that this is probably my least favorite Camacho. I’m starting to question my palate lately, but it’s always been questionable. This started out with some sourness, which I’ve gotten a lot lately for some reason. It didn’t get better, and while I powered through it, I really wanted to put it down and get something else. Perhaps I’ll stay away from this one for a while, maybe some age will help, maybe I’ll give the rest away, I don’t know. Two out of three ain’t bad, I guess. I smoke more delicious cigars than not, so I have that going for me. Side note, I kinda wish Davidoff would have an informational site about their cigars and not a direct to consumer sales site. If I’m looking at the wrong one, someone please correct me! I feel like more of a shill than I already am linking to a sales site!

I’ve been plagued over the last few days with attempts to take over my social media accounts and I’m sick of it. I’m not really that interesting. It’s not like there’s money to be made, it’s just a huge nuisance. It’s absurd how many hoops one has to jump through to change passwords. I’m too old for this shit, please leave me alone! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

😃+

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Tagged as Avo, Camacho, cigar, cigars, davidoff, Davidoff of Geneva, Ecuador, Perfecto, Puro Dominicano, Syncro, toro, Tubo

February 8, 2026 · 10:06 am

Avo, Adventura and Montecristo Cigars

I seem to be going two for three in my luck with cigars over the last few weeks. I like to try new things, whether I personally like them or not isn’t the issue. Poor construction or materials is a problem. More on that later. I grabbed some Avo Syncro Caribe Special Toros at one of the local shops recently in my effort to smoke more of the Davidoff family of brands. The Syncro line is mostly, if not all, box pressed, and the Caribe has a Dominican wrapper, Ecuadoran binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. This Special Toro is 6″ x 60. It’s made in the DR at Davidoff’s OK Cigars factory, which seems to be a pretty modest name. I have a feeling it’s a shortened form of Occidental Kelner, but that’s just a guess. I think the factory is more than just OK, it’s pretty darned good. I digress. Smoking this Avo Syncro Caribe was perfection. It starts with a heavy citrus tang, which continued throughout. It’s very different from what I usually go to, and was really refreshing. I found myself thinking that I’d like to share this with a friend who I generally share dark, heavy cigars with to show how different cigars can be. It was very good and I plan to pick up some more.

I’ve heard a lot about this ADVentura Blue Eyed Jack’s Revenge over the last year or so, and saw it in a local shop a week or so ago and picked one up. This has a loose connection with Davidoff, I guess. ADVentura is made by Henderson Ventura, and I think his father, William, worked for Davidoff. Between the William Ventura cigars, and what I’ve smoked from Tabacalera Mina del Rey, Henderson’s factory, nothing has really hit my palate right. It’s a me thing, not a them thing. This was a 6″x 54 toro, with a San Andrés wrapper and Dominican binder and fillers. It had a bit of a floral profile, until it didn’t. This example perplexed me. It smoked very poorly, there seemed to be components in the blend that burned differently than the surrounding tobaccos, leaving almost a charcoal like ash, very dark grey and dense. Obviously, this negatively affected the flavor. I may grab another to see what’s up, I may cut my losses. I have heard great things about this one, but there haven’t been a great many ADVentura cigars that have appealed to me. This is the miss I alluded to in the first sentence, in case that wasn’t obvious!

A while back I wrote a post about this next cigar in the Robusto size. I was surprised to see that it was a year and a half ago. The Montecristo Crafted by A.J. Fernandez is a JR Cigars (and their partners, Cas de Montecristo and Cigars.com) exclusive. I recently came by a great deal on the Gordos and followed through on my promise to try these in other sizes. I should have gotten more. This has a Ecuadorian Sumatra Oscuro wrapper, Mexican San Andrés binder, and aged long filler tobaccos from Nicaragua, and Honduras. The wrapper is dark and oily, really too nice to cover with the oversized sleeve. Like the Avo, this is box pressed, and 6″, but with a 58 ring, not 60. That’s where the comparison ends. This is my kind of smoke, rich, dark coffee and dried dark fruits, perfect burn and draw and the box press makes it seem slimmer than the 58 ring would be. I’m a big fan of this one, it remains my favorite Montecristo. The link above is an affiliate link, if you feel compelled to use it, I might get a few pennies.

That’s all for today. The high here today is supposed to crack double digits, it was 4 this morning. Brrr. Propane is my friend, but I may venture to a shop one of these days. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Adventura, Avo, Blue Eyed Jack's Revenge, Caribe, cigar, cigars, Crafted by AJ Fernandez, Montecristo, Syncro

July 19, 2020 · 9:08 am

Avo Classic, Regius Orchant Seleccion and Perdomo Habano Barrel Aged Cigars

Another week has passed with some progress made around the house, some applications submitted, and several cigars smoked. I came across a couple Avo Classics while scavenging around the humidors, and it occurred to me that I had never actually smoked and Avo Classic. Sure, I’ve smoked the newer Avos, the Ritmo, Syncro, the odd XO here and there, but never smoked the Classic. Well, it was about time I remedied this situation, I suppose, and I had two Classic No. 2s sitting right here, and the’ve been here for quite a few years! I’m not even sure where they came from! This is a 6″ x 50 toro with a sun-grown Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and DOminican binder and fillers. I’m not sure what I was expecting, perhaps I was expecting a mild, Connecticut shade style cigar, but I was surprised to find that it was a very rich tasting, sweet tobacco flavorful cigar. Naturally, the construction was perfect, it’s a Davidoff product, after all, and solidly medium bodied. This was a great cigar that I regret missing out on all these years. It was loaded with sweet, creamy flavor and quite enjoyable!

Regius Cigars is a brand that’s been around for a decade, but doesn’t have a huge footprint in the US. They are carried by a lot of the bigger retailers, and they are made by Placencia, so they aren’t small potatoes by any stretch. I was introduced to Akhil Kapacee. the principle of the company, several years ago at the IPCPR show by Mitchell Orchant, who, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve known for over 20 years. Mitchell owns C.Gars Ltd in the UK, one of the more prominent retailers of Havana cigars on the planet. Last January at the TPE show I ran into my old friend Ann, who is with Sutliff Distribution Group (who was with Villiger for a long time), who, in addition to distributing Platinum Nova Cigars and introducing me to them, mentioned that they were also distributing Regius. So I went to their booth to say hello to Akhil, and he gave me a Regius Orchant Seleccion robusto, since Mitchell never gave me one ;-). (Note: There’s a Drew Estate Seleccion Orchant that I’d love to sample, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more). Regius cigars I’ve sampled in the past have been exceptional, and this one was no different. I found it to be extremely smooth, with a very clean finish, I’d almost say refreshing. It had a nice sweetness, that is a quality I like, and burned perfectly. As a company with UK roots, and a cigar that made for a UK retailer, I can see how this would appeal to a palate that’s used to Havana cigars, although I think it has more complexity, at least to my palate that’s used to a more diverse flavor wheel. It was very good, highly recommended.

Finally, as I’m typing this, I’m having a cup of black coffee and enjoying a Perdomo Habano Bourbon Barrel-Aged Connecticut Robusto. It’s infrequent that I light up a cigar at 7:30, however for some reason I was up super early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got an early start and decided to sit on the porch and write. As long as I’m on the porch, I might as well have a cigar. The selection process for me wasn’t easy. Sometimes I choose a coffee infused cigar, last week it was a Macanudo M. I had a Tabac Especialle in my hand, then I figured I’d look for a milder Connecticut robusto just to thin the herd of cigars that seem to get passed over more often. I might have had other cigars that would be milder, but this Perdomo stood out to me. You have to admit the bands on these are pretty eye-catching. The wrapper is a 6 year old Bourbon Barrel-Aged Ecuador Connecticut and the Binder and fillers are Nicaraguan. I’m three for three here on good smokes, although I generally don’t write about the sub-par cigars I smoke, and I try not to smoke that many sub-par smokes to begin with! To be honest, some of my choices that I decided against were the Don Juan Calavera Connecticut and the La Sirena LT, both Honduran, both excellent Connecticut cigars that I love, but I passed on them because I only have them in Toro sizes and I wanted a robusto. Considering this Robusto is 5″ x 54, it might have been a wash, but I always consider length to be more of a determining factor when it comes to time than girth anyway. This cigar is not without body, it’s no mild cigar. It has plenty of flavor, rich, creamy, nutty flavors with a little bit of spice. Nice smoke. I still favor the maduros in the Perdomo line, but this is probably my favorite Connecticut in their range. Not bad at all.

For my local golfing friends, come out to Goose’s Golf Even for a great day of eating, smoking, golfing and all that goes with it. I’ve been to many of Goose’s events and they are always top notch. You can’t beat the food, cigars and golf offered with this deal! You can download the registration form here. I plan to be there to offer encouragement and smoke along with the golfers!

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Avo, cigar, cigars, Goose's, Orchant, Perdomo, Regius

December 15, 2019 · 10:08 am

New Undercrown Shade and Flor de Cesar Cigars and an Editorial

I have been looking forward to smoking the Drew Estate Undercrown Shade Suprema since it’s announcement last summer, and finall

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y had my chance this week. This large perfecto is 6″ x 50-54 and uses the same molds that the old Chateau Real Gran Cru Perfecto used. I smoked a bunch of the Chateau Reals in Maduro before they were discontinued in 2010 or thereabouts. I love the format, an I actually have a couple of the Chateau Real Maduros left from the box I bought in 2010, and a Connecticut as well. So I was looking forward to smoking the Shade in this size, and I really like the Undercrown Shade anyway. I’ll start out saying I think this is the best representation of the Undercrown Shade blend to date, in my opinion! It was slightly underfilled, which was which was OK, I just needed to slow my draw so as not to overheat it, after having a few overfilled cigars this week, I appreciated the effortless draw and the abundance of smoke! The smoke was rich and creamy and loaded with the flavors I expected from the cigar. It had me wondering if we might expect a limited edition of this shape in the Maduro and Sungrown versions of the Undercrown? What the heck, how cool would a Liga Privada be in this shape? Willy? Joe has my address, I’m between jobs, I have time to sample 😁. The Undercrown Shade Suprema is a wonderful smoke!

Editorial

It was a funny week with lots of news! One interesting controversy that arose was the Avo Unexpected line being revealed to actually be the Avo core lines repackaged on Cigar Dojo’s Smoke Night Live. I’ll admit that the Smoke Night Live show hasn’t been on my podcast playlist until now, I have too many to possibly listen to as it is. But I had to listen to this one, and I w

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as rather surprised to hear four prominent members of the Davidoff team reveal this news. Important to the story is that these four cigars were positioned as limited releases with a higher price point, and then were revealed to be the exact same cigars as four of the regular production Avo line. This prompted a rather visceral response from some very prominent retailers, one with especially close ties to Avo Uvasian himself, prompting him to sell off said stock as cost. I have smoked a few Avo cigars, they are OK, not a huge fan but I don’t dislike them, and I don’t have any ties to Davidoff at all, other than the fact that they make some great cigars and have been nice to me a few times in the past. I don’t think that the marketing plan behind this was a good idea at all, and it ended up tarnishing a prestigious brand. In all honesty, the repercussions probably don’t reach the rank and file Avo c

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onsumer so much as the few retailers that bought in to the Limited Editions and felt like they got burned, and maybe lost sales on something else because they had basically eight boxes taking up the shelf space where it normally would be four. Someone thought it would be clever, someone went about it the wrong way, and someone should apologize to the retailers who feel betrayed. That’s my unsolicited two cents.

Last week when I was at BnB Cigars in Chestnut Hill, PA (which is actually within the Philadelphia city limits), Vince there implored me to sample a few of their exclusive Flor de Cesar cigars, which I’ve enjoyed in the past. I managed to smoke the “lancero” last night, and I put “lancero” in quotes because it’s actually 7″ x 42, so it’s not really a lancero technically. It’s actually a whole four ring gauges larger than a lancero, maybe it’s a super corona, or something. Call it what you will, if you put it next to a Gordo, it’s a lancero. The Flor de Cesar line is made by James Brown at Fabrica Oveja Negra, but, in my experience, it’s very different from other cigars I’ve smoked from that factory. First, I’ll say that this format, whatever you want to call it, was very comfortable to smoke. It didn’t need quite the babying that a 38 ring lancero needs, yet it still had that elegant feel. You know I think that small ring, wrapper to filler ration bullshit is poppycock, it all has to do with combustion, so the 42 ring strikes a nice balance for me, slow draws to not over heat and it’s a nice cool smoke. I loved the flavor. This had that rare flavor of spiced hard candy that I like, I gotta get a bag of grandma candy and figure out what exactly that is, bu

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t I love it and when I find it in a cigar I really dig it. I believe this was the 2019 Flor de Cesar Silver The Novin Lancero to be technically accurate, and it was delicious. I kinda want to try the Corona Gorda now!

Well, that’s all for now, it’s coming up on Christmas all of the sudden. It’s occurring to me that I don’t have much in the vault for giveaways this year! There were a few years there were giveaways were going crazy this time of year, sadly no longer. I’ll see what I can do to put something together! Until the next time,

CigarCraig