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
