Avo Domaine 20 
Wrapper: Connecticut Shade 
Filler: Dominican Piloto Cubano 
Binder: Dominican Olor 

Created by Hendrik Kelner of Davidoff fame and the noted jazz musician and cigar connoisseur Avo Uvezian, Avo’s are superbly crafted and some of the most exquisite Dominicans you can smoke. The 20 runs about 4 bucks each by the box and you’re not gonna find a better classic Dominican smoke for the money. 

This cigar is from Sept 2003. Even tho' Avo uses nicely aged tobacco, I prefer these with 6 months or more of humidor age (60 – 65 RH). Age rounds and enhances the flavor, but it does reduce the power somewhat. 

Construction: The cigar is a beauty of a small perfecto with a gorgeous oily, dark tan Conn. Shade wrapper. Typically very well constructed, this smoke was solidly rolled with no imperfections noted. 

Prelight: Light sweet tobacco and cedar with a definite salty taste. Draw is even and solid. 

Burn: Lit evenly, straight burn with no touch-ups, rock solid off-white ash. 

Drink: Iced mocha cappuccino. 

Smoking Notes: The first few puffs deliver a rich, dense, oily smoke that’s creamy, toasty, and lightly woody with a hint of saltiness on a long finish. The initial impression is a very smooth, mild smoke. It quickly develops a wonderful salty nut character similar to salted-in-the-shell peanuts. 

By the ¼ mark, the cream and toast flavors still dominate with salty nut and light cedar as the undertones. At the 1/3 point, this smoke starts to reveal itself as a medium-full, and the character has turned very nutty with cream, toast and light coffee undertones. At the halfway point it turns quite woody with some cinnamon and nutmeg spiciness. By 2/3 it’s back to predominantly nutty with the spicy and cedar notes on the finish. This was a delicious 50 minutes. 

Although I typically smoke the 20, its big brother, the 50, is also highly recommended. In fact, many prefer the 50 to the 20.

AVO Domaine