The Avo Limited Edition cigars are always really good cigars and this year’s Improvisation should be no exception. This year’s Avo limited edition is a first on two fronts. One, it’s a box press cigar and, two, it’s in a 60 ring gauge. I’m glad they did a box press when they decided to do a 60 ring because the box press makes it more comfortable to smoke. Pretty much everyone knows by now that I’m not a fan of large ring gauge cigars so smoking this cigar is not in my wheel house.
One of the most coveted Avo LE’s is the 2005 release. Avo wanted to recapture this magic so he got together with master blender, Eladio Diaz, to try to recreated the flavor of the AVO LE05. The LE17 uses the same binder and filler tobacco varietals as the Avo LE05. This is the fifth Improvisation release from Avo and features a cigar box that looks like a vintage guitar case which is reminiscent of an old Fender Stratocaster or Gibson ES-335 case from the 50’s or 60’s.
Let’s look at the specs:
- Size: 6 x 60 (box press)
- Vitola: Gordo
- Wrapper: Ecuador – Habano Marron Claro
- Binder: Dominican Republic – Olor Zona 7
- Filler: Nicaragua – Esteli Ligero, Dominican Republic – San Vicente Ligero / San Vicente Mejorado Seco / Piloto Ligero / Piloto Seco
- MSRP: $18.00 single/$288.00 box
- Body: Full
Sample provided by and available at The Cigar Shop in Biloxi, MS.
Pre-light
The construction is amazing. The wrapper is a beautiful mocha brown with a leather like appearance. The cold draw is a little loose with flavors of rich earth, cedar and barnyard.
First Half
The cigar is actually easy to smoke. The size isn’t really too big of an issue for me. I’m getting notes of earth, black pepper, caramel, leather and almonds. The cigar has a ton of black pepper on the retrohale, so much so that I can’t do a full retrohale. It also gets sweeter with the caramel as it nears the midpoint as well at developing a slightly sour citrus note.
Second Half
On the back half of the cigar, I get more leather than anything else. I still get some sweet caramel, although it has died down a lot, cedar and a hint black pepper and almonds. It’s definitely savorier on the last half compared to the sweeter first half. The burn was a little off near the end, but, honestly, I expect that on a box pressed cigar.
Overall Impressions
To be honest, I don’t know how close this is to the Avo LE05 as it has been years since I smoked that cigar, but on its own, this is a very good cigar. The last few Avo limited editions haven’t really appealed to my palette so I wasn’t expecting too much for this cigar, but I was pleasantly surprised. It has rich flavors, smokes well and has good body to it. The burn was a little funky because of the box press, but I will deal with to have the box press on a cigar of this size as, to me, it smokes easier. Only 2000 boxes were made, so if this sounds like a cigar you would like to try, visit your local cigar shop now before they are gone.
IN MEMORIAM
Avo Uvezian
March 22 1926 – March 24 2017
