Vitola: Torpedo- 7” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $14
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Last week I looked at the Avo Regional Edition North, released toward the end of 2020. Today I’m looking at the companion release: Regional Edition South. Like the North version, this cigar is released in a single size in 10-count boxes and in limited numbers.
The Regional Edition South uses Honduran Jamastran Seco, Peruvian Seco, and Dominican San Vicente Viso and Seco fillers, along with Ecuadorian Connecticut binder and wrapper leaves.
If your local shop does not carry Avo, you can get them at Small Batch Cigar, a Leaf Enthusiast sponsor. You can check out my review of the Regional Edition North HERE.
Notes
I won’t go too much into the cheap boxes for these, other than to say they look ultra-cheap. And if you want more words about just how cheap these cheap-looking boxes look, you can read my take on the Regional Edition North.
The Connecticut Shade wrapper here was darker than many you may see, definitely darker than what you would expect on a Davidoff White Label, but also darker than an Avo Xo. I probably would have guessed Habano if I didn’t know it was Shade. The aroma from it was clean and grassy, though, with just a touch of sweetness and cedar. The foot of the cigar was earthy and barnyardy with cedar and grass mixed in.
When I smoked the other cigar in this pair, I wished I had some rum to go with it…so today I went out and bought some rum. Specifically, a 16-year-old Zaya Gran Reserva that I tried a few weeks ago when a friend brought it in. I’m planning on featuring this in a full review sometime soon.
I fired it up and immediately got a sour earth, combined with cedar and hay, along with sweeter citrus notes following up. The rum added an amazing amount of sweetness into the mix, carrying notes of chocolate, pear, and molasses.
As I burned further along, the body of the Regional Edition South picked up from mild to the lower end of medium, while still maintaining a smooth creaminess, full of notes of hay and bread, and citrus, along with cedar, earth, and white pepper underneath.
In the end, I found the Regional Edition South to be the better of the two blends. North was good, no doubt, but South had more complexity and richness, even though it was the milder of the two.
