Vitola: Double Corona- 7.5” x 50 ring gauge
- MSRP $16
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
2018 is the 30th anniversary of the Avo Cigars brand. Sadly the company celebrates this anniversary without the namesake and founder of the brand, Avo Uvezian, who passed away in March of 2017. The “gameplan” for 2018 is for re-releases of several old blends in the Avo catalog, but to begin with the company produced the next installment in the Improvisation Limited Edition Series…this time also just known as the “30th Anniversary Limited Edition.”
As is the case on previous Improvisation Series cigars, the Improvisation 30 takes a classic blend from the catalog and puts a new twist on it. This time, they start with the Avo Classic No. 3 (same size). Both the Classic and Improv 30 use Dominican tobaccos for filler and binder, as well as Ecuadorian leaves for the wrapper. For the Classic, the wrapper is an Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut Shade leaf, while the Improv 30 uses an Ecuadorian Marron. The box they come in is designed to make one think of Avo Uvezian’s white linen suits and straw hats. They come 25 sticks to a box with a total of 2,400 boxes produced.
This review is based on my second smoking of the blend. I purchased both at Burns Tobacconist. Some information above was taken from Cigar Coop’s news article on the release.
Prelight
The primary band on this cigar was basically the new-style Avo band with a white background, “Avo Uvezian” written on the right arm and the Improvisation Series logo on the left. The secondary band was white with an orange accent stripe at the top, with “30” large and in front, flanked by 1988 and 2018. All the writing on this band was in gold foil and it’s said this band will be on all the other re-releases that come out this year.
The wrapper leaf was a peanut butter light brown color and felt much oilier than a Connecticut Shade would. It was smooth to the touch, but covered quite a few lumps and bumps from the filler and binder underneath. Giving it a good sniff, I got earth, hay and cedar aromas. The foot of the cigar was grassy with additional notes of wood and graham.
After clipping with my Xikar Xi, the prelight draw was very good. The cold flavors were of cedar and hay, mostly.
Flavor
After lighting up, I got flavors of cedar and some medium roast coffee, backed with a more stringent note of grassiness and a mildly sweet note that was almost a citrus without the zing. The retrohale had some mushroomy funk, a little roasted nuttiness and a touch of red pepper. As I got midway through the first third, the funk and pepper were becoming evident on the palate, as well as the nose. The cigar started off in the higher end of the “mild-bodied” range.
In the second third, the Avo Improvisation 30 shed the grassy notes, while the Davidoff funk and pepper continued on. Citrus notes developed some lemon zing to go with the sweetness and I picked up the occasional graham cracker note in the mix, as well.
The final third of the cigar was mostly a continuation of the second third, with the body bumping up into the mild-to-medium-bodied range. I got more lemon and sweetness, graham, funk and pepper, but nothing new to note.
Construction
As you would expect, the construction was top-notch. I had a very even burn line, solid ash and fantastic draw.
Value
The price point is a little high, but not out of line for other Avo Limited Editions, especially considering that one of last year’s Improvisation LEs was a couple bucks a stick more.
Conclusions
The Avo Improvisation 30 Years Limited Edition 2018 (or Improv 30…or LE18…there has to be a shorter way to refer to it) was a very nice mild to medium cigar with a rich, fairly complex flavor profile. While it is not my favorite Avo LE, it beat the pants off several of the recent entries into the Improvisation Series and even some of the older entries in the Limited Edition series. It’s not going to be the perfect cigar to end the day with—it’s too mild for that—but it could be a great way to start a day, assuming you have close to two hours to smoke at the beginning of the day.
Small Batch Cigar has the Avo Improvisation 30 available at the time of this writing. Pipes and Cigars currently does not have the blend listed, but has other Avo products available as of this writing.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
