Cigar Review: Classic Covers Volume 2 by Avo Cigars

• Vitola: Toro
• 6” x 54 ring gauge 
• MSRP $16
• Purchased at Maxamar Cigars

Background

Earlier in 2015, Avo Cigars released the “Classic Covers” as the first of the Improvisation Series, and—I thought—as their 2015 Limited Edition release. Seems they weren’t quite content with just the one LE release this year, though, and we have been given “Classic Covers, Volume 2” in the final quarter of the year.

The “Classic Covers” and “Improvisation Series” monikers keep with the musical themes of the Avo re-branding and the improvisation idea in particular interests me. In the first of the series, the company produced a riff on the Avo Classic, using it as the basis for the blend, then tweaking it into something very different. A “cover version” of the original song, with enough change that the new artist can call it their own. This time around, they used the Heritage blend as the basis for improvisation.

Classic Covers, Volume 2, (CC2) uses Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, a Mexican binder, and an Ecuadorian 702 Marron wrapper leaf. They were released in 16-count boxes, priced at $16 per stick and a total of 3,500 boxes were made. The round box looks like a pile of records and the display unit is made to resemble a record player. I first noticed these when I was visiting California in October, so I picked up a couple samples at Maxamar while I was there. I smoked one at the time and brought the other home for review purposes. (Some background from Cigar-Coop)

Prelight

The banding is essentially the same as the first Classic Covers…with a minor change to the secondary band, adding about .125” to its height with “Volume 2” added under the “Classic Covers 2015” lettering. The lack of “Volume 1” on the first release makes me wonder if the plan was always to release both in 2015, or if they moved up this release for some reason. Whatever the case, the look is still rich and appropriate, especially when laid against the dark chocolate brown wrapper leaf of the CC2. The wrapper had a little bit of darker mottling and a couple prominent veins, along with a velvety and oily feel under the fingertips.

The aroma from the wrapper was earthy and slightly woodsy. The foot had a bit more earth and a touch of cocoa powder to the aroma. Once cut the cold draw was very good and had flavors of earth and slightly sweetened cocoa powder.

Flavor

Lighting up the Avo CC2 was pretty easy with a single flame torch; it wasn’t a “speedy” light-up, but it didn’t take any undue effort, either. I immediately got some dry cocoa and espresso bean notes, along with secondary flavors of earth and cedar. Finally, there was just a bit of semi-sweet chocolate as a tertiary note…just a little bit of something sweet to add a bit of balance to the blend. On some puffs, more bitter coffee notes took precedence. The nose was roasted nuts and a touch of black pepper that hit hot for a moment, then faded quickly. Interestingly, while I found the CC1 to be fuller in body than the Classic from which it was derived, the CC2 started out at a straight-up medium in body, which was milder than the Heritage that it is based on. Also, this is probably the first Avo I’ve had in quite some time that didn’t have a distinct Dominican Olor flavor in the mix somewhere.

The second third veered strongly toward the earthier flavors. I still got a bit of coffee and finally picked up on some of the funky Olor notes coming through. The pepper died off a bit.

By the time the final third rolled around the Classic Covers Volume 2 was in the medium-to-full range in body, just like the Heritage. The flavors were dominated by earthy notes with a touch of coffee.

Construction

The draw was very good. The ash was solid for an inch or so at a time. The burn line meandered somewhat and needed some touching up, but was never so bad that I would call it a problem.

Value

Avo Limited Editions are always pricey. Whether they are worth the price or not is something that I struggle with on every release. For me, this one was not.

Conclusions

While the Avo Classic Covers Volume 2 displayed some of the body and flavor of the Heritage upon which it was based, it did not have as complex or pleasing a flavor profile and I found myself not enjoying it nearly as much as the Heritage or the first Classic Covers release. This is one of those instances where the original is definitely better than the cover version.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 8/10