Humidor Archeology: AVO LE10

Vitola: Super Robusto
Size: 5.5” x 55 ring gauge
Price ~$17.50
Purchased at Burns Tobacconist (in March 2010)

Background

When I determined I was going to deep-dive in my humidor and come up with one of my last Avo LE10s for a Humidor Archeology piece, I kinda knew already how the story was going to come out. I had one a few months ago and it was spectacular…I’ve smoked a few over the years…they were all great. But then I looked at my original review, on the Tiki Bar Online, from April 2, 2010…these cigars really have been sitting in my “aging humidor” for 4 years undisturbed. I split a box purchase with Keith back then and may have bought a couple others soon after…I can’t remember all these details now (although with a box size of 10, I can’t imagine I kept 3 for aging…I must have bought more!). At the time, I rated this as the best Avo I had ever had. Whereas most of their previous offerings had been on the milder side, the LE10 was potent, full-bodied, and very flavorful.

According to my review then, the filler of this cigar is all Dominican Ligero, to which the kind people at Davidoff added a Mexican Sumatra-seed binder, and an Ecuadorian sungrown wrapper.

Notes

The wrapper still had this wonderfully dark chocolate brown appearance with tons of oils and a rich, earthy, manurey aroma. The foot was ripe with earth and cedar and a foresty, rotting vegetation aroma.

The cold draw was excellent, tasting of earth and fruit.

Initials puffs were full-bodied, extremely smokey, leathery, and earthy, with just enough sweetness and pepper. There was just a touch of the signature “Davidoff funk” (as I call it)…that foresty, mushroom, fungusy note that nearly all Davidoff products have in some measure. I got it on the retrohale mostly, where I also picked up a little more pepper.

Even after four years, the glue on the bands was still holding tightly and tore a bit of the wrapper in the process of removal.

I paired the Avo LE10 with some Sazerak Rye. It worked, but something a little less spicy might have been better…some Maker’s Mark Bourbon or perhaps a nice sipping rum.

This cigar was still very full-bodied and quite strong in the nicotine department. Extensive aging didn’t really mellow out the copious amount of ligero tobacco used.

Finally, it’s still a great smoke and still my favorite of all the Avo LEs. I think for a regular smoke, I would prefer the Avo Heritage; it’s similar in many ways, but not nearly so full-bodied, making the experience easier to enjoy anytime.