Stogie Reviews: Avo Limited Edition 2009 Compañero
22 Dec 2010
Behind it’s larger corporate brother Davidoff, Avo can get lost in the mix. Purchased in 1995 by Davidoff for an estimated $10 million, Avo Uvezian’s Dominican smokes are often a way to get the quality of Davidoff at a (slightly) more approachable price.
Avo Uvezian, the charismatic piano-playing creator of Avo, created the Compañero to celebrate his 83rd birthday. The thick Toro (6 x 54) has a velvety Ecuadorian wrapper with Dominican binder and filler tobaccos.
The cigar is well constructed, which you’d expect given that it costs around $12 each, and is notably firm to the touch and from start to finish. The gray ash is solid, the burn even, and the draw is flawless. The flavor profile includes a mix of cedar, pepper, cream, and honeycomb. Like many Avo/Davidoff creations, damp mushroom notes are also present.
The Compañero features impressive balance despite its medium- to full-bodied profile, even as it becomes bolder as it progresses. Towards the end, there are earthy notes and more cedar spice.
At the time it came out, the Compañero was quite a change of pace for the Avo line, which almost exclusively consisted of mild and medium blends. Had it not been such a success, today we might not have the full-bodied Avo LE 2010 and the Heritage line.
But even without leading Avo into a more full-bodied era, that Compañero stands well on its own as a full-flavored, complex, well-constructed smoke. It’s enough to earn the Avo Limited Edition 2009 Compañero a rating of four stogies out of five.
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photo credit: Stogie Guys
Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief
Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder & Publisher
George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief
Still haven't tried this one…mainly because I've never seen it at the $12 price you quote. The lowest I have ever seen a Companero actually on sale for is about $18. Would it still deserve a 4-out-of-5 rating for 50 percent more than what you paid?
Nice review. I pulled 2 of these out of a bargain bin at a B&M 2 weeks ago. They were originally $16+ I still paid $12 but was fine with that price. I was really surprised with how much stronger the cigar seemed to finish, as you alluded to in the review. I enjoyed the cigar and might have picked up a couple more if they were in the basket.
Very true that prices on this cigar seem to be all over the place. I've seen boxes on sale for as low as $100. (Most of the samples I smoked came from a box I purchased for $120.) On the other hand, to finish the review I went to pick up a single from another source and I paid just over $15.
Would the price difference (between $12 and $18) affect the rating? No.
Price is a very small factor in my rating of cigars because how price impacts your purchases is so unique to every individual. (Think about it: for some people the idea of spending $25 on a cigar -or $4-500/box- is no big deal, while I know other smokers who would never pay double digits.)
I'll have to keep an eye out for the $12 "bargain bin" Companero! 🙂
I'd really like to try this cigar, but the regular prices I've seen is just more than I want to pay. OTOH, I went to the LE10 birthday party/event and ended up splitting a box of those with a friend and had no regrets paying the $16+ price for them. Maybe it's time to get over the mental block I have for these cigars and just buy one!