For those of you that don’t know….

Back in 2002, AVO released their one of their first “Limited Edition” cigars, the legendary “AVO 22″ (or just “22s” as they are also known)…Blended by the cigar legend Henke Kelner as a private stock for the company at first, after the positive reviews the blend got, they decided to release a limited number for general consumption…

Davidoff relates it thusly:

It is a limited edition cigar, and only a small number of boxes have been produced. Each box’s factory tag is numbered. The suggested retail price per box is $222.

Avo 22 is a 5 7/8″ perfecto-shaped cigar with a 50 ring gauge. The filler is a combination of four different tobaccos from a variety of the best growing regions in the Dominican Republic. Thebinder is also Dominican and, to finish it off, Avo chose a Connecticut seed Ecuadorian wrapper. The blend is described by Davidoff as a “rare and wonderful treat for the cigar smoker who has come to love the balanced taste and aroma of Avo cigars.”

Avo and Dominican cigar maker Henky Kelner originally created these cigars as a private stock for themselves and a few close friends. Thrilled with the results, they decided to share them with Avo’s true aficionados.

Avo personally directed every phase in the creation of 22, from the seeds and plants to the packaging and name – selected because 22 is a very significant number for Avo. His birthday is on the 22nd, his sister’s birthday is on the 22nd, he left the Middle East as a young man on a 22nd, and he arrived to begin his new life in the U.S. on a 22nd.

There are actually 5 different versions of the AVO 22 released, the Original Release American Version, the Original Release European Version, the Boris 11, and 2 other “Personal Stash” versions from the Corona Cigar Company…Vitolas.net has all of the info on the differences between them (and the extremely involved history behind them as well) and you can read all about it by clicking here…

The two Versions we are concentrating are the American and European releases…both versions are reportedly the exact same blend of tobacco, but the flavors and strength vary GREATLY due to the different Ring Gauges:

• The American Release: This release came packaged in Round canisters of 19 cigars, and only 2,700 were sold in the U.S….
• The European Release (sold in Europe and Asia as well) were packaged in the exact same Canisters as the American release, but because of the thinner Ring Gauge of this version, there were actually 22 cigars included in each package, instead of 19 for the American Version…There were only 2,000 total Canisters sold of this version…

The different Ring Gauges of the American (50 RG) and European (43 RG) Versions are QUITE noticeable, especially when looked at from the foot (Euro Release on the left, American Release on the right):

But enough about that, let’s get down to business, shall we?

• Cigar Reviewed: AVO 22 (Euro Release)
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: TABADOM
• Wrapper: Connecticut-seed Ecuadorian Sun Grown
• Binder: Dominican
• Filler: 4 Different Dominican Tobaccos
• Size: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 43
• Vitola: Perfecto
• Est. Price: $10.09 (Canisters of 22, $222.00)
• Date Released: 2002
• Number of Cigars Released: 2,000 Canisters of 22 Cigars (44,000 Total Cigars)

The cigar itself has and almost perfect wrapper on it, a VERY light brown color (almost yellow) and smells of cedar, tobacco and (odd as it may sound) peanut butter…I love the perfecto shape, and the construction is flawless (as I have come to expect from all of Kelner’s cigars)…The wrapper is also quite rough to the touch and still has a bit of oil on it…

It lit up very easily, and I got a bit of spice in the first few puffs, but that quickly faded into the background, and I started tasting a multitude of flavors all at once, but interestingly, all were also very distinct: leather, sweet cedar, chocolate, just a bit of hay, and WAY in the background, that Kelner “muskiness” that is almost always present in his blends…extremely enjoyable…

The Second Third started with most of the same flavors, but about a 1/3rd into it (so about halfway into the entire stick, for those of you keeping track at home), I tasted a great caramel flavor that mixed together with the (minor amount of) spice and the sweet cedar to produce a wonderful combination that continued on until the last third…

The Final Third was just more of a combination of all of the major flavors so far…Leather, Cream, Chocolate,  a bit of spice, and a nutty flavor that I could not put my finger on…I really did not want this to end…

Final Notes:

• Anyone who smokes Kelner’s cigars for any length of time knows about the “muskiness” flavors that sometimes dominate his blends (a combination of earthiness and mushrooms)…they are a trademark of his, and while I did notice it in the first third, the flavor almost disappeared after that…It could be the age of the cigar (or just the specific blend), but I found the lack of it interesting nonetheless…
• I have not formally reviewed the American Release AVO 22 as of yet, but I have smoked a few, and to me, the major differences between the two versions is that the Euro blend seems to be a bit sweeter in flavor, and also quite a bit more “Dry” as well, especially in the finish…Interestingly, I did not notice a huge difference in strength, which is odd, since the smaller RG of the Euro release should have made the smoke stronger…
• This cigar reminded me quite a bit of another one of my favorite milder cigars, the E.P. Carrillo Inaugural…Honestly, this cigar beats it, but I was thinking as I was smoking this cigar that the AVO could be close to what the Encore might taste like after it has a bit of age on it…They are EVERY similar in flavors, but it is also fairly obvious that the tobacco in the AVO was of better quality…
• The Draw and Burn were absolute perfection (which is hard to obtain in any cigar, but even harder for a Perfecto vitola), almost to the point where I was HOPING it would screw up, just so I could say that I needed to fix the burn at least once, or that the draw got just a bit tight at some point…alas, that was not to be…
• The Final Smoking Time was 1 hour and 20 minutes….

The Bottom Line: This is what cigar dreams are made of…This is NOT a strong cigar by any means, but it has flavor in spades, and three words stuck with me as I was smoking this stick… Complex, Creamy and oh so very, very Smooth…and excellent example of what a mild to medium cigar SHOULD taste like, with flavors changing every time you turn around, and just the right amount of spice to draw it all together…Throw in an amazing burn and draw for the entire cigar, and you have an almost perfect specimen…

Final Score: 94