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AVO "Classic No. 2"

Alec Bradley "Magic Toast"

Initial Smoke

Spicy notes of rye bread are everywhere at first, along with that classic pumpernickel grain taste and some black patent malts. Leather and burnt walnut turn the whole mixture a touch bitter at times, though, which makes the medium-full flavor profile of the blend taste imbalanced on the finish. The draw is also leaning on the tight side, and the burn is struggling to remain true, thus forcing an early correction.

1st Half

Wet, sappy wood and heavy leather unload a ton of sun-grown tobacco tastes all at once in the first third, and are only made all the more bold by the continuation of those loamy soil tastes. Luckily, the sweet tastes of brown sugar and raw walnuts remove much of the bitterness from earlier, and make the imbalanced sides of the cigar a bit more forgivable. 

As my toro combusts, the overall cigar flavor profile of the blend improves, and a more balanced, creamy, and nutty characteristic takes control. This is complemented by a serving of salt and oak in the early sections of the second third, and that makes the finish a bit dry but far more pleasant than prior. Body is medium-full, with flavors being a fair deal more potent, whereas strength sits in medium territory.

2nd Half

Burn beyond the center of the barrel, and leather grows in strength, with darker beer malt undertones and the return of pumpernickel rye bread backing the power grab. Medium roast coffee has also come forth, and it makes the aftertaste from retrohales far more flavorful and fine-tuned tasting.  

As the final third heats up, the smoke grows sweeter on retrohale, and that coffee-like aftertaste overturns any unpleasantness from prior. Mixed roasted nuts of the salted variety and browned butter make for a solid oily texture and taste on the tongue, and if it weren't for the obtuse taste of cardboard, I would have considered this section of the cigar to be near-perfect. 

Parting Puffs

Far heavier on the coffee and growing ever darker, the last inch of the cigar transforms into a sharp, bitter, and imbalanced medley that goes way too heavy on the leather and loam. Definitely not the closure I was wanting, but oh well. To quote Primus, "They can't all be zingers."

Ash / Burn / Smoke / Draw

Jagged burn lines, multiple torch corrections, and a draw that struggled to produce a good pull in the early stages of the cigar all hurt the overall score of this blend quite a bit. However, the ash was a nice white color when it was behaving, and overall performance did improve as the blend combusted. 

Final Thoughts

There is so much potential within the AVO Heritage that was hampered by poor combustion that I feel that it behooves me to smoke it again and reassess my review. But while my sample cigar burned a bit better, it too needed touch-ups and had similar bitter moments and muddled flavor mixtures in the same sections. So I fear revisiting this blend in the future may be in vain.

What the cigar does do well is shift gears in the second third, which makes the final third quite tasty and aromatic as well. It definitely is a bigger, bolder, stronger expression of what an AVO blend can be, and when it is hitting the smell receptors and tongue just right, the enjoyment factor does increase a good bit. You just have to wait and hope that they kick in sooner than later.

Overall Balance & Repeatability