Initial Thoughts
As you all know by now I’m a sucker for great packaging. With all the sticks shoved into a B&M’s humidor there has to be something that pops out to grab my attention and make me want to buy one. Thats exactly what the Avo Uvezian La Trompeta did. Of course it helped that it had nice end cap display when I walked in the humidor to draw my attention to it. I talked to the manager of the shop and asked him about the cigar. He said the Avo Uvezian La Trompeta (or The Trumpet) is dedicated to the Jazz Musician and aficionado for his 86th birthday this year.
I love a good backstory on a cigar, and when you combine that with great packaging I’m usually convinced to buy the thing. At around $15 per stick I was hesitant because I know a lot of limited edition cigars like this are typically marked up in price and under perform overall. However I’m always willing to gamble, variety is the spice of life right?
Looks
The Avo Uvezian La Trompeta looks … awesome, I was trying to think of a more eloquent non surfer way to say it, but there was no getting around it. Standing at 6.5″ with a girth of 54 and Piramida-esque in shape this is a great looking smoke. There are three small circles on the barrel of the cigar that are meant to resemble the keys on a trumpet (or trompeta for those here for the spanish lesson). I’m not exactly sure how this cigar was assembled, but I am curious and willing to hypothesize that the 3 holes were cut using a punch cutter and then glued with holes cut from another wrapper. No matter how they did it, it looks … awesome!
The wrapper is a dark brown I would classify it as a colorado claro. No particularly large veins running down the barrel, however there is a small gap in the construction of the wrapper which would lead to problems later on in the smoke. The head of the cigar is wrapped sloppy, it looks very rushed and haphazardly finished.
The Avo Uvezian La Trompeta has a beautiful double band on it that really stands out and shimmers. Laced with gold and silver it has the traditional AV logo in the center and ‘Avo Uvezian’ on one side and ‘LE12’ (Limited Edition 2012… It’s ok I didn’t get it at first either) on the other. The second smaller band has a gold background with the silhouette of a trumpet player and the inscription ‘La Trompeta’. I love the packaging of this cigar all around it’s very unique and would stand out in any humidor.
Function
Ok so the Avo Uvezian La Trompeta looks great, but how does it function? Well the pinch test would show no real soft spots in the filler which is always a great way to start. The foot of the cigar looked a little sloppy as there was some excess wrapper that didn’t get clipped off during manufacturing, but it looks like it’s stuffed to brim with great filler tobacco which I’m always a fan of!
I clipped the head off the Piramide to test the draw, not quite adequate after the first clip so I took a little more off and was able to pull enough air through the barrel to suffice me. After the second clipping the wrapper started to peel away a little from the head which would be a continuous battle throughout the smoke. Nothing devastating just a little annoyance along the way.
Smoking
I smoked the Avo Uvezian La Trompeta outside and it was a little windy so it wasn’t taking to the flame right way and I had to step inside and light up. This stick started out great with a nice even burn, that lasted all of about 5 minutes. From then on it was a battle, I’m not talking like beaches of normandy, but I’m talking more along the lines of fighting with your dog for room in your own bed.
As I began to approach the first ‘trumpet key’ the cigar started taking a turn towards ‘canoeville’ the wrapper started burning hot on one side and leaving the other out to dry. At the same time the wrapper began to start splitting along the seam and the binder started to appear. I’m not a scientist but I assume the heat from the barrel caused the cigar to expand and loosen the glue. The split continued to get worse as I made my way through each ‘trumpet key’. Luckily it didn’t really affect the flavor of the stick but it just made it look bad which disappoints me.
The burn stayed inconsistent the whole way through and finally led to something that looked like a train-wreck of a cigar. But did that stop me from smoking it to the nub? Hell no it didn’t I can deal with a poor burning cigar, but I can’t deal with a cigar that I can’t draw from. So I smoked this thing right down to its jagged burnt-edged nub.
Flavor
Flavorwise the Avo Uvezian La Trompeta was quite enjoyable. In the pre draw I picked up quite a bit of spice but that disappeared for awhile once I lit it up. In the first third I was able to pick up some strong chocolate flavors along with some nutty flavors. These flavors appeared constantly thoroughout the cigar. They would disappear into a tobacco and leather flavor and then come back out of nowhere.
Avo describes this cigar as medium to full bodied, but I would have to classify it on the lower medium scale. It just didn’t seem that ‘heavy’ in terms of body it packed in a decent amount of flavor but not a very dramatic punch. I smoked this on an empty stomach after working out and I didn’t pick up a nicotine buzz so I have to believe it’s not that full of body.
The Ecuadorian wrapper adds some spice to the cigar if you lick your lips after pulling in the smoke, but it’s nothing over powering or harsh. It’s a slight spicy that adds just a couple notes to change the pace for you. I was able to enjoy the flavor of this smoke despite all the trouble that I had with the burn.
Would I Buy It Again?
Ehh… Probably not. At $15 a stick and such a bad experience with the burn I don’t know if this would be a worthwhile investment.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
I would say no. The flavor is consistent, but with the issues with the burn and the wrapper I would hate to have to deal with that everyday.
Would I Buy a Box?
Only as a gift to for a big Avo Uvezian fan.
Conclusion
I’m a sucker for great packaging and great marketing. I just wished that cigar would have backed it up with an outstanding product. The flavor was great on this cigar, I just wish they would have taken more time to make sure the construction was as outstanding as the packaging. Great looking cigar that has a great story. it would look great in any humidor, but I don’t know if I would buy more than one after having smoked it.
