Avo LE10 Event, Saturday, March 27, 2010

My local B&M, Burns Tobacconist, sponsored an event this past Saturday evening featuring the legendary Avo Uvezian. He was promoting his annual “birthday” special edition cigar, the LE10 and did a little piano-playing while he was there, too. I’ll get to that in time...

I started off by getting to the event early to see what new cigars Burns might have received since my last visit (seems like almost a month ago). I picked up the new Nestor Miranda Dominicano, something I had not noticed before from Don Pepin Garcia (Vegas Cubanas), and a couple samples of the new Pete Johnson stick, El Triunfador. I had smoked my first of these a couple weeks ago at Leaf & Ale in Knoxville and was not at all impressed, so I thought I’d try it in a different size. I smoked one then at the shop--Jason, who works there, loves them and I wanted to give him my opinion. I’ve got to say--still not impressed. It’s not a bad stick, but there are plenty of other medium-bodied sticks on the market in the same price range I like better. More for Jason to smoke, I guess (and @KnightRid, too).

Very soon, the one we had been waiting for--the man, the myth, the legend--arrived. No, I’m not talking about Barack Obama--I’m thinking he wouldn’t be brave enough to show his face at a cigar store in southeast Tennessee. No, Avo Uvezian walked through the door. He was very nice and shook hands with everyone standing around waiting to be let into the event room.

Eventually when we were let in, I got in and found a seat. The Davidoff brand manager noticed that I was carrying a box of LE10s and came over to invite me to have Avo sign it. He did and he was gracious enough to pose for a picture with me as well, standing on his toes to try to get to my height. Great sense of humor. 

Soon after the start of the event, he got up and said a few words. He related that Chattanooga was one of his favorite cities (“Yeah, he says that about every city” I said), because when he was a youngster in Lebanon he used to play “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” with the band and never thought he might actually get to go there. He encouraged us all to fight against the anti-smoking laws because “we all know where it will end up.” And he displayed his pride in this new Limited Edition 2010 cigar that has been described as the strongest, fullest-bodied cigar to ever bear his name.

Later I got to talk with him a little more and told him a friend in California was disappointed that he wasn’t coming out there. “I don’t like California” was his reply as he graciously signed an empty box for Keith, who bought half the box I purchased that evening.

I talked to Bob and Lee and some others at my table about cigars, politics, religion...basically the stuff that makes the Tiki Bar go round. Amazingly, we all left the event as friends, with no one calling anyone else a “moron” which can actually happen even when people’s views don’t coincide...at least it can if both parties are reasonable. We all kept an eye on the Kentucky-West Virginia NCAA tournament game, too.

Seems that Jason and Davidoff rep, Garrett, made a bet earlier in the evening. They picked sides and wagered a virtual re-peat of the Moontrance Madness payoff that occurred last November. Jason threw in with Kentucky and lost. Garrett got to pick 3 different CAO Flavours tubed cigars and rubberband them together for Jason to smoke. Jason was a very good sport and a trooper, too, hot-boxing a mixture of Caramelo Joe, Bella Vanilla, and Cherry Bomb--a mixture potent enough to make even flavored-cigar lovers gag. I was handy with the video portion of my point-and-shoot camera and got the whole sordid experience recorded:

On the way out later that evening, I talked with Garrett a bit and told him that I was trying to move this blog up in the food chain. He was supportive of that effort and said he would check it out. He then gifted me a Davidoff Maduro C cigar with the proviso that I review it and “be honest” about it. Honesty is one of my most important policies here on the Tiki Bar--I will let you know what I think of a stick no matter who gives it to me, and I intend to keep that level of integrity no matter what--it’s the best way to sleep at night. The review on that Davidoff will most likely run before April is over. And the LE10? God willing and the creek don’t rise, that review should run this Friday.