AVO Domaine #50

[4cbln3]

Decided to finally do a review of this cigar that Reid (Rydermonster) gave me during the Christmas season. Just bought an Olympus digital point n shoot from Costco and figured I could test the macro setting on this model.

Copied from a website, "AVO Domaine offers the same consistent quality from the Davidoff factory, rolled with dark Sun-grown Connecticut wrappers from Ecuador, Dominican long-fillers and binder. But the kicker is a fuller, more robust flavor than the regular line that's potent but not overwhelming. Smooth and effortless draw."

It was not potent, maybe due to the age, but I did get some nice straight forward tobacco flavor and some sweetness when I puffed slowly on it. I did enjoy the cigar while smoking it and thought to myself that the taste reminded me of some Davidoff's I've had. Only after, when I clicked on a cigar website for the final size did I stumble upon the similiarity. The ash was a dark, greyish- black and it held up for about an 1-1/2" until it fell in the ashtray.

I was gifted this and when I saw the cello, I was amazed! I cannot recall any pics of this so let me know what you guys think! It's only on the yellowish cello, nothing was evident on the cigar.

I've seen mold on some of my Anejo's and Partagas Serie D's when I didn't know what I was doing in the beginning, and these didn't resemble them. I've never personally seen plume because I smoke my stuff too fast. Whatever this was, it made for an interesting smoke.

Thanks bruddah Rydermonster for the nice smoke, not sure how long you had this in your humidor. Hope the pictures do it justice.

Dave

 

[Gavin]

Nice review, brother!

 

[LA Kings Fan]

I have seen cello's turn yellow but the plume growth is pretty impressive on that Avo. Seems like you enjoyed the Avo, I might have to pick up one of them. Also congrads on the camera :thumbs:

 

[BlindedByScience]

Of course it's hard to tell for sure unless I could see it in person, but buddy, I'd bet you a nice smoke that is indeed mold. I have < never > seen plume stand up above the smoke and appear like three dimensional deposits. Most plume is dull to shiny blotches on the cigar, much like a water spot. It's due the to the oils migrating to the surface and crystallizing, so getting a "fluffy" looking deposit is very hard to imagine. And sticking to the cello? Never seen that, either.

Glad you enjoyed it, not sure about the plume........

One guy's observations - B.B.S.

Edited to add - I've got a box of this AVO and they are indeed nice, mild, smooth smokes......

 

[4cbln3]

Of course it's hard to tell for sure unless I could see it in person, but buddy, I'd bet you a nice smoke that is indeed mold. I have < never > seen plume stand up above the smoke and appear like three dimensional deposits. Most plume is dull to shiny blotches on the cigar, much like a water spot. It's due the to the oils migrating to the surface and crystallizing, so getting a "fluffy" looking deposit is very hard to imagine. And sticking to the cello? Never seen that, either.

Glad you enjoyed it, not sure about the plume........

One guy's observations - B.B.S.

Edited to add - I've got a box of this AVO and they are indeed nice, mild, smooth smokes......

Glad you could help me determine what it was Tom, I was always under the impression mold only stuck to the cigar wrapper and not the cello.

Theoretical situation here: What if the cigar did initially have mold spores and was subjected to high tropical temperatures, thus producing the snowflake looking things on the cello. Then the cigar was kept at a cooler temp for the rest of its life till I burned it, could the cello dry it up and also hold the impression? I thought when I pulled the cigar out, the snowflake looking design would rub off, but it stayed on. I just tried rubbing it off with the end of a draw poker and it won't smear off the cello, totally has me mystified. I just had to get a picture to post!

 

[BlindedByScience]

Of course it's hard to tell for sure unless I could see it in person, but buddy, I'd bet you a nice smoke that is indeed mold. I have < never > seen plume stand up above the smoke and appear like three dimensional deposits. Most plume is dull to shiny blotches on the cigar, much like a water spot. It's due the to the oils migrating to the surface and crystallizing, so getting a "fluffy" looking deposit is very hard to imagine. And sticking to the cello? Never seen that, either.

Glad you enjoyed it, not sure about the plume........

One guy's observations - B.B.S.

Edited to add - I've got a box of this AVO and they are indeed nice, mild, smooth smokes......

Glad you could help me determine what it was Tom, I was always under the impression mold only stuck to the cigar wrapper and not the cello.

Theoretical situation here: What if the cigar did initially have mold spores and was subjected to high tropical temperatures, thus producing the snowflake looking things on the cello. Then the cigar was kept at a cooler temp for the rest of its life till I burned it, could the cello dry it up and also hold the impression? I thought when I pulled the cigar out, the snowflake looking design would rub off, but it stayed on. I just tried rubbing it off with the end of a draw poker and it won't smear off the cello, totally has me mystified. I just had to get a picture to post!

I suppose anything is possible, but from my admittedly limited experience, I've only seen plume manifest itself in one of two forms. One looked just like water spots on the wrapper, but they were "dusty" and could be rubbed off. The other type I've seen looked like a fine coating of dust; almost like powdered sugar. Both of those cases were on cigars that were 15+ years old. Are the AVO's that old?

I have never seen plume form three dimensional crystals. I have, however, seen mold stick tenaciously to cello. Keep in mind that cello is slightly porous; it makes sense that mold could impinge itself into the cello and be darn hard to impossible to wipe / scrape off.

Like I said, it's hard to tell without looking at it in the first hand. If you enjoyed it, well, that's all that really matters......

Cheers - B.B.S.

 

[4cbln3]

You brought up a good point I had forgotten, that cello is slightly porous which leads itself to having something for the mold to grab onto.
As for the age, I think somewhere in the 7-8 year range so even that wouldn't lend itself to plume.

I did enjoy taking pics and smoking it though, usually I just pull the cello and get on with my smoke. I felt like a bomb technician taking my time.

Thanks for the info Tom as this newb still has a lot to learn.