AVO

AVO began on top of a piano. Avo Uvezian, a jazz pianist of Armenian descent who performed for years in Puerto Rico, kept a stash of cigars on his piano and gave them away to fans until his daughter suggested he sell them instead. In search of a quality smoke after balking at the price of Cubans, he spent two years looking for the right maker and found Henke Kelner in the Dominican Republic. The first AVO cigars appeared in New York in 1988 and were an immediate hit, growing from a handful to millions a year. Davidoff bought the brand in 1995, and Kelner still produces it in the Dominican Republic, from the original Classic to later lines like Heritage and Syncro. Refined, balanced, and rooted in one man’s ear for harmony, AVO cigars reflect a life lived between two passions.