(BR)AVO!!

I'm one of those annoying people who puts XOXO at the bottom of emails and text messages--but not business correspondence.  You make that mistake only once. Or twice.

Just thought you should know.

Yesterday evening, as we bided (bode? boded?  wasted?) our time walking around Federal Hill, waiting for a couple of friends (Hi Brian! Hi Michael!) to meet us for dinner, Valentino pulled out an AVO XO Presto. Swoon.

I'll admit I'm a sucker for a classy logo and/or band and, as a result, I've been a long-time fan of the AVO brand.

The moment he started toasting the XO's foot, I wanted to take it from him and whisk it off to Vegas and marry it. It reminded me of a fine, creamy dessert, one you could only get at Del Posto in NYC, one of my all-time favorite restaurants.

More, please.

At 3 3/4 x 43, it was the perfect before-dinner smoke, taking exactly as much time as a person (me) needs to drink two sangrias as we sat in front of the restaurant, watching people, a favorite pastime (drinking and watching people simultaneously).

The wrapper of this mild cigar is Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut seed, with Dominican binder and filler. (There may also be a mildly-spicy crème brulee tucked into that wrapper. That's some good camouflage. Well played, gentlemen.)

I asked him to smoke another today as we sit outside loving the weather, but he only had the one! Whaaa? Who let this happen?!?!

Anyway, here's some cool info about the company's jefe*: "Avo Uvezian is a cosmopolitan who began his career as a musician and went on to become a composer, cigar aficionado and even a creator of fine cigars. Avo, who lent his name to AVO Cigars, has nurtured all these talents in his quest for perfection. In both music and the creation of cigars, passion is the driving force that spurs him to find perfect harmony."

Okay! Time to run. I have to get ready to go out for another cigar adventure.  In the meantime, I leave you with...

XOXO


*Spanish for chief or boss