AVO Cigars: Avo Uvezian, Henke Kelner and the Syncro Line

AVO is one of the very few cigar brands built around a single person who was not a tobacco man. Avo Uvezian was born in Beirut in 1926 and died in Orlando on 24 March 2017 at the age of 91. He sold his first cigars in 1987 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, under the Bolero label, then renamed them AVO and launched in New York, reaching the wider United States market in 1988. The blends were created with Hendrik Kelner, the Dominican master blender behind Davidoff. Our AVO collection carries Classic and Syncro Nicaragua.

This profile covers the founding, the Kelner partnership, the Davidoff acquisition, the lines, and the new Expresivo.

Bolero, 1987

The first cigars went on sale in San Juan in 1987 under the name Bolero. They were renamed AVO and debuted in New York, with the wider United States launch following in 1988, which is the year Cigar Aficionado gives as the brand's founding.

The growth numbers are the striking part. Around 5,000 cigars in 1987 became roughly 3.2 million by 1997. Davidoff bought the distribution rights in 1995, and AVO is today an Oettinger Davidoff brand distributed in the United States by Davidoff of Geneva USA.

Four ways into AVO

The Classic Robusto for the house style, a Syncro Nicaragua Toro for the modern one, and both core fresh packs.

The Kelner partnership

Hendrik Kelner, known throughout the industry as Henke, founded Tabadom in the Dominican Republic in 1984 and created both The Griffin's and the AVO blends. He handed general management to Hamlet Espinal in 2015, stepped down as Tabadom vice chairman in 2019, and retired in August 2020. He now serves as ProCigar's president ad vitam.

That partnership is why AVO tastes the way it does. Kelner's signature was balance and refinement over raw power, which is the same instinct that shaped Davidoff. AVO was the more expressive sibling from the beginning.

The lines

Cigar Aficionado lists the AVO portfolio as Classic, Heritage, XO, Domaine, Syncro Nicaragua and Expresivo, with Improvisation as the annual limited edition.

AVO does not publish full leaf breakdowns for Classic, Heritage, XO and Domaine, so we do not list wrappers for those lines. Where the company publishes a blend, as with Syncro and Expresivo, we give it in full below.

Syncro Nicaragua

Syncro is AVO's multi origin idea: Nicaraguan character brought into a Dominican house. The Syncro Nicaragua 10th Anniversary Limited Edition, released on 3 April 2025, used an Ecuadorian wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan filler. It was a 6 and 5 eighths by 50 box pressed diadema, made at O.K. Cigars in the Dominican Republic, at 22 dollars, in 3,400 boxes.

If tapered shapes interest you, our Torpedo and Pyramid and Perfecto collections gather them across brands.

Expresivo, and the first AVO made outside the Dominican Republic

Expresivo shipped on 25 June 2026 and is a genuine departure. It uses a dark Ecuadorian wrapper, a Honduran binder, and a filler of Honduran Jamastrán with Nicaraguan Jalapa and Condega, and it is made at Davidoff's Honduran factory in Danlí, the same building that produces Camacho and the newer Zino lines.

Sizes are the Robusto at 5 by 52 at 16 dollars, the Churchill at 7 by 48 at 17.30, and the Toro at 6 by 54 at 17.80, with a stated strength of four out of five. For a brand built on Dominican balance, that is a deliberate move toward weight.

What we notice first-hand

AVO is a quiet brand and it suffers slightly for it. There is no factory story to tell, no farm, no third generation. What there is, is Kelner construction and a Dominican core that rewards attention rather than demanding it.

The Classic Robusto in tubos is the one we recommend most, and the tubo matters more than people think. A sealed aluminium tube holds a cigar at its packed humidity for months and makes it genuinely travel proof, which is why tubos are the sensible choice for a jacket pocket or a glovebox rather than a travel case.

The honest comparison: if you like Davidoff but want a little more voice, AVO is the answer. If you find Davidoff too restrained, Syncro rather than Classic is where to start.

AVO at Cigar Inc., live

Browse all AVO

The bottom line

Classic Robusto Tubos to meet the brand, Syncro Nicaragua when you want the Nicaraguan lift, and the Puritos when you want ten minutes rather than fifty. The core fresh pack of four is the cheapest way to compare formats.

Reading this alongside our Davidoff profile gives you the whole Oettinger Davidoff picture, or start with the Cigar Finder.

Keep exploring