While browsing my favorite on line cigar store, I came across their range of AVO Cigars and wondered where the name came from. Moving on from the store to a search site, I was informed that AVO Cigars are named after one Avo Uvezian who started a cigar factory in the Dominican Republic to duplicate the taste of Cuban cigars (today, AVO Cigars are part of Davidoff).
Time & Place Of Birth
However, it was the rest of the story that really intrigued me; it has all the makings of a Hollywood movie (it wouldn’t surprise if one hasn’t been made or is in the works already). Born in Beirut (in what was then French Lebanon) in 1926 to a musical family; the young Avo Uvezian played in a jazz trio that went on to perform in a Baghdad hotel. After a year at the hotel they received a contract to play in, what was then, the Shah Of Persia’s Iran and even performed for the Shah at one of his palaces. It also said that he tried to teach the Shah to jitterbug! Surely we have a great movie plot already; simply from the exotic locations during “interesting” times with a great cast of “characters”? It could be made as a straight backdrop to historical times or readily transformed into a musical.
It Gets More Interesting
In 1947, the Shah arranged for Avo to go to New York to study classical piano and composition at Juilliard. While studying, he continued his jazz playing, got married and also wrote several songs; one of which apparently inspired the 1966 Frank Sinatra recording of “Strangers in the Night.”
He was drafted for the Korean War and was actually sent to Korea; but the army recognized his musical abilities and he spent his time playing Officers’ Clubs before being honorably discharged in 1952. On returning Stateside, he worked with his wife’s father on jewelry design while also continuing to play in bands at places that included the Palmas Del Mar resort in Puerto Rico.
A Trip To Switzerland For His daughter’s Christening
This was in 1983 and it appears that Avo and a friend were so shocked at the Swiss price for a Cuban cigar after their meal that they toyed with the idea of making their own cigars. They took the thought seriously and travelled to the Dominican Republic; where they spent the next two years in search of the perfect tobacco and production facilities.
Eventually they met up with Hendrik Kelner, a deal was struck and the AVO brand name was born. Within three years, the production of AVO Cigars had reached ¾ of a million pieces. The internationally famed Davidoff company purchased the brand in 1995 and sales rose to over two million in 1996.
