The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Avowed Awakening - Robusto Grande (5.5 x 52) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-06-05

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Good (3)

Another beautiful roll with a milk chocolate brown wrapper. It has good oily sheen and heavy mottling with just the faintest tooth, that’s barely there. The veins are all thin and light, they’re visible but almost non-existent. The seams are tight and blend in while the triple cap is tightly and evenly applied. As with all the other Avowed cigars, the embossed and detailed bands are high quality and well done. No question this is an ultra-premium cigar when you look at it.

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Good (3) / Good (3)

The draw is open, not much resistance, but still good. The burn starts beautifully but starts to get uneven quickly so I’m going to pace myself to see if it catches up, or if it canoes and need a correction. Then I immediately cave and give it a mild touch-up, and now we’re good with a full burn. The ash is a very light gray, but very smooth without the usual stacked few striations and more of a crackle look to it. It’s a little flaky at the end, but I’ll blame that on my early relight. After that early correction, the burn has evened out nicely.

Unfortunately, it went out after the first inch so a relight was needed. Two things I’m keeping in mind. First, with the original cigar exploding at the head, this one came straight from my tuppador reserves. I like to give a cigar a week or two in my main humidor before smoking. Second, they might get an hour or two, or even more time out of the box before smoking depending on my day. This got none of that, but it’s burning beautifully now with a dead even burn line.

It did need another relight to start the final third. Also, be careful ashing, this wrapper is delicate. I needed a little extra effort to get the ash broken off to relight and it cracked where I was tapping it against my silicon ashtray.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

The first puffs hit with baking spice and woodiness, then pepper. I’m now getting breadiness and malty chocolate, saltiness again too. I’m getting some earth and leather, and I usually hate leather but this is actually quite pleasant. The sweet is very caramel-like as well. Somehow even though I find I’m getting a lot of the same flavors between each of the Avowed blend, they’re all unique and different in their own right. The woodiness is very cedary and slightly charred. By the end of the first inch, the pepper picks up and is tingling the mouth.

Getting into the second third and this is coming across as a far more refined and nuanced blend than New Dawn or The Vow. It’s all the good things you expect from finely aged tobacco. The caramel sweetness is carrying really nicely with the toasted breadiness, and while I’m getting some baking spice, the pepper is the star of the show. The refined leather is still there, but earth has backed down. Another super creamy and very smooth cigar even with that medium dash of pepper. Most importantly, that malty chocolate is right there giving it a delicious base.

With a relight to start the final third, the pepper and woodiness get a kick in the ass. I’m getting a little more pepper throat burn. It’s the first time I’ve had any harshness, but it’s minor. Overall, this is another 🔥 of a blend.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Great (4)

The Awakening has a level of refinement and some unique flavors that you won’t find in the New Dawn or The Vow and I’m three for three in really enjoying the Avowed lineup. But is it worth the 55 to 75 percent price premium over those? Mostly… 😅 It really is a delightful blend, but you’re not going to be worse for wear if you miss out on this and are stuck “slumming” it with the production blends because they’re fantastic in their own right. This won’t fit everybody’s wallet, but if you’re looking at a similarly priced Fuente, Padrón or Davidoff and this is an option, 💯 definitely give it a go.

I think The Vow is currently my favorite of the three blends, but this is a close second. With that, I definitely need to get the Higher Calling which is their next limited release and is based on The Vow. I’m probably going to need to grab a proper box of these before they’re gone while I’m at it! 🔥

Review Base Rating (0-5):

4.50

Would I Buy It Again?

Signs point to yes (recommended)

Review Final Score (0-10):

8.83

Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries

While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example!  This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo.  Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!

The Flavor Wheel

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

This chart is based off of my interpretation of the flavors experienced during each journaled smoke. Those entries are averaged out over in an attempt to build a flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor