The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Avowed Awakening Black - Robusto Grande (5.5 x 52) is based on the journal entry dated 2026-06-25

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

It’s hard not to love the aged Ecuadorian Corojo that Avowed uses on the Hallowed Hands, because it works its magic here perfectly. Oily, toothy, heavily mottled, and veiny, this milk-chocolate brown leaf just drips with character. The seams are clean and tight with no edge lift. The red of the Awakening band works better with the natural color of the leaf than it did on the New Dawn Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, but like the White, it lacks the secondary “Awakening” band in lieu of a black footband. The colored footbands on both seem a little out of place compared to the rest of the Avowed line, but that’s the pickiest of all the fucking quibbles in the world. These are still beautiful cigars.​

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Good (3) / Average (2)

The draw is perfect and the burn starts beautifully—very even with just a little wave to it, which isn’t surprising given all the veins in the wrapper. The ash is a light gray with moderately spaced and wider cracks. There are tons of oil crystals embedded in the ash, which has slight feathering and drops an occasional flake.

One section of the wrapper lifted just slightly and didn’t burn, but it started to separate from the ash stack. As I waited to see if the burn would circle around further down the shaft so that piece would fall, I was so busy drafting these notes and staring at the ash that I didn’t realize the cigar went out. Well, fuck… Because that ash was still holding strong at the midpoint, I had no choice but to dump it and relight. But these Awakening LEs have been ash-stacking champs when the burn is clean. Unfortunately for this one, a section is a little too tight and just doesn’t want to burn with the rest of the cigar, requiring a second correction in the final third.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Excellent (5)

Mmmm… Dark, pumpernickel breadiness, bits of molasses, and bits of nutmeg and baking spice. There’s a slight charred oak and leathery quality to it. I’m getting growing cinnamon, black pepper, and nutmeg through the first third, along with more charred oak and earth. Leather starts to slide back, and it has that same black cherry sweetness as the Hallowed Hands. But it’s very smooth, refined, and nuanced to start.

In the second third, the intensity picks up. It’s a dark mix of charred, smoky, and bready flavors. There’s just enough sweet and spice to make it a mesquite rather than a hickory-smoked flavor for my palate. The most dominant notes are the baking spice, pumpernickel breadiness, charred oak, and a black cherry that shifts to raisin at times. Coffee and leather pick up to a medium intensity, while the black pepper is still very mild. Nutmeg is the most dominant spice, with cinnamon sitting at a medium intensity. There’s just a hint of dark chocolate at times, but it mostly blends into the background. There’s a moderate creaminess to the finish that’s amplified by the overall smoothness of the cigar.

Getting to the final third, I need to comment on the chewiness of this blend, as that has been steadily increasing. There’s a thick and oily mouthfeel along with the leathery notes that I find most recognizable to the Awakening. And what’s interesting is this blend seems to transition from feeling more like the Hallowed Hands to the Awakening as you progress. That final inch finishes with the strongest and most chewy flavors, with the breadiness and sweetness dropping off for more charred oak, coffee, earth, and leather. Complex, nuanced, good transitions, enjoyable blend—this is another banger. 🔥

Overall Experience (0-5):  Excellent (5)

What I find most impressive is that while wrapper swaps often don’t work, they worked surprisingly well here. I think it helps that the Awakening and Hallowed Hands have a lot of shared DNA at the 50,000-foot level. They both use PA Broadleaf, which is a strong tobacco that heavily influences the filler blend and can overpower subtler tweaks in the rest of the cigar. But that cuts the other way as well. Whereas the Awakening White felt like a true hybrid of the Awakening and New Dawn with very identifiable components of each in the blend, this feels much closer to the Hallowed Hands, with only the chewy and leathery portion feeling most traceable to the Awakening. It’s still a fantastic cigar; it just stands a little closer to the Hallowed Hands than truly standing apart like the White does.

But just like the Awakening White, the value proposition is still a bit of a struggle to justify. The raw ingredients don’t seem to add up to the $30 price point. That said, if you are a true fan of Avowed, the experience that comes from smoking through this endeavor more than makes up for it. So yes, this is a definite buy if you have smoked through the entire Avowed lineup and have gone deep with each blend.

If you are still new to the brand, I think you should focus on trying the Hallowed Hands and Awakening first as a starting point. Not to sound like an elitist gatekeeper, but I think it’s difficult to fully appreciate the Awakening Black for everything it represents—and really understand the Avowed team’s intentions with this release—unless you know those foundational cigars well.

Review Base Rating (0-5):

4.50

Is it Burnable?

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.