
March 25,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, “We are so sorry to hear of the passing of Avo Uvezian. The cigar industry has lost a legend. We were privileged to have known him and to have spent time with him. RIP our friend Avo, you will be missed.”
Avo Uvezian was born on Mach 22, 1926 in Beirut, French Lebanon . He was an Armenian-American jazz pianist and cigar manufacturer. Uvezian was multi-lingual and would often speak , count, curse and think in in different tongues.
Avo Uvezian was born to a family of musicians. His mother a singer, while his father a composer and conductor for a symphony orchestra. , Avo preformed for Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran to perform at his palace ,after several invites became the Shah’s pianist.
After a year of performing in Iran, the Shah arranged for Avo to travel to the United States of America in 1947. While living in New York, Avo played for multiple bands while studying classical piano and composition at the Juilliard School.
Avo met his wife, Marie Sahakian, while performing at a New York resort in the Catskill Mountains in 1951. They had three children: Jeffrey, Robert, and Ronny.
Drafted during the Korean War and sent to Fort Dix in New Jersey where he was put through infantry training. After impressing his officers with his musical talents, Uvezian was taken out of the Infantry and put into band training. When he arrived in Korea, the band would play at an Officers Club. He was honorably discharged in 1952.
In 1983, when Avo’s daughter Karyn was born, he went to Switzerland for her christening. Avo had a Cuban cigar after the meal and was not happy with the price. His friend mentioned that they should make their own. Uvezian traveled to the Dominican Republic, where he searched for two years for a satisfactory production facility. Avo finally met Hendrik Kelner, and after smoking samples, Avo offered Kelner twenty-five percent more than he had originally offered. His presumption was that paying Kelner more would ensure that Avo cigars would receive the best tobacco. Michael Roux advised Avo to use attractive packaging. In the first year, 120,000 Avo cigars were sold. By the third year, Avo sold over 750,000 cigars. In 1995, Davidoff paid Avo Uvezian an estimated $10 million for the rights to distribute his cigars. In 1996, more than two million Avo cigars were sold.
The Tobacco Shop Of Ridgewood has had a long and special relationship with AVO and Davidoff.
The Tobacco Shop Of Ridgewood
10 Chestnut St
Ridgewood, New Jersey
@TheTobaccoShopOfRidgewood
Call (201) 447-2204