[junkman_56]

Back in February, Blue Dragon did a blind cigar and MP3 swap.
We sent each other a blind 5’er of cigars along with a couple CDs worth of MP3s.
Cory (being the sneaky bastard that he is) sent me eight cigars including a “mystery cigar” to try and review.
I put this “mystery cigar” in my humidor and kind of forgot about it (my bad).

Today went rummaging thru my humidor, looking for a cigar to smoke with the guys at work and came across this cigar:


I sat down on the smoking deck at work, the day was sunny and the temp was about 80 degrees with a light wind.
A wonderful afternoon for a cigar.

Pre-light: The cigar appears to be a 52 ring gauge and about 5 inches long. The wrapper is a light brown and is lightly veined. The cigar felt firm and sweet tobacco smell. I punched the cigar and the initial draw was a little tight.

Smoking: The cigar lit easily, but did not produce a lot of smoke due to the tight draw. I am not good at discerning flavors, but I liked the cigar. Not a lot of spice, but nice tobacco flavors. About half way thru the cigar the flavors got earthier and I noticed that this was going to be a strong cigar. The draw also opened up a bit at this point. The last half the cigar was strong with rich earthy tobacco flavors.

Overall impression was that this was a good cigar medium to full bodied. It did not produce as much smoke as I would like and the draw was a bit tight. The flavors were good, but not a lot of spice.


OK Cory, what was I smoking…

This post has been edited by junkman_56: 04 May 2006 - 04:05 PM

[Blue Dragon]

Well, glad you liked it! And while tight is good for many things, it sucks when smoking cigars. I haven't had that issue with them, sorry you did.

So, it was an Illusione 88 pre-release. Dion (vudu9) is putting together a line of cigars that he plans on releasing in around wintertime this year. He was going to get some shots of his cigars and put them up on the website, but that doesn't look like it has happened yet.

http://illusionecigars.com/

I really liked the cigar, and wanted to see what some other people thought as well. And I suck at reviewing cigars. I think the issue is my palate; some people have a ton of tastebuds and others not so much. I think I am in the not so much category. So thanks for the review, and since they don't come with bands yet, it made it pretty easy for it to be a mystery cigar.

Thanks for giving it a shot and letting me know what you thought.

Enjoy!
- C

[vudu9]

Thanks for the comments. I just got back from Miami and addressed a few concerns including the occasional draw issue with the "prototype" robusto you've smoked. That particular cigar has about 7 months age on it. The full line producion will have a slightly darker wrapper i.e. colorado rosado and an added ligero to the filler. The blend will be medium to full with an earthy sweetness, mild spice and a leather finish. I gotta tell you, It's been a total blast fine-tuning this cigar with the factory, in all aspects. The full line will be pre-released late May, beginning of June. The official release will be at RTDA 2006 in Las Vegas.


Take care,


Dion Giolito
Illusione Cigars

[NullSmurf]

I look forward to it. Get something on that website, though.

[ffopusxff]

Would love to try one when they are out.