It’s been a minute since I have done a review and I felt like working one in today while I tried to finish up surfacing some walnut boards. I wasn’t sure what to review, but I am currently immersed in a contest on a cigar forum I am a member of, so I let it decide my smokes for the day. Each day is associated with a letter and you get points for smoking cigars corresponding to that letter. Since it’s “I” day, Illusione was the obvious choice! I went for the Illusione Original Documents Corojo ~68~ today.
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Agricola Ganadera Nortena S.A.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan AAA Grade Corojo Rosado
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo ‘99 & Criollo ‘98
Vitola: 4 x 44 Bombone
Price: $8.35 MSRP
Link to Purchase: Guitars & Cigars Farm LLC (Use code “Review” to save 10%)
Company Website: www.illusionecigars.com
This petite cigar has a milk chocolate, oily wrapper. It is firmly packed and quite dense. The cigar smells of baking spices, tangy pepper, and earth. The cold draw is faint, but has some creamy earthiness to it. First light brings full flavored and full bodied smoke with some oily pepper, some tangy citrus, and wood. Three eighths of an inch in the profile is much the same with the addition of a slightly sweet vanilla. The retrohale is earthy and oily, with some sweet pepper heat. Before the end of the first third I had to run eggs over to my neighbor and the cigar was out when I got back, as expected. It relit easily with no off-putting flavors. Into the second third the performance has been flawless so far. There’s a bit of a tannic quality to the wood in the smoke and there’s a bit of a saltiness showing as well. These notes carried through the second third, along with the pepper, citrus tang, and vanilla. The performance continues to be perfect as I approach the band. Coming to an end at an hour and 6 minutes the profile has maintained much of the same flavors - wood, earth, pepper, and vanilla. The retrohale has some citrus now, along with pepper and earth.
Overall Experience
Overall this is a great little smoke. It has a well balanced, flavorful profile, without being overpowering to the palate. The cigar had perfect performance as well, which is an added bonus. It also burns plenty long for the small 4x44 format. This is one I will always recommend to any smoker, but especially the smoker who likes a small cigar with loads of flavor.
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