Cigar pass rating experiment Part DEUX REVEAL # 1

[CgarDan]

This is a bit of a blast from the past. Something I am sure many of you have smoked previously.

Results

	CONSTRUCTION	FLAVOR	COMPLEXITY	APPEARANCE	TOTAL
BLIND RATINGS	OUT OF 35	OUT OF 50	OUT OF 10	OUT OF 5	OUT OF 100
cabaiguan juan	25	35	5	5	70
Le Primauguet	34	46	5	5	90
Gavin	35	34	4	5	78
JoeMO	33	44	6	5	88
CBoukal	30	35	5	3	73
wingman1974	31	42	9	4	86
modo22	32	45	8	5	90
Aalvord2	30	45	7	4	86
TexEagle	32	44	9	4	89
modo22 Friend	28	36	6	4	74
drunkfish3	35	40	8	5	88
JArtimez	31	44	6	4	85
H. Vachon	33	44	7	4	88
Nate1977	23	32	10	5	70
Smokemorestressless	25	41	5	5	76
Johnny B	32	46	7	5	90
TOTAL	31	41	7	5	83
WITH THE BANDS
CgarDan	32	42	7	5	86
BurnBerry	20	35	5	4	64
dawgie34203	31	44	7	5	87
TOTAL	28	40	6	5	79

Review Notes:
Heavy leather, slight sweetness, regular tobacco, cedar. Coffee grounds in the last third.

Retro: Slight white pepper, little to no burn.

Medium body.

Wrapper started to peel at the start and it plugged halfway through and had to work it. Good burn / burn lines otherwise with no touch up's.

Lit with Lotus butane.

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Loose roll , soap note in the 1st inch , grass and pepper, burn was even not touch ups

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Nice oily wrapper with light barnyard on nose pre-light. Decided to punch cut but warning... just go for the straight cut as I did after the 2nd puff... just needed a little more volume on the pull.
Dayum- first light picks up floral notes and I'm now standing at attention.
1st third with retro continued floral with slight bitter clove on lips- no tingle.
2nd half I realize it's partially over so bummed because this effer is good. Building strength and the tastes are complex with some vanilla sweetness.
Moving into 3rd, I had to turn on my flashlight for a close inspection of the wrapper revealing toothy texture I should have appreciated in whole form. Transition to full speed retro yields a dark roast coffee. So complex and definitely my fave of the three so far (1,3,2).
Burn was a little off with one touch up needed. Overall just had to slow my pace down a bit so probably my fault. Still, a great night with a great smoke!

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Solid construction, visible veins. Unique head shape with clean cap.

Creamy and woody. It has a slight spice to it as well. It has full flavor but I’d call it a medium plus at most. Got slightly bitter near the end.

Not many transitions. But there are multiple flavors going on.

Nothing mind blowing, but there are no defects.

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7:20-8:55
La Aroma De Cuba Mi Amor or a Romeo y Julieta are my guesses.

Plenty of smoke, interesting initial notes. Moss, wood, tobacco, nutty, leather, natural, retro is pleasant, maybe a hair too nutty or woody for me, ending with some sweet notes, the last few draws were really nice

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Taste of Nicaraguan origin. Medium/full bodied. Consistent cedar, leather, and spice notes throughout. More prominent in the final third.

Nice tooth on wrapper. Uneven burn until the second third. Draw on the tighter side

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Pleasant appearance; prelight – hay, barnyard; first few puffs – floral, sweet, white pepper on retro – so far so good; After 1st third flowery nuances were gone; light gray ash; good burn line; Interesting baking spice – nutmeg?

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Upon initial inspection, this cigar had barely visible seams, a perfect cap, and just enough “rebound”. The burn was a little weird. It would be perfect, then get a little wavy, then fix itself. It canoed a bit at the end of the 2nd third and required a touch up. The ash was nice and white and fell off of its own accord at about 1 1/2 inches.

Pre-light draw had a touch of sweetness, almost chocolatey. Upon lighting, I got quite a bit of pepper, but that mellowed after about 1/2”. I’m not very good at defining all of the flavor nuances yet, but it was a perfect balance of a little sweet and a little pepper. This is probably the first cigar that I’ve had that had pepper through the whole smoke, and I enjoyed it. The retro was smooth throughout my session.

Again, with my limited tasting ability, this seemed to be a fine cigar with some nice changes that I could detect. Maybe medium to medium-full?

When I looked at it, I thought it was a Maduro for sure. Then upon further inspection, it looked like it had some red in it. Now, I don’t know what it is. But it is a very attractive cigar.

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I love the appearance of the 109/bullet tip. The construction is really impressive as it’s packed to the gills with tobacco but still draws very well. Ash hangs on like a champ.

Flavor off the bat is disappointing as I’m not getting much, but it picks up a bit as it gets to the 2nd third. Wood is the dominant flavor, and the retrohale is the moneymaker. Not much complexity. It’s alright.

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Flavor wise, I found it to start off with a strong spicy taste that mellowed as I got further into the cigar. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but I've had lots of smokes that were very similar. Liga #9s come to mind. I wouldn't buy a box of these, but paired with the right meal or bourbon, it would still be enjoyable.

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Great smoke production. Nice ash. Smokes evenly. Medium to medium full. Transition from first third to second and third was beautiful. First third wasn’t the best. But the transition was beautiful.

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very spicy to start. Not something I normally smoke flavor wise. Had to relight a time or two, but very smooth smoke with notes of chocolate and cedar. I thought the strength picked up quite a bit towards the end.

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Reddish, tight wrap, veins. Good tobac smell. Cedar spice cream cold draw. Toght foot, spongy body. Took lots of heat to get lit.

Hour and 15min.

Alternates between a pepper nugget, and a creamshake. When creamy very nice spice.
Turns peppery/ soapey. Ech.
Back to nice!
Ashey taste, one quarter diameter doesnt like to burn, that might be the ashey soapey taste, ash is dusty off that side, grat on other 3/4 diameter, hopefully this burns through.
I think the wrapper is too humid, should have dry boxed her.
Significant tunnel has burned out, even burn now at just over halfway through the smoke.
Tunnel is back, this is a jekyl/ hyde experience. Great flavors when its great. A cigar or 2 out of every box seems to have tunnel issues. I THINK i would have LOVED this one with proper burn.
The last 1.5" is great, marshmalow, cedar, baking spices, cream, wood.


FINAL REVEAL :
Purchase site: COH
Purchase price: $6.80
Cigar: Illusione No 2
Cigar Aficionado Rating 90 https://www.cigaraficionado.com/ratings/15963/name/illusione-2-figurado

 

[CBoukal]

Very Interesting, I would have expected more from Illusione.
Thanks for doing this Dan, this was a lot of fun!!!

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Huh! I was close in my guess.

 

[JoeMO]

For a $6.80 stick, I'll have to put it on my radar of a few hundred sticks I want to try someday. I've been smoking the MJ 12's a lot lately so it is no surprise I enjoyed this one. And as Chad said, thanks for all the hard work you've put into doing this for us Dan!

 

[Smokemorestressless]

Thanks Dan, this was really fun. My 1st Illusione.

 

[dawgie34203]

Again, thank you for doing this! I had a blast!

 

[Aalvord2]

Definitely enjoyed partaking in this! Thanks again @CgarDan

 

[modo22]

Thanks for doing this Dan! Looking forward to the other reveals!

 

[Gavin]

Very strange. I’ve been smoking ~2~’s for the last decade and I’ve never seen one shaped like that, or in that wrapper shade. Still pretty good! (By how I rate)

 

[CgarDan]

Very strange. I’ve been smoking ~2~’s for the last decade and I’ve never seen one shaped like that, or in that wrapper shade. Still pretty good! (By how I rate)

What other shape does it come in ?

 

[Gavin]

What other shape does it come in ?

The one I received as part of the experiment, I’d call a 109, as quoted above, having a tapered but ultimately flat head. In fact, I believe it was so flat, I punched it. I’m used to them having a pointy head, a belicoso. Searching online now I do see some images reflecting both styles. I wonder if there’s been an intentional switch, or this is just from some of their rollers.

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Very strange. I’ve been smoking ~2~’s for the last decade and I’ve never seen one shaped like that, or in that wrapper shade. Still pretty good! (By how I rate)

I thought it was the El Gueesne (blue) torpedo myself.