Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo ’98 & Criollo ‘99
Size: 6.75 x 48 “Necessary and Sufficient”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $8.96 MSRP ($6.20 at Small Batch Cigar [$5.58 with discount code])

Today we take a look at Illusione 888 Necessary and Sufficient. It is an excellent cigar and I probably won’t be telling you anything you don’t already know. I thought it was time to review some affordable sticks as lovely reader, Patrick Hostler, gently noodged me to do. (Look up the word “noodge” in your Yiddish dictionary; as in “Don’t noodge me,” or Don’t be a noodge.”)

Patrick’s well taken point is that I’ve probably reviewed too many boutique brands lately. Of course, not all of it is my fault as they were all gifts. But I also received some nice gifts of affordable sticks.

The MSRP of this stick is high and no one charges it. Some come close. And yes, it seems that all I do is shill for Small Batch Cigar but when you’ve got a great tool, you use it a lot. So SBC sells the Illusione 888 Necessary and Sufficient cheaper than anyone else I could find. I’m sure it can be had for a similar price elsewhere but my mission was not to spend 2 hours Googling online stores.

You don’t need a primer in Dion Giolito and Illusione Cigars. You know what you know and if you don’t know then go learn what you need to know.

Cigar Aficionado gave this stick a 91. Hoo-Ray! BFD!

The back story on blends or brands can really turn out to be ridiculous. I would just love to hear some manufacturer say, “Oh, I just wanted to make a really good cigar…that’s all.” Not a thousand years of family involvement in the cigar business and no artsy fartsy Zen way of describing the blender’s needs for his expression of how he picks his leaves. Or how someone important got together with someone else who was important and then they got together with someone else who was important and all found they had the same goal about making cigars: Make wonderful cigars….er… make a lot of money.

All Illusione cigars are Nic puros.

Let us move on. Strangely, construction is rustic on most Illusione cigars. It is lumpy and bumpy with a lot of veins….but very tight seams. Like my Uncle Schmuel. The wrapper is called a Colorado Café color. Why?

Beats the shit out of me. Must be the color of when someone at a Colorado diner upchucks at his table. But to me, it looks like a coffee bean brown with very little oiliness and toothy to the touch. The triple cap is flawless. The cap can tell you everything about the cigar you smoke. It is all about the devil in the details. A sloppy cap means fat chance you’re smoking a great cigar.

I clip the cap and find aromas of rich earthiness, cocoa, cinnamon, coffee, spice, and herbal notes.
Time to light up.

Ahh..that lovely Nicaraguan puro taste. Lots of earthiness. And right off the bat, there is a ground swell of red pepper. Following that is a French dessert sweetness and then followed by cocoa and coffee.

Illusione blends are most noted for their full bodied earthiness. No mistaking that vital thread that permeates the brand.

Now this stick gets different analyses of how strong it is. Some say full bodied, some say medium/full, and some say medium. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve smoked one and also since my brain is mush from being old, I can’t remember.

I’ve reviewed this cigar at least a couple times for other people and I must remember that my puny blog needs that review as well. Maybe put a string around my testicles to remember. Oooh…yeah, yeah…right there….Oops. Sorry.

The strength at the half inch point is classic medium. It is not particularly over flavorful but I will be patient because as the ridiculous name of the size portents, it necessary and sufficient. So time is the key.

Speaking of testicles, you know what freaks me out? I V cut most of my cigars. As my drool forces the tobacco at the cap to expand, so does the V cut until it looks like this:

Now tell me it doesn’t look like what I think it looks like. Thank God there is no white string emanating from its depths.

The cigar is jam packed and quite a slow smoker. So I shall work on my after review story which, for a change, is the first time I’ve ever told it….to just about anyone.

The first third is about readiness. It is a rich earthy cigar with little dabbles of flavor and spice. Like a lot of Illusione blends, the cigar really doesn’t start cooking until the second third.

Here are the flavors: Earthiness, spice, creaminess, sweetness, cocoa, coffee, strong cedar, and leather.

Smokers either love or hate Illusione. It has a little bite to it that is part of the grand scheme. It is like the fuse that is lit heading towards the stack of dynamite. Once you smoke enough blends, you begin to realize that the “bite” is just a precursor; not a blending issue.

Black cherry shows its head. The thing about all Nic puros is that you basically get the same flavor profile; but in different degrees and strengths and weaknesses.

When you’re broke and buy a cheap bundle of something called Nicaraguan Seconds, well….you ain’t getting an Illusione or a cigar that will bring a flavor bomb to the table. You will get a spicy cigar with basically no flavor.

The strength at this point is medium/full.

The char line has really behaved itself. Lately, I haven’t been so lucky with that issue.

Complexity really digs in here. It is nicely balanced with a long finish. It is smooth and the “bite” begins to disappear. “We have landed, Senor Columbus. Who are all those brown colored chaps with feathers in their hair? Shall we kill them all now or wait til summer?”

It’s really nice to smoke such a high premium cigar so inexpensively. The Illusione 888 Necessary and Sufficient is one of many blends that Dion Giolito dotes on and keeps the level of quality control very high.

I love his La Grande Classe but it is impossible to get online. I reviewed it back in June of 2013 and have been trying to get more ever since. Giolito managed to put out a $6 stick that could have sold for twice that.

The cigar is on cruise control. Flavors are near explosive and should reach flavor bomb status very soon.
The second third begins after over 45 minutes.

We have hit the sweet spot and it is a bona fide flavor bomb.
Flavors are uber bold. The complexity is fucking perfect. It has a long chewy finish.

The fact that this stick is called Necessary and Sufficient ain’t no lie. It is one of the slowest smoking Churchills I’ve smoked.

I don’t understand the nomenclature. Churchill used to smoke these giant 7 x 70 cigars and yet the standard Churchill is somewhere in the 7 x 50 range. Or even 6.5 x 48. Someone explain that to me.

I love this cigar. It is most definitely for the experienced palate. But the strength is mild enough and smooth enough for newbies to experiment with. That thesis may change in the last third.

I am at the halfway point and the stick is perfect for my tastes.

Small Batch Cigar carries 18 different blends and sizes. All exceptionally low in price. Depending on the blend, prices range from $6.00-$12.00.

The last third begins. A wonderful cigar. The strength has moved up to full bodied. No nicotine yet.

Flavors are the same and in the same order. I sat down at my laptop at 7am and it is now 9:30. It appears I have another 30 minutes to go. Smoking the Illusione 888 Necessary and Sufficient is a real dedication to the smoking experience.

The cigar finishes nice and cool. The nicotine is acceptable. And the flavors are a nice mix showing off the best of what a Nic puro can offer.

Final smoking time is over 2.5 hours. Match this with the terrific price point and you’ve got a real winner.

And now for something completely different:

I’ve never told this story before. And there is a good reason; but enough time has passed that it should be OK.

Back in the Curved Air days, Miles Copeland Jr. loved to visit us when we played in London.

Copeland was an American and one of the founders of the American OSS in WWII. He was a trumpet player in the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Army decided he was too smart to be a fucking horn player. So they snagged him for the intelligence division.

After the war, he helped conceive the CIA. And spent time as station chief in Lebanon helping to overthrow governments in the Middle East.

As a result, all three brothers: Miles III, Ian, and Stewart grew up all over the world while dad took down governments and their mother; a famous archaeologist, took them to digs all through the Middle East.

Yet all three boys had American passports even though mom was a Brit.

When CA formed, Stew was at Berkeley in California.

I met Pops at a gig and then saw him a lot. He had retired from the CIA and had become a special analyst for the BBC. He wrote books in which he hung them out to dry. And he wrote books praising Bush Sr.

He would visit Miles III house all the time and I would leave the rehearsal room in the basement while the band worked out a new song. I was never invited to be a part of the creative process. So I would schmooze with Pops.

He carried a gun. He also owned the biggest dog I’ve ever seen in my life and was always with him. You could not approach him unless Copeland allowed it. The dog had to weigh 300lbs. I don’t know what the fuck it was. Probably a bear.

Miles Sr. was a smart, jovial guy and he and I became friends. We talked about his background a lot because I was fascinated and he enjoyed talking about it.

He also found out I was a Jew. Back in the day, there were very few big rock players that were Jews. Instead of playing, they ran the show.

And here is where it gets thick. He didn’t leave the CIA entirely. At least that’s what he told me. He told me that the sons thought he was retired.

We talked about Israel a lot and I told him about my summer trip there back in ’65. He had a lot of connections to Israel.

One day, a week before leaving on a 6 week tour of the Continent….he came over to Mile’s house in St. John’s Wood; where the band practiced.

He took me aside and gave me a small package. He said it was a book and since the band would be in Munich within a week, his friend would find me at the hotel and I could give it to him.

I didn’t ask why. I never suggested that he just mail the damn thing. I thought I was caught up in some intrigue. But I also worried about whose side I was playing on. He used to tell me about double and even triple agents.

The famous Brit double agent, Kim Philby, was supposed to be at a Copeland dinner party but instead was whisked away by a Soviet submarine to Russia. Miles and his family had become close friends with Philby and his family.

In 1963, Philby was revealed to be a member of the spy ring now known as the Cambridge Five. Of the five, Philby is believed to have been most successful in providing secret information to the Soviet Union.

Philby literally left his family for good at the Copeland’s. Never to be seen again.

This little bit of espionage went on for a year. Copeland had found the perfect agent: An afro haired rock star. And then things escalated.

I met Mossad agents. Why Mossad? They had names like Aharon, Zev, Uri, Asher, Tuvia, and Avi. Don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

I even had lunches and dinners with this guy named Otto. But not before they had me checked out. At one dinner, one Israeli told me everything about my life. My jaw spent the entire meal on the floor.

One time, after dinner, two Israelis suggested we go to a club. I said OK. My band of misfits I played with wouldn’t miss me.

It was some horrible disco place and the lights gave me a headache and the house music made want to gag.
But we sat and drank and then one guy put something in my coat pocket. I looked down to see what it was but before I could find out what it was, he jerked me up and we all left the club together at a dead run.

We ran down the streets of Frankfurt like crazy people. At first, one guy had pulled a pistol out and ran in the back; constantly looking backwards as we ran.

We ran about 2 miles all the time me yelling “Let’s get a cab!!” And being ignored the whole time.
This was fucking nuts now.

I had a bass playing career and now I’m playing Moshe Bond. “Bond…Moshe Bond.”

On return, I told Miles Sr., that this was scaring the shit out of me and he said it was OK and he never asked me to do another thing.
And it was over just like that.

But every time we played on the Continent, I was a nervous wreck looking for strange faces that didn’t belong around the band.

If you want the whole skinny about Copeland, Wikipedia does a fine job. Mind you, contributors make Wiki work so some of the information provided is not from an insider’s point of view. In other words, some of it is bull shit. But still, you get a nice photograph of the man’s life.
Note: All the companies that the brothers formed were an homage to Pops. I.R.S. (International Record Syndicate)Records, F.B.I (Frontier Booking Intl)Booking, and of course, The Police.

Call me Secret Agent Uncle Katman.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: cigar review, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, dion giolito, Illusione 888 Necessary and Sufficient Cigar Review, illusione cigars