The duality of opinions. This is what I seek.
This day, Halfwheel reviewed this very cigar.
I am hocking up my October 2024 review.
A thought came to my desolate-brain-in-training. In the remaining couple months I have left, I may post the dichotomy of opinions on the same cigar. But then, is it a true separation? It’s a neat gimmick that I might have thought of sooner.

Illusione Group of Five
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5 x 52 Robusto
Strength: Medium
Price: $16.00

My cigars received 3 months of naked humidor time. Dry boxed 2 days.

BACKGROUND:
From Illusione website:
“The first in a series of Illusione ‘limited release’ cigars, the ONEOFF Black robusto is made with tobaccos grown from an entirely unique seed to Eduardo Fernandez’ farms in Nicaragua. Dion liked the tobacco so much that he set aside 25 bales of seco 4 and 5 primings. The bales have been resting for 3 years now and the tobacco is ready to present to the world. Tasting notes: sweet caramel, flinty and an exotic spice finish.
All tobaccos personally selected, graded and blended by Dion Giolito.”

THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
When a tobacco snausage is plain ugly, a reviewer wonders if the cigar company exec looked at photos of his goods before he emancipated funds. And then glad handed his contacts to place his cigars in retail stores. They say they all care. But do they?

Manufacturers talk to the cigar media to explain how they did it, why they did it, and when they did it. But the consumer gets little or none of the information because the tiniest percent of smokers read online press releases.

We, the consumer feel an obligation to give the cigar company owner the benefit of the doubt even though we don’t have a relationship we want to foster. This is one of the two reasons manufacturers can’t bear me. I won’t write with my mouth full. And because I…well, you know why. Grumpy Old Man with too many inappropriate stories. And he says fuck too much.

This is a useless blend and a copious waste of any cigar smoker’s time. Will the cigar benefit from an additional 6 months of humidor time? It can’t hurt. I know I painfully flaunt that I’ve been a cigar smoker since 1968. But it gives me serious cred for knowing when a blend is a bum cigar. Am I wrong occasionally? Damn straight. I’m probably wrong now. Chrissakes, this is a subjective hobby.

Sometimes, the blender gets it wrong. What do they do with 50,000 cigars that are a disappointment? You guessed it. They sell them to the public using an in-house too-cool-for-school Joe Camel promotion stampede. They aren’t going to take a hit on that much outlay of cash. It doesn’t take long for smokers to figure out which blends are good and which ones are not…and then word spreads. The manufacturer is left with getting some sales before they hit the closeout bin. Blind leading the blind smokers who only care about discounts will take up the slack because they don’t care what a cigar tastes like. Remember, the production cost for a cigar is only a buck or two.
I could have listed wonderful flavors and impressions.

Know why the drum solo in the song In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is so cool? The entire band can exit into the cool night and smoke a J. It made playing the rest of the song supersonically charged.

You can purchase the Illusione The Group of Five from my sponsors: Small Batch Cigar (10% off with promo code ‘katman’) and Luxury Cigar Club (15% off with promo code ‘katman’)

KATMAN RATING: 81
HALFWHEEL RATING: 83
The ‘OH NO’ factor: 100

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS