For those of you that don’t know…

About 2 weeks ago, I saw on Twitter that one of the Illusione reps had smoked an Illusione I had never heard of, dubbed “Burn”…

A little cyber sleuthing turned up the fact that Dion (of Illusione Cigars) had developed a specific blend for Rocky Patel’s brand new cigar Lounge, called (oddly enough) “Burn”…The lounge, which is located in Napels, Florida, has 3,000 square feet, and an official capacity of 210…The lounge looks like this:

As one of the many features, Rocky has asked some of his fellow cigar makers in the business to produce specific blends that will only be sold at the lounge. There are actually going to be nine different selections offered, from these manufactures: Padron, Drew Estate, Arturo Fuente, Ashton, C.A.O., Casa Fernandez, Illusione, La Flor Dominicana, and My Father Cigars. All of the cigars from these manufacturers will be Burn Exclusives, and only sold at the Burn Lounge (exactly like how Arturo Fuente Casa Fuente cigars can only be purchased at Casa Fuente in Las Vegas).

The Illusione Burn is the first blend to be released, and comes in 4 different vitolas (and there were only 50 boxes of each vitola released). They are (left to right)::

• Robusto- (5 x 52)- $9.75
• Toro Gordo- (6 x 56)- $10.10
• Torpedo- (6 1/4 x 52)- $10.80
• Churchill- (6 7/8 x 48)- $10.60

When I first heard about these cigars, I asked Dion about the blend, and he wrote:

“The blend is a prototype, made with a good amount of Aganorsa Criollo ’98x“

When I asked him which vitola he liked best, he said the Churchill, so that is the vitola I am using for the official review (although I smoked one of each vitola total)…

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But enough about that, let’s get down to business, shall we?

• Cigar Reviewed: Illusione Burn Churchill
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fabrica de Tabacos Raíces Cubanas S. de R.L. (Raíces Cubanas)
• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Jalapa & Estelí)
• Binder: Nicaragua (Jalapa & Estelí)
• Filler: Aganorsa Criollo ’98x (Jalapa & Estelí)
• Size: 6 7/8 inches
• Ring Gauge: 48
  
• Vitola: Churchill
• Est. Price: $10.60 each
• Number of Cigars Released: 50 Boxes of 25 Cigars (1,250 Total Cigars)
• Date Released: 2010
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 4

The Cigar itself is a wonderful specimen, with astounding construction…It is gorgeous to look at, with a reddish brown wrapper that is totally smooth and seamless…It is quite hard when squeezed, just short of rock hard…The first thing I thought when I smelled the wrapper was that “this smells JUST like a Viaje Double Edged Sword”…A combination of leather, citrus, spice  and chocolate…Really great smell…Predraw has sweet cedar, coffee and chocolate notes, with a bit of spice…

The First Third starts with the prefect amount of spice on your tongue, along with flavors of aged oak, leather and nuts…The Spice dies down to the background fairly quickly, and the profile turns more creamy right before the end of the third…

The Second Third continues the creamy trend, along with cedar and leather…There is also a nice sweet graham cracker flavor that creeps in…The Spice is almost gone (although there is still just a bit left on the retrohale)…

The Last Third is still quite creamy and sweet, but less of each…However, the flavors remain pretty much the same…

Final Thoughts:

• While the Illusione Burn was not as mild (nor as complex) as the Singulare Phantom from eariler this year, it was still fairly mild…Think of the Burn blend as a cross between the Singulare and the Epernay…
• Between all of the viotlas, I liked the Churchill the best in terms of flavor and complexity, although the Torpeado was a close second to me…The Robusto was definitely in last place…However, all 4 vitolas exhibited the exact same amazing construction, draw and burn…Not usual for Illusione cigars…
• As mentioned earlier, the only place you can find this blend is at Rocky Patel’s new lounge, Burn…I called and spoke to a girl there, who told me they would not ship any of the blends they sell there, so the only way to get one is to know someone who lives near there, or someone who is visitling there, or if you live near Naples yourself…(on a related note, thanks to Scott for picking my samples up for me
• The Burn (ahem) wavered back and forth a bit, but nothing major, and the perfect draw more then made up for it…
• The Final Smoking Time was 1 hour and 40 Minutes…

The Bottom Line: While the “Burn” blend is quite flavorful, I was honestly hoping for bit more spice and complexity in the profile…It is a good cigar (and it is a great LOOKING cigar), but the question “Is it substantially better then the cigars that Dion has out already on the market” will be met with an answer of “No”…Having said that, I think it is pretty cool that the Burn Lounge has it’s own blend by so many of the top cigar makers, and this cigar is a great addition to the Illusione lineup…Pick some up if you can, and you won’t be disappointed…

Final Score: 86