Illusione Adds to Cruzado & Epernay, Announces Singularé 2013 (Update)

Dion Giolito will have more than just couches at the 2013 IPCPR trade show. The owner of Illusione, who moves the brand at a noted methodical pace in the name of quality, told halfwheel he will have extensions to both Cruzado and Epernay, as well as a small batch of his popular MKULTRA and info on the 2013 installment of his popular Epernay line, in other words, quite a bit.

The Cruzado Marelas is the seventh vitola for the Criollo ’98 blend and will be once again wrapped in gold. Giolito told halfwheel the cigar measures 6 1/2 x 52 with a bullet cap and gold foil running from the top of the cigar to the middle point, which is where the band sits. Pricing is $9.50 per cigar.

Epernay will be receiving its final vitola, the Le Voyage, a 9 1/4 x 49 Gran Corona, also known as A. This leaves the final count on vitolas for the champagne-influenced line at 11. Pricing will be $25.00 per cigar, easily the most expensive single cigar the company has ever made, unless you count the entire ~23~ Culebra as one cigar. Giolito said he is debating between five and 10-count boxes for Le Voyage instead of the 25-count boxes he uses for most of his vitolas.

Illusione’s annual limited edition will be the Singularé 2013 Rose Croix. It’s the fourth release for the line, although the company released both the 2011 and 2012 versions last year. There will only be 900 boxes of 15, which means the release is smaller than the original 1,500 boxes, although there will technically be more 2013 versions than both the 2011 and 2012 version since those two cigars were released together. Pricing is $12.85 or $192.75 per box, once again the cigar is made in Nicaragua at TABSA. Unlike Marelas and Le Voyage, Singularé will only be available for pre-order with Giolito shipping the cigars in November, the scheduled release date for the series.

Finally, 400 boxes of the MKULTRA will be made available for sale with an MSRP of $8.75 per cigar.

While Illusione has only released one cigar this year, it has kept the company busy as the *R* Rotchildes is one of the most popular cigars of the early part of 2013 with many retailers unable to keep the cabinets of 50 in stock given the demand for the Robusto.

Update (November 12, 2013): Le Voyage arrived in stores yesterday.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.