Illusione PCA Exclusive 2023

In 2020, Illusione released the Illusione PCA 2020 Exclusive; only, there was no actual PCA 2020. The cigar was made for the 2020 PCA Convention & Trade Show, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Illusione opted to sell the cigars via a series of Zoom meetings.

While there was a PCA 2021 Convention & Trade Show, there was no exclusive Illusione cigar made for the event or the 2022 trade show. However, for the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show, Illusione created a cigar that was only available to retailers that placed orders in person, a proverbial carrot to try to get retailers to attend the trade show and visit Illusione’s booth.

When the cigar was announced, there was one aspect that stood out to me in a big way. This cigar is made at Raíces Cubanas, a cigar factory in Honduras that was once home to all Illuisione products. However, over the last decade, Illusione has moved nearly all of its production from Raíces Cubanas to AGANORSA’s factory in Estelí.

That overshadows another unique Illusione feature. While the blend was not disclosed in detail, Dion Giolito, Illusione’s founder, told halfwheel that the cigar uses tobacco from Nicaragua and Honduras, the latter of which is not a common theme for Illusione.

• Cigar Reviewed: Illusione PCA Exclusive 2023
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica de Tabacos Raíces Cubanas S. de R.L.
• Wrapper: Undisclosed*
• Binder: Undisclosed*
• Filler: Undisclosed*
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Toro
• MSRP: $11.95 (Bundle of 10, $119.50)
• Release Date: November 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: 750 Bundles of 10 Cigars (7,500 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

*As noted above, the blend is described as using tobacco from Honduras and Nicaragua.

I’m still adjusting to Illusione’s new packaging, but this band certainly fits in with the theme. It’s a fairly dark wrapper, maybe not as dark as the Illusione maduros, but with a lot of mottling. Unfortunately, all three cigars have some sort of cosmetic imperfection towards the top of the cigar: patch jobs on two cigars and multiple nicks on another. There’s a photograph of those issues in the Final Notes section. The three cigars have very different aromas: one cigar is very sweet with cocoa and praline scents, another has those two smells but with a much more potent ammonia smell on top, while the final cigar reminds me of the smell of creek water. The feet of the first two cigars are similar stories with smells that remind me of melted chocolate ice cream, artificial grape and some other fragrant sweetness. The third cigar is a complete outlier and smells like creek water, similar to that particular cigar’s wrapper. Cold draws for the first two cigars have a fragrant raisin sweetness on top of an earthy core with accents of semi-sweet chocolate and cranberries. The third cigar has a much tighter draw with lots of grains over some earthiness and creaminess. I also get a very distinct white pepper tingle right on the center of my tongue. I find the cold draws’ intensities to be around medium-full.

Two of the Illusione PCA 2023s begin pretty similarly, with woodiness and earthiness leading raisins, other fruitiness, toastiness, white pepper, and some bark. I find both of those cigars to have crisp and full flavors, but with somewhat open draws. The third cigar has a much tighter draw with earthiness, deep cedar, pecans and some metallic flavors. A great mixture of popcorn and nuttiness leads the first inch. It’s rich, thick and developed. Secondary notes include redwoods, earthiness and touches of acidity and sweetness to help accentuate things. The finish adds a rocky mineral flavor and some bitterness to the aforementioned mixture, which helps to add some depth. It seems to make the acidity on the sides of my tongue more pronounced, which only ups the perception of complexity as there are different types of flavors, different intensities, different locations of flavors and different ways the flavors compound to change what I can pick up. Retrohales have a stronger dosage of nuttiness, along with some vegetal and caramel flavors. Some puffs have a muted pepper, but it’s not consistently there. The finish is savory, with some of the nuttiness mixing with the earthiness. Flavor is close to full, body is medium-full, and strength is medium. On two cigars, construction is great and I notice the first two cigars seem to be burning cooler than most cigars. The third cigar, the one with the tight draw, has some burn issues and a noticeably less enjoyable flavor profile.

The popcorn seems to have mostly dropped itself from the profile, leaving behind a more vibrant peanut shell flavor alone atop the flavor profile. Underneath is earthiness, toastiness, some creaminess, a faded popcorn and muted black pepper. The finish sees the popcorn return to slightly outshine a more generic nuttiness. It’s a generally homogenous profile with earthiness, sandalwood and woodiness. There are some accents, like brown sugar and a tingle of pepper, but they are very restrained. Retrohales have lots of popcorn flavors over some crisp toastiness, creaminess and herbal flavors. Unfortunately, as the cigar progresses towards the final third, the retrohale’s finish can become sour and bitter. For the most part, it’s savory with earthiness over different pepper sensations—white pepper is closer to the savory flavors, while green pepper seems to be solely on the sides of my tongue. Flavor is full, body is medium-full, and strength is medium-plus. Each cigar needs at least one touch-up, though the reasons for them include both uneven burns and smoke production.

Whether it’s the fading combustion or something else, the final third of the Illusione PCA 2023 tends to be harsher and more bitter than before. Earthiness leads some toastiness, and there’s creaminess that works as a great binding agent. Like parts of the second third, the finish adds some harshness and bitterness that isn’t initially present. I get some earthiness along with toastiness, nuttiness and some rice cakes. The retrohales end up being a throwback to the cold draws, as I pick up some stale water flavors, leather, earthiness, creaminess and even paprika. Unfortunately, I’m forced to make multiple touch-ups on the first two cigars, which makes the final third increasingly toastier. Flavor is full, body is medium-full, and strength is medium.

Final Notes

• Early on in my cigar days, I remember Barry Stein—now of The Barrel Burner—pointing out to me that Cuban cigars tend to have dark ash. Nearly a decade and a half later, I remember this comment. This cigar has very dark ash, reminiscent of what I oftentimes find on a Partagás Serie D No.4.

• I noticed that each cigar had some issue near the top of the cigar. The one on the left had a piece of tobacco that was coming out from underneath a seam, while the other two cigars had noticeable patch jobs.
• The second cigar I smoked had a fair bit of soapiness in the second third. It didn’t stick around for the entire second third and wasn’t present in the final third, but for about 20 minutes, it was a noticeable development.
• The third cigar I smoked—the one with the tight draw—had a hard spot right around the band. In total, there were three hard spots, one towards the bottom of the band, one towards the top of the band, and one about a half inch above the band. There was also a firmer area about an inch below the band. The difference in scores between that cigar and the other two was more than 10 points.
• That cigar’s flavor was dramatically altered by the draw. As is often the case with cigars with tight draws, the flavor profile was muted—maybe 20 percent compared to the other cigars—and had a metallic undertone that accented each puff. The end result was a noticeably lesser cigar compared to the other two.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time is just over two hours.