According to Dion Giolito, La Grande Clase, the small batch project for the Illusione founder’s Reno, Nev. retail store, is set to arrive at FUMARE either this week or next week. When reached by phone, Giolito refused to comment on any of the details regarding the release, which has been publicly listed on the FUMARE website for over a year.

Since our July story, Giolito has added little to the public record regarding La Grande Clase, other than passing out unbanded cigars that month at Charmed Leaf’s boutique cigar party, which he hinted could be possible prototypes.

When asked, Giolito did not provide any details for how the cigars will be released.

Avatar photo

Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.