The 2011 and 2012 editions of the Illusione Singularé are being made in Nicaragua, according to a report from Gregory Mottola of Cigar Aficionado. The move shifts production from the Fábrica de Tabacos Raíces Cubana S. de R.L. factory in Honduras to Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. (TABSA) in Nicaragua. That factory is owned by Eduardo Fernández, the principal in AGANORSA S.A.
Giolito has long cited a backorder of regular production cigars as the cause of the delay for the Singularés, a number that he placed at around 500,000 sticks in the article. The regular production Illusione lines will remain at Raíces Cubanas in Honduras.
The two cigars will be packaged together in a 15-count box that is expected to start arriving at retail by the end of May with a price tag of $11 per cigar and $165 per box. While they will be released at the same time and in the same box, the 2011 and 2012 editions of the Singularé are notably different. 2011’s vintage has a Corojo wrapper while the 2012 vintage uses a Mexican San Andrés leaf for the wrapper. Binder and filler for the cigars comes from a Nicaraguan farm called Chilamate, though Giolito told CA that the blends are completely different.
Illusione’s return to a Nicaraguan factory is a homecoming of sorts, as Illusione traces its roots to a Nicaraguan house blend made by Tabacalera Tropical that he bought from Pete Johnson in 2005, who had bought them as part of a liquidation. That first cigar evolved into the Illusione ~88~.