Noob Review Take 2 - Illusione "R"

[stonedpirate]

Back again with another review. Probably not qualified to be reviewing anything but thought it might be good to document a noobs journey to a good cigar for historical purposes

Basically, what I am trying to achieve is to find the perfect cigar for me so i can stock up and buy them by the box for weekly enjoyment. I know a lot of cigar smokers prefer to collect different cigars and try new things but I think once I find one I really enjoy, I will just stick with it. Considering that I plan to only smoke one every saturday and not become a full time smoker, I dont want to waste a weekend on a cigar that's not for me.

Being a noob to cigars, step one on finding my weekly treat was to review the top 25 from cigar aficionado. My original plan was to smoke all 25 and hope one of them stuck. I have since changed my mind. The first one I smoked from the list was the number 3 pick, Davidoff Nicaragua Toro. For the number 3 in the world for these people, I was disappointed. It was like a stick of pepper that made me sick. I cant imagine ever enjoying a weekly blast of pepper with my rum unless its on my steak beforehand.

Rather than waste more money on cigar afficianado picks, I figured I would just smoke randoms due to the top 25 being insanely expensive for what americans consider cheap non cubans. The only cigar afficianado picks i will smoke are the cubans starting with the monte 2 and the behike 54.

A forum member here, Blace, was kind enough to supply me with a heap of non cubans personally hand delivered from Brisbane to my doorstep in Perth overnight which was unbelievable so a big thanks to him

From the selection he supplied, I smoked the cheapest and the smallest to see what a cheapy tastes like and to avoid nicotine sickness.

Enter, the Illusione Rothchildes..

I read some reviews beforehand to see what I was in for and to see if my experience compared with what the pros say.

For the most part, it was. It was a well constructed cigar that didnt tunnel, unravel, burn uneven or get too hot. It was pretty one dimensional and tasted similar to standard tobacco that you would expect from a bottleshop. What I didnt get was "cream", "chocolate", "sweetness" or "coffee". These guys are either high on acid or have super tastebuds or just got a better batch than me. First, second and thirds were all the same. Mild tobacco smoke with no real wow factor. Probably a good cheap cigar for regular smokers, possibly the best of the cheapies. Smoked it down to the nub and no sickness what so ever.

Since i am looking for wow factor and a special treat, I wont be visiting this again so tonights attempt will not be my regular smoke. Nothing wrong with it at all but just not what I am after.

So far what I have learned is that the one I am after will be about medium strength, have no pepper and be expensive because if this is the best of the cheapies then no cheap for me.

If this sounds like a cigar anyone knows of, I would appreciate some recommendations

[saintsmokealot]

Thanks for the review. After trying these from a few different boxes what I noticed was inconstancy. The first box I sampled from were pretty good and slightly complex especially for a $4 smoke. Since then the samples I tried were one dimensional as well and a let down.

[Skyfall]

The Top 25 is a marketing scheme.

With that out of the way, may I suggest you go online here on *****INT,(INT STORE) and order yourself either the Petit Corona Sampler, Robusto Sampler or the March HQ Sampler. This is a fantastic way to start narrowing down what you like and what to stock up on.

[srbbones]

The Top 25 is a marketing scheme.

With that out of the way, may I suggest you go online here on *****INT,(INT STORE) and order yourself either the Petit Corona Sampler, Robusto Sampler or the March HQ Sampler. This is a fantastic way to start narrowing down what you like and what to stock up on.

+1

You are starting out right.

[bradbrennan]

The Top 25 is a marketing scheme.

With that out of the way, may I suggest you go online here on *****INT,(INT STORE) and order yourself either the Petit Corona Sampler, Robusto Sampler or the March HQ Sampler. This is a fantastic way to start narrowing down what you like and what to stock up on.

their top 25 is what drove me to this site as at least two out of five seem to be to cc's but before that it seems decent guide so I didn't have to smoke quite as many crappy cigars

[Pedro2486]

Cigar arsefficionado top 25 cigars they've been paid to shill more like.

I've made an effort with NC smokes to see if I can see what they see to no avail. Best NC I've smoked is Cohiba maduro 5

[stonedpirate]

Thanks guys

Very interesting to hear peoples opinions on non cubans. Will continue smoking non cubans so i have a good benchmark to compare my cubans with. If the cubans blow them away i will smoke only cubans from then on

Cheers

[Firebender]

Thanks for the review.

Pretty good cigar for $4 IMO

I enjoyed a couple, but realized I don't have time to smoke these (I only smoke 3-4 cigars a week).

Perhaps this is great for someone who smokes a lot.

Had little trouble selling off the rest from 50 ct cab, but got rid of them all..

[ajgagnon]

Samplers from *****int are the way to go. I have been enjoying cigars for about 20 years but still kick myself for not doing more samplers to learn gain experience of a cigar before buying by the box.

As a result, I have a bunch of brick house and Patels that I don't enjoy, and a million CCs that I wish I had.