The Good Stuff:

If you were a cigar smoker in the early 2000’s there is little doubt that you have heard of, or smoked the OneOff brand. Originally owned and created by Andrea Molinari who was a tobacconist at La Casa Del Habano in Milan, Italy. Eventually the cigars made their way to the US market and were found in a variety of shops scattered throughout the company before disappearing just a few years later. A few years ago Cuban Crafters had purchased the brand with the intent to revitalize the cigar but it wasn’t until last year when Dion Giolito, owner of Iluusione, purchased the brand from Cuban Crafters that the revitalization dream came to fruition. The cigars are created at the TABSA factory in Nicaragua by Casa Fernandez. The OneOff sports a Honduran wrapper with both Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. The brand has just been released in VERY limited quantities which will continue to ramp up as production continues on the cigars. OneOff will be produced in eight sizes: Cartuchos (3 7/8 x 52), Corona (5 1/2 x 42), Corona Gorda (5 3/8 x 52), Robusto (4 7/8 x 52), Super Robusto (5 3/4 x 48), Canonazo (6 1/8 x 52), Julieta (7 x 47) and Piramides (6 1/8 x 52). Each size comes packaged in boxes of 10 and will rung between $11 and $17.50 a stick. I purchased mine over from our good friends at Fox Cigar Bar. 

Size: 5 1/2 x 42
Wrapper: Honduran
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $14.40
Pairing: Bruery Out of the Lunchbox (Brown Ale 7.3% ABV)

Prelight:

The Illusion One off starts with a beautiful, consistent, orangish brown wrapper. There is almost no color variation in the wrapper from foot to cap. There are very minor veins and webbing located through the cigar’s slender body. The wrapper’s texture is semi-toothy with a large amount of oils. The wrapper feels very thin and delicate, yet the cigar as a whole it packed tightly with no soft spots. The One Off is completed with a round, triple cap and a very different style orange bad with nothing more than a peace sign in the middle. 

The Illusione One Off gives off a massive amount of sweet cedar aroma that you can smell before even taking the cigar out of the cellophane. The foot is a bit more natural carrying hints of spice, leather, and natural tobacco aromas. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO Double bladed cutter. The cold draw was much like the nose notes leading with sweet cedar, vanilla, spice, and natural tobacco. 

First Third:

The Illusione One Off starts with an unexpected cayenne pepper zing that left my lips and tongue tingling for a bit. After the first few puffs the pepper wore off and I was left with some very heavy sweet cedar, cashew, nutmeg, musk, leather, and toffee. I also wasn’t expecting this cigar to start off just as bold as it did. The draw is awesome, releasing just the right amount of thick, white smoke with each puff with quickly dissipates in the air above me as the cigar releases only trace amounts of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is a bit thick, but pretty consistent for the most part leaving behind a trail of semi-flaky medium to light-gray ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray. 

Second Third:

As I venture into the second third of the Illusione One Off the flavors have become a bit more balanced. Oddly, the pepper is still there but in a very limited capacity, only present enough to tickle the back of my throat. The cedar is still the main dominant flavor backed by caramel, cashew, musk, and spice. I am really enjoying the flavor profile in this cigar. The retrohale really helps bring the spice and cedar to the forefront of the flavor profile. Th burn is still pretty thick, but also pretty even as I close out the second third with only a very minor nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Illusione One Off and I am really, really loving this cigar. It’s resting pretty comfortably in the full bodied, medium/full strength range which I didn’t expect. The cedar is still leading the charge in the flavor department backed by the spice, vanilla, caramel, and musk with the pepper peaking in and out of the experience. 

Overview:

The Illusione OneOff is a fantastic cigar through and through and I couldn’t think of a better team than Casa Fernandez and Illusione to bring this brand back to life. While I haven’t smoked the original OneOff in years and years I do remember how much I enjoyed it which is similar to just how much I enjoyed this version of the cigar. It’s complex, bold from the start, has a wonderful flavor profile, and burned like a dream. While the price is a bit steep it’s not more than what I would personally pay to make sure I had this cigar ready and available in my regular smoking rotation. The 10 count packaging makes it much more manageable as well and I will go back on record for the thousandth time in saying the more manufacturers should follow that route.

Pairing:

Bruery’s Out of the Lunchbox is a PB&J inspired Brown Ale. Coming in at 7.3% ABV the ale is brewed with Peanut Flour, Lactose, Boysenberries and Salt. The nose of the beer is way more forward than the actual taste exactly resembling a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. The flavor profile is a sweet-forward brown ale with great notes of boysenberry, caramel, malt, and a touch of salt with a very light mouthfeel before finishing crisp with more boysenberry, malt, and caramel with a great peanut aftertaste which lasts for quite some time. This beer went beautifully with the Illusione One Off. The nut, sweetness and malt married up very well with the existing flavors of the cigar while the cigar itself added an almost barrel aged dimension to the beer. 

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The Good Stuff: The Casa Magna line is the product of two major hitters in the cigar industry putting their heads together to produce a quality line of value priced cigars. Back in 2008, Nestor Plascencia and Manuel Quesada teamed up and produced the shocking sleeper “Casa Magna Colorado” cigar that took top honors as Cigar Aficionado’s cigar of the year. The Colorado version was a Nicaraguan Puro, where as the Oscuro is all Nicaraguan minus the wrapper which is grown in Honduras. Distributed by SAG imports, the robusto I am smoking retails between $5.75 and $7 a stick.

Size: 5 x 52 – Wrapper: Honduran Oscuro – Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan – Body: full

Prelight: The Casa Magna Oscuro is a tremendously dark wrapped robusto sized cigar. The wrapper is very dark, and consistent dark chocolate brown topped off with a rounded double cap. The construction is immaculate. I really had to strain to find the very small veins hidden, and embedded in the body of the cigar. There is only one soft spot located in the dead center of the cigar’s body. The band on the Casa Magna Oscuro is identical to the Casa Magna Colorado with the only differences being the silver color vs. gold, and the word “Oscuro” inlayed on a red ribbon across the bottom. The wrapper of this Casa Magna Oscuro gives off a very strong, and pungent tobacco aroma with an almost floral finish. The foot of the cigar gives off very sweet tobacco notes with earthy hints and spice. The cigar cut off very easily and clean using my Cuban Crafters double bladed perfecto cutter. The cold draw produced some unexpected sweet organic tobacco flavors along with grass and grain.

First Smoke: The Casa Magna Oscuro didn’t start off with the initial burst of pepper I figured it would. Instead it lead me in with a very light and smooth organic tobacco and chocolate flavor backed by a nutty taste mixed with spice and just a splash of pepper on the finish. The draw is slightly tight, but still manageable producing a very nice, thick cloud of brown woodsy smelling smoke. The burnline is sharp as hell and very even with only very subtle waves. The Casa Magna Oscuro does leave behind a nice, hefty trail of spicy tobacco smelling stationary smoke so it may not be the best cigar to fire up around anyone who dislikes smoke. One note is the wrapper is starting to give off a very bitter taste on my lips. I really hope this fizzles out cause its pretty bad. The cigar is burned extremely slow, producing a nice looking medium grey ash with a few slight flakes which held on for about an inch and a half before giving way.

Halfway There: As I had hoped the bitter taste only lasted a few draws and then crawled back into it’s dark little hole where I hope it stays for the remainder of the experience. The second third of this Casa Magna Oscuro had quite a few interesting change ups in it’s flavor profile. The chocolate and cocoa flavors are now the big contenders backed by nut, spice, and a very woodsy taste. The retrohale is very smooth producing a nice woodsy prime. I am not feeling much of a nicotine kick, if any from this cigar so far, smooth all the way. The burnline is still dead even and extremely thin, my only worry now is the harsh build up that may effect the last third of this cigar. I am having slight trouble keeping this cigar going so I am taking hits more often than usual. Hopefully this won’t complicate things further down the road.

Finish: The Casa Magna Oscuro is really starting to ramp up in body now. I am definitely feeling the nicotine at this point. The flavors seem to have outgrown the cigar at this point and have become a bit dull and bready. You can still taste the wood and the chocolate but that’s about it. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it lead to a much smoother finish than I had expected with very little harshness into the final inch. The burnline stayed sharp and even the entire smoke, and the only real annoyance was the cigar’s tendency to want to go out on me. It never fully did, but there was a few close calls. All in all it took about 1.75 hours to take down the slow burning little robusto.

Overview: This is a great balanced cigar and an excellent catch at it’s low price. This is no beginner’s cigar. The last third really proved to be a powerhouse that I think would stretch the limitations of the novice cigar smoker. This is one of those everyday rotation cigars you have mixed in when you want that extra stout/full bodied smoke. I would recommend it in singles and for the fair price, even a box pickup.

Pairing: I paired this Casa Magna Oscuro with another favorite of mine, Chimay’s Tripel or White Label. This is a hefty little triple weighing in at 8% alcohol and a whole lot of goodness. This light profile beer contains a perfect mixture of both fruity sweetness and zest making for a great balanced beer. In retrospect, this probably wasn’t the best pairing for this cigar as the abundant chocolate and stout profile wasn’t an even mashup for the beer. This beer would pair much kinder with a light Connecticut or even Cameroon wrapped mild cigar. The Casa Magna Oscuro would be perfect with some Dr. Pepper, iced tea, or coffee.

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Drew Estate ACID Cold Infusion Tea:

Drew Estate - ACID - Cold Infusion Tea

This was another one of the first smokes I have ever had and again, one of my favorites. Outside of coffee the next great additive to a cigar…TEA.

Not only are these great cigars, but for the price… UNBEATABLE. I picked this one up from the local El Paso brick and mortar shop “Tobacco Tin”. These guys are AMAZING. If you are local, or visiting definitely check them out. They have shops on both the east and west side of town with a MASSIVE selection in both. Not to mention top notch service!

On To The Good Stuff:

Strength: Medium  –  Size: 6 3/4 x 44  –  Wrapper: Natural Connecticut  –  Country: Nicaragua

Cold Infusion Tea is part of the ACID Gold line of infused cigars. These Cigars are carefully infused using Drew Estate’s secret infusion process with notes of everything from floral, to peach cobbler (no joke).

Prelight: This cigar has to be one of the best scented ACIDs ever created. The scent isn’t as strong as the Acid Blue’s but it is unbelievably enticing. The construction again, was impeccable. No visible veins. There were small amounts of filler tobacco found hugging the outside of the cigar, but these quickly brushed off with a soft blow. I usually tend to like shorter, fatter cigars. This one is just the opposite. Its long narrow construction forms a perfect fit in your hands making for a comfortable wield.

First Smoke: Again, I am using a Cuban Crafters double bladed “Perfecto” blade and a single flame standard colibri butane torch. I’m really tied to this cutter, but I may choose a Xikar double blade once I can convince myself its worth it. And as far as the torch, I’ll probably hold on to this guy until its death. At first, this cigar produces a VERY smooth draw. Scratch that, UNBELIEVABLY smooth draw. The only downfall was it didn’t produce as much smoke as I am used to. A lot of that has to do with the shape. The taste is remarkable. A pallet full of fruits, hints of what I think is green tea, and floral scents. The taste is in no way overpowering. It’s lightly infused not flavored. The burn was perfectly even and ash held on for at least a good inch before falling off.

Halfway There: This came to me as a surprise but about halfway through the cigar the draw begins to increase. The flavor stays the same making for an incredible smoke. It felt as if the cigar gained strength well into the smoke. Could this be due to the shape as well?!? I’m not too sure but it was a great surprise. The cigar is still burning even.

Finish: I took this guy all the way down to the nub. I was “in the zone” so I even took it into the “danger zone”, and my burnt lips didn’t regret it. Unlike the surprise halfway through this cigar, the draw and taste remained consistent. It was almost like I wasn’t even close to reaching its end. The wrapper held its shape all the way through with no signs of unwrapping keeping a consistently even burn.

Overview: This is a great cigar for many reasons. If you are new to smoking, or to smoking infused cigars, then this is the perfect introductory smoke. Not too harsh, not too powerful, and not too flavorful. If you have been turned off by ACID cigars because of the heavy scent and flavor then this is a good medium and definitely worth a shot. And of course, if you love infused cigars, and ACID brands, then this is right for you.

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