2 Days before I tied the knot I had a great cigar gathering with about 10 friends. Not all of them are big on cigars but there were a few. So I pulled out some mild sticks for the newbies and kept some of the good sticks for those I knew would enjoy them. I happened to grab myself a Cohiba Behike 52 (Which Tony reviewed here) that I had been saving for just this occasion and damn was it ever good. I paired it with a super smooth scotch which I had also been saving, the Macallan Select Oak. I highly recommend both of these! To finish off the night I also enjoyed a Drew Estate Undercrown and a Montecristo No. 2 which are staples in my humidor and still darn good. But hard to compare to the Behike…

The wedding day was mostly a blur and flew by very quickly. I didn’t have time to sneak out for a cigar but I did make sure they were part of the day. I had ordered a bunch of cigars from our friend Paul Maldonado and gave them out to our guests. Each cigar had my wonderful wife’s creative touch as well with a nice ribbon and little label that said “Compliments of the new Mr. and Mrs. T”. The whole day and evening went wonderfully smooth and without any problems at all, a great day for sure!

Now for the fun part, the next morning at 7am we were on our way to the airport! I made sure to pack my travel humidor with a few sticks cause I didn’t want to get stuck without any cigars while I was away. Our first stop was the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. The island itself has some great scenery but apart from the cruiseship port there isn’t many shops that tourists would visit so we stuck to the resort for the most part. Now I’m very glad I brought my own cigars because they were selling Cuban’s for about 4x the retail price, which is even more than they would cost me in Canada!
But you can’t really complain when this is the view you have at your table every morning for breakfast!

So while I was there this is what I had from my Travel humidor. I didn’t pack any Cuban’s because we’d be hitting U.S. soil and I didn’t want to deal with a Customs issue. The first night in Antigua I celebrated with a Jaime Garcia Reserve Especial. I really love this cigar and it comes at such a great price, can’t go wrong with these.

I didn’t have a cigar every night simply because we were having fun doing other things but the resort was very open to letting you smoke pretty much anywhere on the grounds. So I also enjoyed the odd smaller cigar such as a couple Illusione ~mk~ sticks and some little Tatuaje Verocu 5’s that I happened to bring along. The night pictured below consisted of a Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label paired with some Nachos + Cheese and my staple drink for the trip, a Cuba Libre (a.k.a. Rum & Coke). And yes, I had it in a mug because I ran out of glasses in the room! lol

The next cigar I snuck in my travel humidor is one of my recent favorites, the Drew Estate Undercrown. Of course, I have myself some more Rum & Coke here, El Dorado seemed to be the standard of this resort.

That was it for the cigars I snapped pictures of at the resort. The next leg of the trip brought us to San Juan where we would be catching our cruiseship for a tour of the Caribbean. We didn’t have time to shop around San Juan when we got there as we had to head straight to the ship. At this point I was running low on cigars and starting to get worried! lol The first night while we were watching the ship disembark I squeezed in an Illusione ~88~ and I think I only had 1 cigar left now.

The first stop on our tour was the island of St. Thomas which is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. This was a really nice island with lots of clean shops and friendly people, definitely a place we’d consider going back to for a longer stay. While my new wife went crazy in all the jewelry stores I kept my eyes peeled for cigars. There were a couple duty free shops that I ended up grabbing some cigars at but the prices were kinda high so I only grabbed a few. I picked up a couple Padron 2000’s that were a little over $8 each and some Arturo Fuente Chateau’s that were in the $10 range. Selection wasn’t that great on this island either…

I have a bunch more to tell but it seems this post is already getting pretty long so be on the look out for part 2 coming up later this week! Let us know if you guys enjoy this type of post and we could chat more about our adventures with cigars whenever we have them!

The post Why I was MIA – Part 1 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff: The Ultra or, MKULTRA isn’t necessarily a new release. The widely available ~MK~ (corona with the white and gold band) was actually a secondary release to one of the first installments in Dion Giolito’s portfolio the “MKULTRA”. Very limited quantities of the MKULTRA were ever released. Dion states that the MKULTRA was much stronger than he envisioned for the blend, therefore he dropped it and released the milder version, the MK. After we all bugged him enough he decided to release a blend very similar to the MKULTRA and call it the “Ultra”. This is the blend I bring to you today. It’s a full bodied, full strength Nicaraguan Puro wrapped with a dark Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper. I picked these up from J. Shepherd cigars. You can find Jason as @cigarsource on twitter. He’s always been a great supporter with great cigars at great prices. Anyhow, the Ultra comes in 4 Sizes, the OP No. 1 (Double Corona 6.75 x 56 Box Pressed), the OP No.4 (Robusto 4.75 x 48 Box Pressed), the OP No.9 (Toro 5.5 x 56 Box Pressed) and the MK (Corona 5 1/8 x 42). The blend comes in boxes of 20 and ranges from $10 to $12 a stick.

Dion loves to name his blends after interesting tidbits of our past (and possibly future). On his site he describes the MK and MKULTRA:

“As with my 88, I sampled a few to you in the forums for review when I was re-working on the blend in ’06. I did the same with the mk. There were two versions, the ~MK~ and the MKULTRA. MKULTRA was much stronger than I wanted it to be. I called Paul Palmer which in turn relayed my information to the factory to correct the issue. They have a gold band along with the ~hl~ because they’re more of an artisan blend better represented in those particular sizes. They’re 20% different than regular Illusione black and white bands. As some of you know, I let out my stock of MKULTRAS because I just wasn’t pleased with the blend. You guys ate them up! Thanks.

Project MKULTRA was a government experiment in creating “zombie soldiers” if you will, through experimentation with LSD and subconscious suggestion when under the influence. MKULTRA was also referred to as the “teaching machine.” The classic corona size is the teaching machine vitola. It is the perfect vehicle for delivery of flavor, if the blend is right.”

Size: 4.75 x 48 Box Pressed

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Body: Full

Strength: Full

Pairing: St. Bernardus Abt 12 Quad (10% ABV)

Prelight: The Illusione Ultra OP No.4 is a beautiful looking cigar. It’s hard to overlook the rustic, deep, dark brown and almost black splotchy wrapper. What a beauty. The oils really make this cigar shine. The construction is flawless as there are no soft spots or flaws through the entire length of the boxed-pressed cigar up to the round double cap. The cigar is polished off with Illusione’s signature band design only the black and white are reversed. This cigar is packed very tight. Outside of a little give in the wrapper the cigar feels hard as a rock. It’s not heavy, just packed very tight and very even. I usually don’t have a problem with tight draws on box pressed cigars so I don’t foresee any difficulties with this one.

The wrapper kicks out so much strong tobacco, light cedar, and chocolate aromas. The foot boasts of even stronger tobacco aromas with just hints of pepper and spice. The cap clipped very easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw on this Illusione Ultra OP No.4 gives off a really musky, strong tobacco, and almost oil type taste. It’s a strange mixture.

First Smoke: I’m happy to report that the oil flavor didn’t transfer over to the smoking experience, but the musk, strong tobacco, sharp spice, black pepper, and dark chocolate definitely did. You can tell right off the bat that this is going to be a strong cigar. The draw is just awesome. Each and every little tiny puff fills my mouth with massive clouds of thick, white smoke. It’s effortless and one of the many reasons why I love box pressed cigars. I also love they way they feel in hand. So comfortable. The burnline is rather thick, and mostly even with only a few smaller waves producing a nice, solid trail of thick white ash which held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: The pepper in this Illusione Ultra has really started to calm down a bit in the second third. It’s still there though, it’s just not as strong as the bold tobacco, dark chocolate, and coffee flavors. There is also some new subtle tarty fruit in the mix now. It tastes like a subtle sour cherry or plum. An interesting note is that the already plentiful draw has opened up even more into this second third. It’s not loose at all, but it takes even less effort to fill my mouth with smoke. The retrohale is very sharp coating my nasal passage with a strong spice and bold tobacco. It’s a bit too much for me as I don’t find myself retro haling this cigar very often. I am already feeling a nice little nicotine kick from this cigar as it keeps burning dead even.

Finish: The flavors began to mellow out as the body continued to ramp up into the final third of this Illusione Ultra OP No.4. The flavors are now a combination of roasted coffee and cashew along with a strong, earthy tobacco, leather and subtle chocolate. This cigar burns very slow and you feel the strength off every puff. All it all it took me a little under two hours to smoke this small, robusto. It required absolutely no touch-ups or relights and the band slipped right off.

Overview: This is another cigar that isn’t for the faint of heart. I am a huge Illusione fan and this has the be the strongest cigar that I have smoked from Dion’s portfolio. Despite being a full strength cigar, the experience wasn’t all about strength. The flavors matched the power every step of the way with a balanced mixture of very enjoyable flavors. I loved the MK and couldn’t wait to get my hands on the Ultra, but now that I’ve smoked both I can’t say that the two are really comparable. The Ultra is on a whole different level. While this cigar is very strong I would urge even the mild cigar smokers to give it a shot. It makes for a great introduction on how awesome stronger cigars can be when done right. This blend is box worthy for sure, especially in the OP formats.

Pairing: St. Bernardus Brewery is no stranger to my pairing section. This week, given the strength and boldness of the Ultra I decided to match it up with a beer that cold fight back, St. Bernardus’ Abt 12 Quadruple Abbey Ale.  Abt 12 is a 10% ABV powerhouse brewed at the Brouwerij St. Bernardus in Belgium. This is a thick, heavy, active yeast beer. Each and every sip reminds me just how heavy this beer is. You can definitely taste the alcohol along with some roasted malt, wheat, sweetness, citrus, and soft wood notes. Mix those flavors with the roasted coffee, chocolate, and tobacco flavors from the Ultra and you have a winning combination. Let’s just hope the strength from the two don’t put you under the table. I was able to way away with a nice little buzz from both the cigar  and the beer.

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Tonight I’m revisiting a cigar I got as part of a Mobster Movie blind review series not too long ago. If you take a look at that review you’ll see that I wasn’t overly impressed with the cigar. After talking to a few people it seems there are some mixed feelings about the Illusione ~mj12~ and I wanted to give it a full out review to see if my experience would be any different. So here it is finally, I made sure to let the ones I have rest and acclimate properly before this review since the blind stick might have been a little fresh from transit.

So after smoking a few more I’m lighting up one of the Illusione ~mj12~ cigars for review tonight. Now I’m a pretty big Illusione fan and I’ve also enjoyed a few of his other lines including the Cuchillos Cubanos and the Cruzado’s (Tony actual posted a review of the Cruzado Dantes awhile back). In case you didn’t know, the person behind the Illusione brand is Dion Giolitto. We also have a few reviews up for the Illusione line such as the ~88~, ~888~ “Slam”, Epernay Le Elegance, ~mk~, and Singulaire Phantom. Now you’ll see from those posts that both Tony and I really enjoyed the cigars. Knowing that, I have to admit I’m coming into this review with mixed expectations. I have high hopes due to other Illusione’s I’ve enjoyed but I also have concerns because of my experience with the blind version of the ~mj12~.

If you haven’t visited his website before I’d highly suggest checking it out over at www.illusionecigars.com. He has a great section called “The Illusione Story” where he talks about his personal history and a little bit about the meaning of the names behind each of the cigars. It makes for an interesting read. Now I was slightly disappointed to see that Dion did not include a little blurb about the meaning behind the ~mj12~ name. All I can find was it’s nickname which is “The Majestic”. On the section of the website for the ~mj12~ specifically the only information it offers up is the following paragraph:

“A classic connoisseurs’ cigar revealing hints of leather, cinnamon and a long finish.”

So of course I started scouring the web to see what else I could find cause I love learning more about the sticks I review.

What I did find was somewhat limited but still interesting. The cigar is a Nicaraguan Puro and the specific seeds used are Corojo ’99 and Criollo ’98 finished with a Cafe Colorado wrapper. Each of the cigars is also handmade in the Raices Cubanas factory which is located in Nicaragua of course. The cigars come in boxes of 20 and are surrounded by an interesting silver foil wrapper. Warning: You are supposed to remove the foil before smoking! Wanted to get that out there just in case, you never know sometimes!

Now being the little investigator that I am, I curiously typed “MJ12” into Google and came upon an interesting Wikipedia article. Apparently, “MJ12”, or “The Majestic 12” is “the alleged code name of a secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, supposedly formed in 1947 by an executive order of U.S. President Harry S. Truman”. Now I’m not one for conspiracy theories or anythign so I’ll leave it at that, but interesting nonetheless!

Ok so enough of my detective work and blabbering away, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of the review before Tony comes back and cracks the whip!

Cigar: Illusione ~mj12~ “The Majestic”
Drink: Southbrook Wineries 2006 Triomphe Cabernet Merlot
Vitola: Toro Gordo (6 x 54)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $10
Burn Time: A little under 2 hours

Construction:
• The wrapper on this cigar has a wonderful dark chocolate brown tone with just a slight oily shimmer to it
• I did notice a few cosmetic imperfections such as a small knot and water spots but no major veins that look concerning
• Near the cap and foot, the cigar is fairly firm while being almost mushy in the middle. The softness there worries me and could produce some tunneling or a hot burning cigar
• The triple cap on the head of this cigar is applied with extreme precision, it is super smooth and blends right in
• From the foot’s perspective, all you see is well packed tobacco leaves
• The cap was pretty firm when clipped with my double bladed guillotine but it still left a clean cut

Burn:
• Toasting was a surprisingly long process but left me with an evenly glowing foot
• Unfortunately, the perfect toasting did not lead to a perfect burn, I’ve already had 2 canoeing issues within the first 1.5 inches
• Sadly, I’ve had 2 more relights before reaching the halfway mark
• More and more burn issues that needed correction throughout the cigar, looks like it did not differ much from the blind stick I received
• A little past half way the cigar actually went out completely, I took that opportunity to give it a nice complete re-light and lets hope we get a better burn now
• My hopes for a better burn were shattered quickly as it almost immediately started to tunnel…
• More constant relights as I get to the nub of this cigar

Smoke & Ash:
• Tons of smoke from each draw right from the start of this cigar
• The ash is looking to be moderately strong and holding together
• Fro a visual standpoint, the dark grey color of the ash is not very pleasing and it’s probably related to all the relights
• I was surprised to see very little resting smoke on the cigar, it all but disappears within seconds of laying it down
• The first ash lasted nearly 2 inches before I tapped it off
• Second ash got near 2 inches as well before tapping off to relight

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on this cigar has a super attractive bitter cocoa aroma to it
• The foot on the other hand carries more of a barnyard scent with a kick of spice on the nostrils
• The pre-light draw brings a little of the barnyard flavor but it mixing in some coffee adn woodsy notes
• The first few draws were not impressive to me at all, I got a heavy tobacco taste from them but luckily that went away quickly
• Afterwards, the profile is mostly in the burnt woodsy area with a touch of leather
• After about 2 inches the cigar is still mostly woodsy and leathery, I’m starting to pick up a touch of peppery spice now and then
• Retrohale is bringing a wonderful cedar finish and a small little bite, very nice
• Just like most Illusiones I’ve had the retrohale is always significantly more enjoyable than the smoke, I stand by my previous comments that if you don’t retrohale an Illusione you are probably missing out on a lot
• After each re-light I’m getting the expected harshness for a couple draws, it’s ruining the experience for me
• As I pass the halfway mark the profile is mostly the same although I am picking up a bit of sweetness when I’m not fighting the relight harshness
• For the most part this cigar stayed in the medium bodied range although it seems to be picking up a bit in the last third
• The sweetness I was picking up is turning into a sweet coffee type flavor which is a nice addition to the wood and leather, hoping it develops a bit more
• The only thing that really developed towards the end was a little more bite on the retrohale, which is still super good
• The rest of the cigar tapered off in sweetness and built up some harshness to the end, mostly due to the relights I’m sure
• Had to set the cigar to rest early, the harshness and relighting just got to be too much

Final Thoughts:
Let me start by saying I REALLY wanted to enjoy this cigar. It has a wonderful visual appeal to it and I’ve enjoyed mostly every Illusione I’ve had. Sadly though the ~mj12~ yet again failed to meet my expectations. I know it has potential though, the profile when I wasn’t relighting was pretty tasty. And the retrohale was very enjoyable. It’s the terrible burn that lost all the points on this cigar. It made it difficult to enjoy and ruined the flavors for the first couple draws after a relight. If I had this cigar without burn issues I probably would give it a glowing review but I’ve smoked through about 5 of these from different batches and I had the same issues every time. Maybe it’s just my luck cause I know a lot of people really enjoy them, but for me, I’ll stick to other vitolas in the Illusione line before looking at these again.

Pairings:
On the flip side, I happened to discover a wonderful wine last time I took a road trip to Niagara. The Southbrook name was actually a farm not far from my house many years ago. They used to do the typical fruits and vegetables with awesome fresh baked pies and a hay maze for the kids in the fall. Pumpkin picking too of course! When they closed the farm they opened a winery out in the Niagara region so I had to visit them. The wine I’m pairing with tonight is from 2006 and is a blend of a Cabernet and Merlot, which are 2 of my favorite wines from this region. It has a fantastic smooth flavor to it and a nice medium body. It’s got a surprising amount of fruity notes, in particular I’m getting black cherries and blackberries mostly. It also has a smooth oak finish to it from the barrel aging process that comes through very nicely. This is a great cigar pairing wine and would hold it’s ground against a variety of medium and full bodied smokes. It did very well with the Illusione ~mj12~. Other pairings with this cigar could be a coffee with milk, an brown ale and of course, Port!

The post Illusione ~mj12~ ‘The Majestic’ appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Illusione ~mk~

The particular cigar up for review today is the Illusione ~mk~ The Teaching Machine. This particular cigar has a very interesting back story. Here’s a little excerpt from the Illusion site:

Project MKULTRA was a government experiment in creating “zombie soldiers” if you will, through experimentation with LSD and subconscious suggestion when under the influence. MKULTRA was also referred to as the “teaching machine.” The classic corona size is the teaching machine vitola. It is the perfect vehicle for delivery of flavor, if the blend is right.

Needless to say, this cigar did not disappoint. Let me point out to skeptics now, do not underestimate this cigars flavor and complexity based on its smaller vitola. As Dion’s description perfectly says, “It is the perfect vehicle for delivery of flavor”.

Illusione ~mk~

Cigar: Illusione ~mk~ The Teaching Machine
Drink: Diet Dr. Pepper / Water
Vitola: Petit Corona (5.125 x 42)
Wrapper: Nicaragua Café Colorado
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: Gifted from Tony – Thanks! (Sells for about $6.50)
Burn Time: About 1 hour

Construction:
• Medium brown in color
• One medium sized vein, shouldn’t cause problems
• Even and symmetrical throughout with a good spring to it
• Very clean triple cap
• Foot looks well packed

Burn:
• Very easy and even toasting
• Staying lit easily, no extra attention required
• Razor sharp and even burn throughout the cigar, no issues
• No complaints at all in this department

Illusione ~mk~

Illusione ~mk~

Illusione ~mk~

Pairings:
The complexity of this cigar deserves a good pairing that doesn’t over power the delicate balance of flavors here. I’d probably recommend something as simple as water for this cigar. I started off with Diet Dr. Pepper and switched to my backup bottle of water that I always keep handy. I found the cigar had more than enough flavors that the soda was taking away from the cigar, water made my enjoyment go way up. Definitely seek out a very mild pairing with this cigar. I think most alcoholic beverages will drown out the flavors too much to enjoy, but you could try a mild red wine.

Illusione ~mk~

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