The Good Stuff:

The Illusione Cruzado has been around for a few years now. I actually reviewed it for the first time way back in 2009, you can check that review out here. The blend has been updated throughout the years but this newest version actually got a design update as well. Blended by Dion Giolito, owner of Illusione, and manufactured these at the TABSA factory in Nicaragua utilizing a Nicaragua Corojo Rosado wrapper, Nicaraguan Filler and Nicaraguan Criollo 98 and Corojo 99 filler. The Cruzado comes in four sizes: Churchill (6.7 x 48), Gordo (6 x 56), Robusto (5.2 x 50), and the Short Robusto (4.2 x 48) all packaged in boxes of 20 ranging between $8.25 and $11.25 a stick. These were sent to us by our awesome friends at Fox Cigar Bar. You can order them directly from them here.

Size: 5.2 x 50
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo 98 / Corojo 99
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $9.20
Pairing: Ballast Point Hight West Barrel Aged Victory at Sea (Imperial Porter 12% ABV)

Prelight:

The Illusione Cruzado starts out with a very natural, rustic looking wrapper. It’s medium brown in color with lots of darker brown and orange splotches scattered throughout the cigar’s body. The wrapper carries a good amount of natural webbing as well as some medium-sized veins. The wrapper’s texture is very gritty and toothy with a decent amount of oils. The wrapper feels a bit thin and I don’t want to apply too much pressure but I don’t encounter any soft spots leading up to the cigar’s triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with a simple, beautiful, elegant black, white and gold band with the Illusione logo as well as the Cruzado brand embossed across the front.

The wrapper on the Illusione Cruzado gives off a good amount of cedar, cashew, and musk aromas while the foot of the cigar is much more spicy, sweet, and natural. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a great amount of natural tobacco, musk, earthiness and spice. 

First Third:

The Illusione Cruzado starts out with a small black pepper punch which quickly drops out after the first few puffs leaving behind a great mixture of musk, spice, cedar, coffee, vanilla, earthiness and sweetness. This cigar starts out incredible. The draw is perfect as each little puff kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke which hangs around for a considerable amount of time before dissipating. The burn line is razor thin but a bit wild leaving behind a semi-flaky mixture of medium and light gray ash which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray. 

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Illusione Cruzado the flavors begin to cream out a bit resulting in a balanced mixture of vanilla, spice, coffee and cedar lead by musk and earthiness. The retrohale really brings out the spice and even a bit of the pepper that isn’t resident through the traditional experience. The burn line is still pretty wavy but my torch has remained in it’s case so nothing concerning there. I close out the second third with only a very minor nicotine hit.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Illusione Cruzado and this is where the already fantastic cigar begins to really showcase what it’s all about. Bold cedar, and musk lead the charger backed by vanilla and coffee with light notes of spice, oat, and cinnamon. The burnline has almost completely corrected itself and I never once had to break out my torch to touchup or relight the cigar. It took me an hour and a half to smoke the Cruzado down to the nub and I wish it would have just kept going forever. No harshness, no extended heat, and I closed out with a pretty minor nicotine kick. 

Overview:

If it wasn’t already obvious I thoroughly enjoyed this batch of Illusione Cruzados. The profile is complex, yet balanced, with a ton of flavor and a subtle strength making for a perfect cigar. I could see just about any enthusiast enjoy this experience while it’s an ideal cigar for a novice looking to break into the premium market. In my memory the Cruzado series always smoked very fast, but the last few I’ve smoked from this tweaked blend actually burnt extremely slow making for a long-lasting experince. 

Pairing:

Brewed by Ballast Point brewing in San Diego, California Victory at Sea is an imperial porter with chocolate, vanilla, and coffee added. This High West version then takes that beer and ages it in High West Rye Whiskey barrels and the outcome is amazing. The beer leads with loads of vanilla and coffee, malty, good amount of sticky toffee and sweetness with a great barrel chewiness, and small amount of coffee. The mouthfeel is very thick and heavy before finishing with even more sweetness, vanilla, spice, and a bit of whiskey. The alcohol is very hidden under all the sweetness and the whiskey really starts to come out more as the beer warms. The vanilla, spice, sweetness and coffee pair beautifully with the existent flavors in the Illusione Cruzado without overpowering the cigar. I would also pair this cigar with some great black or creamed coffee, Belgian Dubbel, or Tawny Port wine.  

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The Good Stuff:

Making it’s debut at the 2014 IPCPR trade show, the Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares is part of an annul release which began with the 2013 release of the Aniversario Boheme No. 35. The Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares is rolled at the company’s Miami factory using a Nicaraguan Aganorsa Corojo wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan filler all grown at the company’s Aganorsa farms. The Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares comes in only one format, a 6.25 x 52 soft boxed pressed toro and is packaged in boxes of 10 with only 2,000 boxes produced running $12.50 a stick. I picked this up from our friends at Fox Cigar Bar in Gilbert, AZ. Hit them up, they may just have a few left in stock.

Size: 6.25 x 52
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Aganorsa Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Medium
Strength: Medium
Price: $12.50
Pairing: Ballast Point Victory at Sea (Baltic Porter 10% ABV)

Prelight:

It’s very hard to overlook the sheer elegance in that packaging of the Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares. It stars with am elegant white and silver band with the word “MIAMI” printed boldly in the center while “Fabrica de Tabacos Casa Fernandez” surrounds it. There is a second band with is primarily silver with white accents which says “Casa Fernandez Aniversario 2014” printed on it. Then, a beautiful, opaque, tissue/paper surrounds the rest of the body of the cigar down to the foot which aries multiple silver etchings of the cigar’s crest.

Once we take the tissue off the box pressed cigar is finally exposed. The wrapper on the Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares is very rustic looking as it’s a light to medium brown with lots of darker spots as well as some more orangish-brown areas scattered throughout. There are very little sings of veins outside of one large on running thorough the front of the body as the wrapper’s texture is very smooth and silky with very little tooth and a good amount of oil. The cigar is polished off with a round, triple cap. The wrapper of the Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares gives off some mild spice and cashew aroma while the foot of the cigar is just as tame only showcasing some slight spice and grassiness. The cap cut clean and easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw tells a much different story as it leads with bold pepper and spice flavors with strong cedar, sweetness, and earthiness.

First Third:

The Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares starts out with a strong blast of cayenne pepper leaving my lips and tongue tingling. After a few puffs the pepper starts to fade out and I’m left with some cedar, plum, spice, and leather. I’m also getting this subtle metallic taste on my lips every so often. It’s a bit off-putting but it doesn’t happen often enough for me to complain about it. While the draw doesn’t really feel tight at all, i find the Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares doesn’t product as much smoke as I’d like. I have to hit it a few times to get the draw I’m looking for. While we’re on smoke production, the cigar also lets out close to zero stationary smoke as it sits in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin and leaves behind a beautiful trail of white, compacted ash which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares the draw has finally started to open up. Sadly, as the draw opened up the flavors began to mellow out. There is still a decent amount of cedar and spice, with some slight vanilla and not a whole lot else. As the draw opened, the cigar started producing much more smoke, but the side effect was a wild burn line. I had to touch it up a few times in the second third to keep it burning correctly. The retrohale produced some good cedar and spice helping raise the body of the cigar up a bit as I close out the second third with no signs of nicotine at all.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares and much remains the same. The flavors haven’t really changed since the second third nor have they increased in body. The cigar still leads with cedar and spice with some light vanilla, and a bit of natural tobaccos as well some some slight bitterness. It took me an hour and forty five minutes to smoke the Casa Fernandez Aniversario Serie 2014 Ares down to the nub. I experience a bit of harshness, and bitterness but nothing really substantial in the nicotine department.

Overview:

I got into every Casa Fernandez cigar with high expectations, and seldom am I ever disappointed. Sadly, this was one of those times. With the Nicaraguan profile and Aganorsa Corojo wrapper I expected some pretty bold flavors. I got a few, but then they all just kind of washed out. I normally don’t complain about touchups or relights but this cigar had more than necessary. It’s not a bad cigar, it’s just not great. And at the $12.50 price range I just can’t justify adding this to my regular rotation. I may give it another shot later down the line, but after smoking a few it just didn’t do it for me.

Pairing:

I purposely paired this cigar with Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea to raise the flavor profile in it. While it worked, the cigar still felt short. Victory at Sea is a 10% Porter brewed in San Diego, California infused with whole vanilla beans and coffee. It’s not stranger to Casas Fumando as its one of my favorite beers to pair with. The Victory at Sea leads with a ton of sweet vanilla, caramel, and cocoa with a medium mouthfeel before finishing with strong cocoa, coffee, sweetness and malt with a chocolate aftertaste. All these flavors helped raise the body of the cigar adding some much needed flavors, but in the end it couldn’t round out the experience.

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The Good Stuff:

Cubanacan is a company who has slowly crept their way into our humidors over the course of the last few years. In the recent year the company has really stepped their game up in terms of sales force and have been focusing on getting their cigars into the hands of smokers who haven’t been witness to the brand before in the past. I for one, would love to see more of these cigars in our very mass-market filled area. Cubanacan is responsible for four different brands. The core, Cubanacan lines, HR, Soneros, Mederos. and Here is a bit of history on the company taken from their website:

As long as there have been people, there have been stories. From the stories told in paintings on ancient caves to the family stories shared around the table, stories make up our history and guide our traditions. Cubanacan cigars embraces not only tradition, but strives to tell our story in every cigar.

Our tale begins in the rich tobacco history of Cuba. As the stories of tradition and quality were passed from generation to generation, that tradition was carried forward to the fertile soil of Esteli and Jalapa Nicaragua in 2006 where we started to grow our own tobacco. Shortly after we established our factory in Esteli with just five pairs of rollers set out to create cigars that will share our story with the world.

The name Cubanacan was chosen for it’s vibrant history and the story behind it’s meaning. Cubanacan means “where fertile land is abundant” and is derived from tobacco traditions that predate Cuba itself. The story of Cubanacan is not just one of our past, but one that is still being written.

Our goal is not just to be the storyteller, but to have each person that enjoys our cigar help write the next part of our tale. A story of tradition, pride in our quality, and an appreciation for those that carry our story forward.

The Cubanacan Maduro starts out with an Ecuadorian Oscuro wrapper over a Ecuadorian Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers from both the Jalapa and Esteli regions. The cigars all comes in boxes of 20 and are offered in six different formats: Chatos (4.5 x 42), Rothchilds (5 x 50), Piramide (6.12 x 52), Gordo (6 x 60), Churchills (7 x 50) and the Lonsdale (6.5 x 42) which range from $5.90 to $8.90 a stick. Nate McIntyre, the Eastern US Sales Manager for Cubanacan was kind enough to hook us up with a few of the Rothchilds for review.

Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Oscuro
Binder: Ecuadorian Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan from Jalapa and Esteli
Body: Full
Strength: Full
Price: $6.90
Pairing: Ballast Point Victory at Sea (Imperial Porter 10% ABV)

Prelight:

The Cubanacan Maduro carried ones of the most beautiful wrappers I have ever seen. It starts with a very rich, dark, consistent brown wrapper with some great almost-black webbing scattered throughout the leaf. The wrapper gleams of oils along it’s toothy, sandpaper-like texture. The wrapper itself is very thick, and very hard while the cigar has almost no give as I squeeze it between my fingers. There are a few softer areas around the foot of the cigar, but nothing concerning. The Cubanacan Maduro is polished off with a perfectly round double cap and a black, white, and copper label sporting the “Cubanacan” crest. Some of the past Maduro blends I have seen carry the standard white label, but all the rothchilde formats that I have seen carry the black. I’m not sure if this is a size differential or if Cubanacan will carry the black labels on the Maduro line going forward. Either way, both bands carry the wording “Maduro” just underneath the crest so you’ll know exactly what you’re smoking.

The wrapper on the Cubanacan Maduro unleashed a massively pungent mixture of deep wood and natural tobacco while the foot of the cigar has a much spicier/peppery character. The cap cut clean and easy using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces a really musky mixture of strong tobacco, deep spice, and lots of oakiness.

First Third:

The Cubanacan Maduro starts out with a nice pepper splash which quickly quiets down revealing some deep oakiness, lots of spice, raisin, coffee, and some musky leather. The draw is perfect despite being extremely tightly packed. Each puff releases a massive cloud of thick, white smoke. The Cubanacan Maduro also unleashes tons of stationary smoke as you can actually see the cigar burning the oils off the wrapper as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor sharp and dead even leaving behind a trail of compacted medium gray ash which held on for a little over an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Cubanacan Maduro and the flavors are still rocking away leading with some bold spice, musk, leather and coffee while some nice toffee has come into play with an oaky finish. The retrohale was a lot shaper than I was expecting as it coats my nasal passage with a sharp spice and tons of leather and oak. A Few larger waves have started to form towards the end of the second third, but nothing worth pulling my lighter out for. I venture into the final third with a nice little nicotine kick already present.

Finish:

The further I get into the Cubanacan Maduro the deeper and richer the flavors become. Into the final third the cigar pumps out deep musk and spice over dark chocolate, coffee, and caramel. The pepper has been trying to fight it’s way back into the mix too but it’s very subtle. I smoked this bad boy down to the very nub and experience no harshness at all. The burn line finished rather clean and sharp and despite a few waves I never once had to reach for my lighter. This is a bold, and powerful cigar that left me with a decent nicotine kick after the hour and a half it took to smoke it.

Overview:

I wasn’t expecting the Cubanacan Maduro to be as strong as it was, and it was a pleasant surprise. The cigar offers a great balance of bold flavors, and strength without going overboard in either direction. The flavors are just complex enough to keep me on my toes, but not overdone. The smoking experience is top-notch while the price point is well under what I’d shell out for the stick making it very box-worthy and a welcomed addition to my regular rotation. Now let’s get these in my local shops yeah?

Pairing:

Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea isn’t a stranger to Casas Fumando. It’s probably one of my favorite all-time porters, and one of my favorite beers in general to pair with cigars. The Victory at Sea is a 10% ABV Imperial Porter brewed with coffee and vanilla at the Ballast Point brewery in San Diego California. It’s a deep porter leading with some subtle tartness, spice, roasted malt, and very sweet coffee with a light mouthfeel finishing crisp and sweet with milk and vanilla and a coffee aftertaste. The spice, tart, coffee and malt paired wonderfully with the existing flavors in the Cubanacan Maduro while the sweetness added more greatness to an already great cigar.

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The Good Stuff: Ezra Zion is a boutique company that has made some massive waves in the cigar community over the past few years. Heck, even out own Jeremy Hensley rated the Tantrum one of his top cigars of 2013 and Daniel enjoyed his experience with the Reagan. The boys over at Ezra Zion have been kicking out stellar cigars for the past few years now and because of that they recently celebrated that they have teamed up with the House of Emilio in an agreement to let Gary Griffith handle their distribution making their cigars much more accessible to us, the cigar community. The Eminence is the first non-Nicaraguan Puro they have released showcasing a Mexican San Andreas wrapper. Manufactured at the Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. factory, the Eminence will come in boxes of 21 featuring 6 different sizes: Belicoso Gran Toro (5 x 58), the Gran Prensado (7 x 42), the Exquisito (6.25 x 52), the Churchill (7 x 48), the Corona (6 x 46), and the Robusto (5.25 x 50) ranging from $11.50 to $12.50 a stick and are already on store shelves across the U.S..

Size: 7 x 54
Wrapper: Mexican San Andreas
Binder: Dual Binder Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $12.50
Pairing: Ballast Point Victory at Sea (Imperial Porter 10% ABV)

Prelight: The first thing you notice about the Eminence is just how incredibly dark the wrapper is. It’s as dark brown as you can get before it becomes black. The color is incredibly consistent too with only a few black splotches around the almost seamless veins. The whole body of the cigar is wrapper incredible seamless and silky smooth leading up to a nice round double cap. The slender body is a hard box press making for a very comfortable fit in the hand and the mouth. The Eminence is polished off with the standard silver, black, and gray metallic Ezra Zion crest we have all become so familiar with. Like the other Ezra Zion Lines, the Eminence carries a small foot band that states “Eminence – Tercera Edition”. The cigar is extremely heavy and hard to the touch. There was absolutely no impurities or soft spots throughout the body of the cigar.

The wrapper on the Eminence smelled like straight up chocolate bar while I got a much more grainy, natural tobacco aroma from the foot of the cigar. The cap cut very clean and easy using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produce a bit of spice and pepper with a whole ton of chocolate and tobacco flavors.

First Smoke: The Eminence starts out with some nice, gentle black pepper. Just enough to tease my tongue and lips. That quickly fades away and the cigar leaves me with some very strong espresso and cocoa notes followed up with a bit of sweetness, spice, and rich tobacco flavors. After about an inch some nice, sweet, woodsy flavors started to creep into the mixture. The draw on this cigar is ridiculous. I have had an excellent draw streak as of late and the Eminence adds to it by pumping out beautifully thick clouds of white, dense smoke with every puff. The burnline is a bit wavy, but nothing too concerning. The ash left behind is pretty flaky and bright white, mixed with very dark gray in color. It only held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: It’s taken me a while to get there, but the second half of the Eminence is still pouring out flavor. The main show still revolves around the coffee and chocolate flavors with a bit of spice and woodsyness but now some natural honey has began to show it’s face. This cigar burns incredibly slow. It took me almost an hour to get down to the halfway point. The burnline is still a bit wavy but I haven’t had to touch it up or relight it so I’m not complaining. The retrohale carries much more spice and pepper than I would have expected. It’s pretty sharp and I don’t find myself doing it too often. I am feeling absolutely no nicotine at this point.

Finish: A lot of the pepper that dropped off in the first few draws have made a subtle reappearance in the final third of the Eminence. Along with the pepper the flavors remained the same, lots of espresso and cocoa, spice, honey, sweetness and natural tobacco. I’m impressed that the boldness of the flavors have yet to drop off at all. The burnline remained it bit staggered from start to finish but I never once had to relight or touch up the cigar so I’m not complaining. I felt almost no nicotine as I closed out the final inch of the cigar. All in all it took me two hours to smoke this beast down to the nub. Seriously it burns so incredibly slow which adds a bit more to it’s value. I encountered absolutely no harshness whatsoever and the cigar finished perfectly smooth and creamy.

Overview: As I stated earlier, Ezra Zion has created some pretty large waves in the cigar community as of late, and the Eminence is the perfect example as to why. Jeremy and I have had multiple conversations as of late about just how great Mexican San Andreas is as a wrapper when it is blended correctly, and that’s exactly what these boys did with the Eminence. They created a bold, flavorful experience leading off with great maduro flavors followed up with some awesome sweetness which then evens out to finish off creamy and smooth. You can’t really ask for much more in terms of experience. The construction was on point, and the price is within reason. Given, it is a bit on the pricey side I would gladly pay the coin to add a few more of these into my rotation.

Pairing: Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea is famous for being on of the only American Porters to ever be ranked 100 on beerAdvocate. Aside from that, it’s a damn good beer. Victory at Sea is brewed at the Ballast Point Brewing Company in San Diego, California. It’s a 10% ABV Imperial Porter with Coffee and Vanilla added. What I like so much about this beer is most brews that add coffee lean on the coffee as the source of flavor making each beer eerily similar in strong coffee tastes. Instead, Victory at Sea showcases a more mild coffee leaning more heavily on the Vanilla as a source of flavor creating a very sweet, very creamy experience. Other flavors include some sharp spice, roasted malt and a slightly bitter finish. The vanilla, coffee and spice paired up so well with the spice, coffee, and chocolate from the Eminence creating an incredible smoking experience.

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