Cigar Review: Illusione HL Lancero
I managed to get my hands on this smoke, thanks to a great friend of mine. He gifted it to me while we herfed together in Vegas this past weekend. I decided that it would be my first smoke of the day today, and I just finished it, so I thought I would give the loyal readers of Cigar Command a review, so here we go!
Pre-Light: As I took a look at this cigar, the first thing I noticed was that it was impeccable. It was perfectly rolled, the foot had no major veins and it smelled great! I was getting lots of earthy spice and leathery wood. I clipped it with my Palio and took a pre-light draw. The draw was just perfect. Not too tight, and not too loose.
1/3: As I lit up this cigar and started to puff on it, the first thing I noticed was that the ash was a nice dark gray color, but it was a little flaky. I am attributing this to the fact that its a lancero, although I don’t know how much that really matters. I was getting lots of spicy pepper, with hints of leather and wood, along with some strong cedar notes. The smoke was billowing, and smelled great. So far this smoke is incredible!
2/3: As I continued with this cigar, the smoke was still billowing nicely. The spice kicked up quite a bit, and the cedar taste also came to the forefront. The leather and other woody flavors faded a bit into the background as Icontinued. The ask was still a little flaky, and I am even more certain that its just the small ring gauge that is causing this. The burn is near perfect, with only small waves in the wrapper.
3/3: As I was finishing up this cigar, after about an hour and a half of slow smoking, the flavors changed up once again. The spice then faded into the background, and something completely new emerged. I got a little sugary sweetness, with a hint of nuts. This really suprised me, as I was not expecting the flavors to change so dramatically. They were good flavors though, so they were fully welcomed. The smoke billowed from this cigar all the way down to the nub.
Overall Experience: I don’t usually smoke lancero sized cigars, but being that this is one that is coveted among lancero smokers, I thought I would give it a shot. After having smoked it, I asked myself why I don’t smoke more of this size. The flavors were outstanding, and they were very complex as well. I have to thank my friend Jimmie for gifting this smoke to me. I probably would have never gotten to try it if it were not for him. All in all, if you have ever wondered about the lancero size, this is the one to try!
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The illusione is a great cigar, I have a few that were gifted to me, and I just blew next months cigar allowance on a whole bunch of illusione and tatuaje cigars and the month isnt even over yet!
I’m going to have to get my hands on one of these as I love a good lancero. Great review, Scott.
Glad you like the cigar and I hope you will enjoy other Mumceros (Lanceros).
Jimmie, I loved it! I need to find myself some more! Of course, EVERY Illusione I have ever had has been OUTSTANDING!
Scott
I agree Scott, the ~hl~ is one special lancero. About as complex as I have ever had. Man there is a lot of flavors in there. Seems like every time I light one up there’s another nuance I didn’t detect before.
If you really liked the ~hl~, then I might suggest you try the ~mk~. It is a petit corona at 5 1/8 x 42. Dion calls it the “Teachin’ Machine”. It is one hell-of-a-smoke. I thought the ~cg:4~ was unbeatable as my illusione favorite but the ~mk~ has knocked it out of the top spot.