Illusione Fume D'Amour Viejos (5 x 50)

Video review HERE.

Dion Giolito of Illusione says the name is French with Fume D’Amour translating roughly to "love smoke". The blend is based on the Illusione Corojo (Original Document), although this cigar uses a different wrapper.

It’s made entirely of Nicaraguan viso and seco, meaning no ligeros are used. This should make for a lighter blend in strength given the fact that higher priming ligeros are usually stronger than its seco and viso counterparts, which fall lower on the tobacco plant. Giolito indicated that he’s been able to find enough strength and flavor from the mid and lower priming tobaccos in AGANORSA’s tobacco inventory. 

Available in 4 sizes:

Caprastanios (6 x 56)

Clementes (6 1/2 x 48)

Lagunas (4 1/4 x 42)

Viejos (5 x 50) REVIEWED TODAY

All sizes are sold in boxes of 25, except for the Lagunas, which will ship in 50-count cabinets. Prices are between $6.50-9.50.

The cigar is light brown and dense feeling in the hand.

The test draw after cutting the cap had a slight amount of firmness. The initial flavors were graham crackers, sweet cedar, cream, black coffee and black pepper rated at an 8. The finish at this point is a bit hard to nail down.

1/2 inch in I am satisfied with the initial flavor assessment. The cigar is mild to medium bodied. The finish is a very light cream. It's just above a clean, or dry finish. There is very little lingering pepper. The cigar is burning evenly with a salt and pepper ash. The front end flavors have a nice flavor mix.

About 2 inches in the front end flavors are about the same. There might be a little citrus influence to the graham cracker/cedar flavors because there is a bit of tartness now. The cream notes are still around with coffee as a base. I noticed that the finish now has some bread notes to go along with the light, sweet cream. I do not notice any bread notes on the front end, however. The cigar is medium bodied now and I do not expect it to increase.

With less than 2 inches remaining I have lost the cream notes. The graham cracker notes are faint. The cedar and coffee are your main flavors but there are now some dry oak notes connecting those two. The finish has more sweetness in the cream with the bread notes. The cigar is medium bodied. It seems like the lack of ligero is affecting the cigar somewhat at this point.

At the end the flavor notes from the last segment still apply. I started noticing that the lack of ligero affected the cigar at about the midpoint. The cigar does not have the pop I like. The graham cracker notes are still faint. The cedar is still nice but now it seems to be missing something. This has been a pretty good cigar but not as good as other Illusione's I've had.

Score: 90