Illusione ECCJ

Todays cigar is the Illusione ECCJ. This cigar was commissioned by European Cigar Cult Journal to commerorate their 15th anniversary. The blend is supposed to be different from the normal Illusione line, with a corojo wrapper over a blend supposedly tempered for the European palate. They were released in boxes of 15 in very limited quantities, and luckily i have a friend who picked up a box and sent me one to try! The cigar is a corona gorda, measuring in at 5 5/8 X 46 ring gauge.

You can tell that they took their time when rolling these, the construction and wrapper are flawless. It is topped off with a triple cap, which more and more Non Cuban companies are using now. This shows that extra care was taken when rolling these because this style of cap takes a bit more skill and time.

The predraw on this has a ton of flavor even before lighting of nicely aged Nicaraguan tobacco. The first few draws after lighting show a very dense, woody flavor with a slight bit of leather in there as well. The finish is very crisp and clean. I reviewed the regular Illusione corona gorda back in December and really enjoyed it, and this has similarities but you can tell it is definitely its own blend. This cigar has a slightly bitter characteristic to it that i have found in most Illusiones. It is not a bad bitter flavor, just different.
As i get further into this cigar, the bitterness is toned down a bit with a little sweetness showing up to balance out the bitterness. I passed a bit of smoke through my sinuses (which i dont enjoy doing that much) and was greeted with a bit of pepper i wasnt getting before. This is a solid medium body cigar with a very full complex flavor. Im thinking i might have to start keeping some more Illusiones in my humidor, i really enjoy Dion's cigars.

Overall i would definitely recommend this cigar, and if you can actually find them, buy them! These are not going to be easy to come by so if you get the chance i would jump on it. Anyone who enjoys a full flavored Nicaraguan cigar will not be disappointed with anything by Illusione.

On a side note, i noticed the guys over at Stogie review (one of the larger review blogs out there) did a review on this cigar recently to check it out if you want to here what someone else has to say about this cigar! http://www.stogiereview.com/2009/04/19/illusione-eccj/