Well, yesterday morning I woke up feeling pretty spectacular after sleeping in. Put my two weeks in at on of my jobs the night before and felt that some sort of celebration was in order. Looked outside and it was absolutely gorgeous. 
Over my first cup of coffee that morning I decided that it was time to break out an Illusione MJ12. I've had a couple for a while now and had never got around to trying one. After running a load of hay I stopped by the coffee shop to grab a cinnamon roll and 4 shots dropped on ice. Food and beverage chosen along with my cigar and book for the day, I scooted on up to the lake just a tad before 3:00 P.M. I picked a seat under the dam where I could have some privacy and catch the later rays of the sun for reading.
The view from my hidey hole:
For those of you who don't know, the MJ12 comes wrapped in foil, which makes for a very neat, and handy package.
Anyway, enough jibber-jabbin. On to the meat of this review.
Pre-light impressions:
After unwrapping this stick I'm met with a thing of beauty and a pleasant pasture like scent. The cigar is incredibly smooth with a bit of oil to it. Firm to the touch and a reddish tint to the chocolaty brown wrapper. Dense and packed fantastically. The cap cut easily with my Xikar X-8 and the pre-light draw is earthy with a hint of spice.
The first third:
The cigar lights easily with a Ronson torch lighter. Right off the bat this stick is producing tons of smoke from the lit end and I haven't even taken my first pull yet. When I finally finished admiring the cigar, that first puff was filled with hay and spice. More of a sweet spice than a hot spice. The cigar has a very dry finish and produces a thick, white smoke. As we progress through the firs third the hay fades away and I start to pick up on earthy notes and pepper. That initial spice has become less muddled and I want to call it nutmeg, though I'm not 100% positive on that.
The second third:
Approaching the second third, the flavor profile takes a big turn. I'm now picking up on cedar, cocoa, and leather, with pepper background. For the end of the first half I'm no longer tasting that spice, hay, or earth, but after passing the half way point the hay returns along with toasted nuts. At about the halfway point for the cigar I finished off my first drink and switched over to my coffee. I also noticed that the ash turned much darker around the point that the flavors changed so much. Thought it was an interesting picture.
The final third:
The general flavors of this cigar stayed pretty steady through the end of the second third into this one, but shortly after coming into the final stretch the flavors shifted again and became a toasty, fruitish leather with some cedar and spice thrown in for good measure. Some bitterness has entered the picture, but not much. The smoke is now thick and oily and has been becoming increasingly more so since about the half way point. It's easy to nub and was a pleasure the entire time.
Overall Impression:
This cigar was fantastic from start to finish. Delicious flavors and a good amount of complexity. Draw was perfect, and the burn was relatively straight, but there were some minor tunneling issues. I blame that on the humidity under the dam. The paper I was using for notes was quite soft by the time I finished. This could quite possibly be my next box purchase.
Final Smoke time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Would I recommend?: Yes! While not a budget smoke, I would still consider this a huge bang for the buck.
The atmosphere: If ya'll couldn't tell by now, I love my home a great deal and find that it fits me rather nicely. I take great pleasure in sharing it and I appreciate everyone taking the time to read all of this. The review part is done, but I wanted to share some of my surroundings and the fun I had while smoking.
My orchestra:
Smoking action:
Over my first cup of coffee that morning I decided that it was time to break out an Illusione MJ12. I've had a couple for a while now and had never got around to trying one. After running a load of hay I stopped by the coffee shop to grab a cinnamon roll and 4 shots dropped on ice. Food and beverage chosen along with my cigar and book for the day, I scooted on up to the lake just a tad before 3:00 P.M. I picked a seat under the dam where I could have some privacy and catch the later rays of the sun for reading.
The view from my hidey hole:
For those of you who don't know, the MJ12 comes wrapped in foil, which makes for a very neat, and handy package.
Anyway, enough jibber-jabbin. On to the meat of this review.
Pre-light impressions:
After unwrapping this stick I'm met with a thing of beauty and a pleasant pasture like scent. The cigar is incredibly smooth with a bit of oil to it. Firm to the touch and a reddish tint to the chocolaty brown wrapper. Dense and packed fantastically. The cap cut easily with my Xikar X-8 and the pre-light draw is earthy with a hint of spice.
The first third:
The cigar lights easily with a Ronson torch lighter. Right off the bat this stick is producing tons of smoke from the lit end and I haven't even taken my first pull yet. When I finally finished admiring the cigar, that first puff was filled with hay and spice. More of a sweet spice than a hot spice. The cigar has a very dry finish and produces a thick, white smoke. As we progress through the firs third the hay fades away and I start to pick up on earthy notes and pepper. That initial spice has become less muddled and I want to call it nutmeg, though I'm not 100% positive on that.
The second third:
Approaching the second third, the flavor profile takes a big turn. I'm now picking up on cedar, cocoa, and leather, with pepper background. For the end of the first half I'm no longer tasting that spice, hay, or earth, but after passing the half way point the hay returns along with toasted nuts. At about the halfway point for the cigar I finished off my first drink and switched over to my coffee. I also noticed that the ash turned much darker around the point that the flavors changed so much. Thought it was an interesting picture.
The final third:
The general flavors of this cigar stayed pretty steady through the end of the second third into this one, but shortly after coming into the final stretch the flavors shifted again and became a toasty, fruitish leather with some cedar and spice thrown in for good measure. Some bitterness has entered the picture, but not much. The smoke is now thick and oily and has been becoming increasingly more so since about the half way point. It's easy to nub and was a pleasure the entire time.
Overall Impression:
This cigar was fantastic from start to finish. Delicious flavors and a good amount of complexity. Draw was perfect, and the burn was relatively straight, but there were some minor tunneling issues. I blame that on the humidity under the dam. The paper I was using for notes was quite soft by the time I finished. This could quite possibly be my next box purchase.
Final Smoke time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Would I recommend?: Yes! While not a budget smoke, I would still consider this a huge bang for the buck.
The atmosphere: If ya'll couldn't tell by now, I love my home a great deal and find that it fits me rather nicely. I take great pleasure in sharing it and I appreciate everyone taking the time to read all of this. The review part is done, but I wanted to share some of my surroundings and the fun I had while smoking.
My orchestra:
Smoking action:
