Illusione OneOff Black

By Tony Casas | September 16, 2024

Another week, another review! This time I take a look at Illusione’s new OneOff Black.

The Good Stuff:

Back in 2017 Dion Giolito, founder of Illusione cigars acquired the rights to a cigar which original debut in the early 2000’s, the one off. Since then Illusione has created multiple formats and off-shoots of the brand, added the Allegria, and has now added its third extension to the OneOff brand the OneOff Black. The details on the blend is scarce, however we do know that its created at Aganorsa factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, and that is uses a special tobacco grown in Nicaragua that hasn’t been grown in the country in recent years. The OneOff Black comes in a single 5 x 52 format, packaged in boxes of 10 with only 1,000 boxes being released. The extremely limited cigar runs $16 per cigar. I purchased mine over from the good people at Small Batch Cigar.

• Size: 5 x 52
• Wrapper: Undisclosed
• Binder: Undisclosed
• Filler: Undisclosed
• Body: Medium/Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $16

Prelight:

The Illusione OneOff Black starts out with a gorgeously consistent medium brown wrapper. The color is incredibly consistent throughout the entire body of the cigar. The cigar’s texture is slightly toothy and extremely oily. The wrapper feels decently dense while the cigar as a whole feels like it’s packed well with no soft spots to be found. The wrapper is laid flawlessly over itself as there are only a few smaller veins leading from the cigar’s foot up to its round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is polished off with the standard Peach sign emblem we find on all the OneOff cigars, however this one is black instead of the standard orange.

The wrapper on the Illusione OneOff Black gives off mostly woodsy/musky aromas while the foot of the cigar smells very sweet and spicy. The cap cut clean using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces notes of oat and grain over natural tobacco.

First Smoke:

The Illusiones OneOff black starts out with a small cayenne pepper punch which faded quickly allowing the cigar to release a ton of really bold dark chocolate over very musky/woodsy flavors with lighter notes of honey, pecan, and a natural/grainy aftertaste. The draw is so perfect. Each tiny puff kicks out huge clouds of thick white smoke which dissipate quickly while the cigar release a decent amount of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted medium-gray ash which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the seance third of the Illusione OneOff Black and the flavor profile remains similar. The dark chocolate is leading the charge backed by the musky/wood flavors over honey and pecan however there is a bit more sweetness in the finish that is coming through similar to a plum-type flavor. The retrohale brings out a little spice that I don’t really pickup otherwise. About halfway through the cigar the spice actually powered through the flavor profile and is now a dominant flavor which is wild considering that I never picked it up until about halfway through. I close out the second third with nothing in terms of nicotine.

Finish:

The final third of the Illusione OneOff Black is where this cigar really shines. The dark chocolate and spice rule the flavor profile now backed by prune, raspberry, and musky woods, over honey and pecan. What a truly great flavor profile. It took me about an hour and a half to take this cigar down to the nub. I smoked quickly too, but this cigar does burn slower than most. I experienced no hardness, no extended heat, and never once had to reach for my torch to touchup or relight the cigar. I close out with only a minor nicotine kick.

Overview:

The Illusione OneOff Black has such a unique flavor profile I dont think I have ever smoked a cigar with this much dark chocolate. Outside of that the changeups were wild which made for a complex experience with surprises around every corner. I also thing the changing of the profile isn’t very subtle which means that it won’t take a seasoned cigar smoker to pick up, and enjoy the experience. The price is a bit up there, but still makes for an affordable cigar. Keep in mind it’s using a pretty rare tobacco which I’d imagine isn’t cheap to grow. Get them while you can, cause at only 1,000 boxes being produces, these will sell out fast.