Illusione Singulare Kadosh

By Tony Casas | December 5, 2016

With Jeremy in town my smoking has gone up, even when it’s in the 20’s outside. While we’ve been enjoying some great smokes together, I found time to myself to enjoy an Illusione Singulare Kadosh paired with a bottle of 2016 Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout.

The Good Stuff:

Illusione’s Singulare series has always been a “one and done” type release with small batch production. Starting this year, the Singulare series will now become full production. Illusione started the Sigulare line back in 2010 with the Phantom which was followed up with the Vimana and the Rose Croix in 2011, a maduro version of the Vimana in 2012, Anunnaki in 2014 and the Miserere in 2015. The Vimana and Rose Croix will not be full-production. Adding to the Singulare line this time around is the Kadosh. Like the other cigars in the series, the Kadosh comes in a single format a 4.5 x 48 short robusto which carries a rare Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. The cigars come packaged in boxes of 30 (the other Singulare lines come in boxes of 15) and run $8.80 a stick. I picked a handful of these up form our friends at Atlantic cigars.

Size: 4 1/2 x 48
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $8.80
Pairing: Goose Island Bourbon County 2016 (Imperial Stout 13.8%)

Prelight:

The Illusione Singulare Kadosh is a stubby little thing. The wrapper starts off with a very consistent creamy brown color with only a few darker areas surrounding the natural webbing of the wrapper leaf. The wrapper’s texture is slightly toothy with a small amount of oil. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself while there are only a few small veins found running through the cigar’s short body leading up to the cigar’s triple cap. The wrapper feels decently dense and tough while the cigar itself is packed very tightly and is rock hard. It gives very little as I squeeze it between my fingers.

The wrapper gives off nothing more than some modest natural tobacco/earthy aromas while the foot of the cigar carries some soft spice, pepper, and cocoa. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some real light cocoa, spice, nutmeg, and natural tobacco aromas.

First Third:

The Illusione Singulare Kadosh greets me with a bit of a pepper punch which quickly transitions into a sweet spice mixed with nutmeg, cocoa, malt, oak and vanilla with an interesting saltiness left on my lips from the wrapper. The draw is absolutely perfect. Each little puff kicks out a great deal of thick white smoke while the cigar oozes stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a tightly compacted trail of medium to light gray ash which held on for about 3/4 of an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

As I venture into the second third of the Illusione Singulare Kadosh the flavors begin to mellow out a bit and really cream together creating a very balanced flavor profile. The main flavors are still the spice and oak with a good sweetness topped off with vanilla, cocoa, and a bit of coffee. The retrohale brings more of the spice out and it’s smooth enough to take back quite often. The cigar is still burning perfectly and I close out the second third with nothing at all in the nicotine department.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Illusione Singulare Kadosh and this is where the cigar really shines. While the cigar started bold, then took a step back in the second third, it has really ramped up into the full zone here at the end. The flavors are a bold spice and return of the pepper along with strong oak, malt, and cocoa backed by sweetness, and vanilla. The burnline has been flawless the entire time. It took me a little over an hour to take the Kadosh down to the nub and I finish it with heat, no harshness, and a decent little nicotine kick.

Overview:

The Singulare releases have always been on my radar and I’m glad that many of them have been made full-production. The Kadosh is a great addition to the line with it’s small stature, but big flavor offering. It’s complex, and burned perfectly. It’s not my favorite Singulare out there, but its still a fantastic release and one that I’ll be keeping a few on hand of at all times. I especially enjoyed the format.

Pairing:

It’s that time of the year again folks. Here it my first pairing with Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout 2016. Brewed at the Goose Island Brewery in Chicago this 13.8% stout is on everyone’s wish list. The 2016 Bourbon County leads with heavy malt, strong sweetness, cocoa, bourbon, oak, and vanilla with a very, very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with more creamy malt, bittersweet chocolate, spice, and a ton of bourbon and booziness. This beer a flavor bomb and can easily overpower almost any cigar, but the Illusione Singulare Kadosh held its own and the spice, vanilla, cocoa, and oak married up perfectly with the existing flavors from both parties. This cigar would pair great with a bold stout, quad, or strong coffee