Illusione Holy Lance Candela wrapper

I thought I put this post out already, but it looks as if I did not.  These cigars are my favorite style of cigar, long and thin, elegant and generally of the highest quality.  This was a gift from Bill86 when I visited him in Nashville more than a year ago.  I had been given a maduro wrapper model and a candela cigar from my friend Lance out on the Best Coast.  It was a play on words, LANCE-ros, I guess.  Clever.  Definitely welcomed.  They were long ago turned into historic memories, to beautiful ash and wonderful flavors and ethereal smoke.

This cigar has been sitting around for a long time waiting for the right day, and suffering from being a cracked stick.  How would it smoke?  Would it be  a disaster or a juggernaut?  Not wanting to tempt fate, I cut an inch and a quarter off of the end giving me a relatively safe cigar to light.  In a word, everything about this smoke was perfect from then on.  It lit like a dream, delivered a ton of fragrant smoke and burned perfectly.  It changed from a green spicy, herbal powerhouse into a mild to medium bodied, full-flavored peppery mind-bender.  I tasted licorice, Dr. Pepper, celery, cilantro, rosemary, bread, white pepper, cinnamon and several non-identifiable sensations.  

The cigar behaved itself right up to the end when I just had to let it go after burning the band.  On the one hand, I am sorry to see it be reduced to ashes.  I have no more of these.  But then again, I really don't need any more of them, I am not a smoker of these non-cuban cigars.  But man, what a great smoke.  I once had a box of candela-wrapped Arturo Fuente 858s and just could not get past the flavor of the wrapper.  Even on such a thick cigar, it was always there.  In this Illusione blend, it just disappears into the background, all the while contributing to the flavor in barely detectable ways.  It is a true illusione.  And a true star of the cigar world.