Illuminati Mondo Nuovo Robusto Review

Wrapper: Connecticut

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $6.50

As many of you have seen, I reviewed a couple Illuminati cigars before; the Crusade and the Shield. When I received these cigars from Rancho Maduro Cigars, I had previously never smoked any of them. Ken from Rancho Maduro gave me a little background on each and asked me to review each one. Well since I was actually given a nice day to smoke the other day, I figured it was the right time to smoke this cigar.

The Connecticut wrapper is exactly what you want it to be. It was a very light brown shade and one shade all the way around.  The wrapper was very smooth with only a couple thin veins running throughout it. The only flaw with the wrapper was a very small crack at the foot, maybe a quarter of an inch long. This cigar is very solid from cap to foot. The cap appears to be made up of about three layers, all of which lie perfectly flush.  Like most Connecticut shade cigars, there was a slightly sweet earthy aroma to this cigar.

As soon as I lit this cigar up, I knew I wasn’t smoking your typical Connecticut shade cigar. This cigar had a nice punch of spice right off of the light. There was a strong earthy background, but the spice was very surprising. After a few puffs, there was very strong woodiness that came out strong.

It wasn’t until about a half of an inch in that the spice mellowed out. And by the one inch mark, the flavor became very creamy. The spice mellowed out enough, that now it was more of a nice accent to the strong earthy tones.  Throughout the entire first third the spice kept picking up.

By the start of the middle portion of this cigar the spice was gone. Now all of the earth and wood flavors remained and formed a perfect mild-medium body. The flavor was still very creamy, but some little notes of nuttiness came out. The combination of the nuttiness and the creaminess coated the palate.

The last couple inches were my personal favorite section of this cigar. The creaminess lessened quite a bit to give way to much more earthiness and a little bit of spice. . The finish was very flavorful and actually was more of a medium body. The spice and earth just worked great together to wrap up this cigar.

The ash on this cigar was actually surprising to me. It was a fairly windy day, and the medium gray, layered ash held on for about two inches at a time. The burn pattern bothered me a bit because it started off perfectly even, but after halfway it got a bit wavy. The draw was actually very easy and helped to produce some thick clouds of white smoke. The smoke was very earthy, as you probably guessed, but there were some spicy notes to it.

As someone who usually smokes full-bodied cigars, I actually really enjoyed this cigar. Out of the three Illuminati cigars that I have smoked, this could be my favorite one. I recommend finding this cigar and giving it a try. If they aren’t in your local shop, you can get them online through Rancho Maduro Cigars. I give this cigar a 8 out of 10 hands down.

Thanks for reading,

Zack the Stogie Man