PCA Magazine Show Issue 2021

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG SHOW 2021 | PCA The Magazine 43 Since its founding in 2006, many articles have been written about Illusione Cigars. There’s good reason for that: Illusione is one of the top-selling and most sought-after boutique brands in this country and internationally. It’s also possible that even more has been written about Dion Giolito, Illusione’s creator and master blender. Not only has Giolito managed to rise from retailer to highly respected cigar maker, he has simultaneously succeeded in shrouding his brand and his persona in a veil of mystery, cloaked in symbolism and obscure references. While this has served to draw inquiry and attention to the line of cigars, is falls short of revealing the true nature of the man himself, a talented blender with an astute palate and an encyclopedic knowledge of tobacco varietals. Giolito came by his knowledge the hard way, through trial and error. He was working for a tobacconist in his hometown of Reno, Nevada, at the start of the 1990s. After several of his suggestions to expand the inventory were rejected, he became disenchanted with the mix of familiar brand name cigars the store offered. Having smoked some of the fuller-flavored cigars coming fromHonduras, he realized the only way he could promote the broader, more eclectic selection was by breaking away from the strictures of his employer’s policies, and opening his own store. He was interested in cigars with livelier, more vibrant flavors, such as those being produced by Pedro Martin, who at the time was the owner of Tropical Tobacco. Much of Martin’s tobacco was sourced fromEduardo Fernandez’s Aganorsa S.A., an agricultural concern that cultivated tobacco in Nicaragua. Aganorsa leaf became the inspiration for Giolito’s creative abilities. His understanding of leaf cultivation and the varying properties of different varietals is a master class on tobacco production and cigar manufacturing. In the following interview, we asked Giolito about his sources of inspiration and his education in the art of tobacco cultivation, selection and blending. An Interview with Dion Giolito – P I E R C I N G T H E V E I L O F M Y S T E R Y B Y L A R R Y W A G N E R