I usually love Mario Lopez's routines and find him to be a refreshingly eccentric magician and an expert craftsman of effects in his own right. Unfortunately, I was left wanting a bit after purchasing this effect.

The instruction for the effect is well taught, though challenged a bit by a language barrier. I like the effect as presented in the trailer but the limitations of needing to be seated and the fact that cleanup is not covered in the teaching leaves this effect with a bit to be desired.

Really, the bottom line is perhaps this was not an altogether well thought out purchase for me. I wanted to like this effect but I don't smoke and honestly know very few smokers anymore. Also, while the description says this could be adapted to use crayons, there is no mention of this in the instruction at all. Pretty self-explanatory, I know, but a little thought and presentation on alternate versions of this effect and how it could be adapted to suit other needs would not have gone amiss.

Overall, this is an enjoyable, if somewhat overstated, effect. As packaged, it is sadly limited to seated performances for smokers or children. Could this be adapted for other uses? Yes. Is the end result really worth it when other effects achieve this already? Not really.

If you already do cigarette tricks and can afford to work your way through the limitations of this effect OR if you want a starting place for working, this may be worth it to you.

This effect was beautifully presented, taught, and explained. I was afraid that I might not be "right" for this effect, since I don't do Cigarette magic. It was so beautiful to watch, I thought I might modify it for something with golf pencils, crayons, or some other medium. I sure wanted to be able to do something that looked that cool and got that kind of a reaction.

There are only a couple of things that took this down from a five for me. If I were to do it with a borrowed pack of cigs, I might have to be a bit careful about whose pack I borrowed. I know there must be a way to use this, I just haven't discovered it yet. But can I use some of the moves? Sure can. Can I copy some tips and pointers from the teach and presentation? Sure can. The price is right to learn some of the fine points taught by Mario. Thanks for a great trick!

I have other effects by Mario and they are very strong effects. While I enjoyed the routine, in a world where there is such a decline in cigarette smoking here in the U.S. I won't be performing enough to be as polished as I would like.

Its so nice to see someone do something different with cigarettes. Virtually all cigarette tricks are just vanishes and reappearances, this one actually has a plot which is a very welcome addition. One note on the plot, if you perform silently as Mario does DO NOT do the whole soul of the cigarette thing Mario does. Most of the time your spectator will have no idea what on Earth you are doing. Just mime putting the cigarettes back in the box directly through the top.

The trick is well taught although I do want to point out that due to the angle of the camera you can't actually see how he gets rid of the first cigarette and Mario can't actually explain what's happening properly due to his poor English. If you're an intermediate magician you should be able to figure it out but if you're relatively new you will need to ask on the forums for more details.

I really would have liked more details on the finesse. Its the finesse that really sells this trick and changes this from a $1 trick to a $15 but unfortunately it is not explained at all. Clearly Mario has it down but I assume Mario avoided explaining it due to his poor English. However, Penguin really should have found someone to help him out or something. With the finesse this easily would have been a five star trick. Without it... not so much.

If you like cigarette magic and are looking for a trick with a rich plot I highly recommend performing soul (but without the pointless and confusing floating soul part as I mentioned above. Just make them go straight into the box.)

I love this trick

Awsome trick. Well worth the price. Its eazy to learn and practice from beginner to advanced. A lot of the routine comes down to your confidence and practice. Also if you dont have cigarettes, you can dr o the same routine with crayons or pencils. Mario lopez is one of my favorite magicians.

Bueno que decir sobre el efecto de el gran Mario Lopez , ahh,si!!! que todo lo que hace es una maravilla y cada cosa que saca nueva es mejor y mejor.
Desde aquí mis mas enhorabuena a penguinmagic como al gran Mario Lopez .

Although this is a very good effect, it does have some drawbacks as a cigarette act depending on whether or not you are a smoker and where you would perform. The ad states that you can substitute crayons or pencils. I can see using crayons and a crayons box. But looking beyond the effect as a a whole, Mario teaches some very good vanishing moves that can be used in your own routines, and for that alone it's well worth the price.

Any one wanting to start or develop magic with cigarettes will find this download excellent. I agree with the word "elegant" used by one reviewer - the moves look really good though they will require some practice. The teaching by Mario Lopez is good.

My one reservation is that opportunities for cigarette magic are now very limited. In the UK and many other places smoking is banned in closed public spaces, so that for example the table required for this effect, is probably not available. It's a shame because the slow death of smoking closes off a whole set of good tricks which have simply died. So good in other ways though!

Pros: It's a versatile sleight of hand effect that can translate over to crayons, pens, markers, etc. Pretty simple to do as well.

Cons: Needs to be done at a table so standing and moving around isn't an option. A little bit of setup is needed before hand as well making this not 100% impromptu as I had hoped. The teaching isn't very good quality.

Overall, Mario Lopez is a brilliant thinker that has put out an effect that can definitely work. It's simple but flows nicely. The teaching can use a bit of work but all in all I recommend this effect to any sleight of hand worker or anyone that is interested in learning sleights.