I was tempted to stay quiet and not say how absolutely cool this effect is by Angelo Carbone. However, Angelo deserves a lot of credit for his thinking and for bringing this to the magic community. I bought this about two weeks ago, then decided to burn it in this last Friday and Saturday. On Friday, I was dressed more casual (slacks/knit shirt) for my gig down by the beach and performed it pretty much as taught on the DVD. It killed. One patron who has seen me a lot, sat there stunned and finally said, "I think ... wow ... this might be even better than your cup trick." Cups & balls is what he meant and I consider it my strongest trick. Saturday I did it for some laypeople and also some magician friends at the Castle. It killed there too. When you get it you'll say to yourself, "no way this will work". But it does. Try it out on a couple friendlies to get your confidence then you're set. The gimmick can lay hidden in the deck until you want to perform it. That makes it uber friendly to me because sometimes you may not have the right conditions or may not want to do it. My highest recommendation.

Thank you Doug! Yes a few people have said when they first see the gimmick that it won't fool anyone but it 100% does. It is an amazing optical illusion created by the gimmick that you hold a full deck of cards in your hands. No need to mask the front end of the "deck” with your finger to hide non existence thickness. It DOES appear to be a full deck openly displayed. I love my Humbug

This is an awesome effect.

I previously only focused on Mentalism effects, however I picked this up to expand my repertoire, I now want to get into more Street Magic effects and walkaround Magic style effects.

I didn't anticipate the responses I would get when performing this, people are truly floored, the deck vanish is extreme and really shocks people. I also like the fact that there are several different vanishes that are possible and some of these have even greater impact.

Having first shown my Wife the effect (Who is a smart cookie and true Magic Skeptic) she was blown away, the response was "I though all those type of street magic effects you see on TV were just camera tricks, editing and actors" now she truly believes !

I think a lot of magicians won't have the nerve to try this. It looks completely real. But once you know the secret, it's requires testicular fortitude to perform it.


DD

Hey Angelo,

I love this trick!

Just curious if any other handlings have been published for it? I would hate to not use such an ingenious gimmick to it's fullest potential.

Perhaps you will detail some in your book!

Joe

I originally also thought this, before I started performing it, all I can say is that for me it works, people haven't seen through it and are blown away, this is a very clever effect that Angelo has produced.

I think what Stefan O says is spot on, with the spectators psychological conditioning and what they normally expect to see along with further reinforcement during the execution of the effect particularily when the second card is shown to the spectator, the effect works.

Sorry my post was a reply to the post above by DD. I think mine now reads out of context.

Thanks for the comments! Yes there is some psychological work involved from the spectator's point of view. They have seen you shuffle the deck or dribble the deck and believe what you hold is the same deck. The card selection process is also to precondition them that the deck is normal. They have no reason to suspect anything else afterwards because the trick is not about the deck it is about their selected card. As many have said, it just works and works very well.

Joe I won't be putting any more routines in my book but there are a few routines and handling tips on the accompanying DVD.

One tip is have a light relaxed grip when holding Humbug. Top of Humbug should be parallel to the floor and held at stomach level, pointing directly forwards. Do no squeeze the sides too much or the front will bow and spoil the illusion. Relaxed grip

Thanks all for the feedback! I am happy that you are happy. Spread the word

Used it last night. I happened to be behind the bar for one performance and when the deck vanished there was an audible gasp from the patrons. One guy thought I'd dropped the entire deck on the floor (he was throwing out a false solution, of course). I laughed and yelled "clean-up on aisle three" - he still looked over the bar to check and saw nothing. Hello? Magic?

Missed this post. Great to hear about it!

Doug, thanks for the great story. Loved your funny line!

Hi friends. This trick has been out of stock everywhere but I have some still if anyone is interested. PM me. Cheers!