Cigars.ie

Christmas Corona Gordas, Day 1: H.Upmann Magnum 46

I decided to start with the first review a little earlier than I was supposed to. Santa will be paying us a visit soon and three excited little men will be up very early to see what’s under the tree for them. So the rest of the day is going to be pretty much all about putting toys together, trying to tame their excitement, cooking and hopefully drinking too. So I better get this one down early. But since it’s after 12am, I suppose I am not cheating as it is officially Christmas day!

The first cigar of this series of reviews is going to be the Magnum 46. The Magnum 46 is one of the most popular cigars of the brand; stong and gutsy, with huge ageing potential, the Magnum 46 has its lovers and haters, as it can be hot or cold. I am not sure which of the two categories I would fit myself into, but I hope that this one will give me a clearer picture.

The Magnum 46 was the one cigar that grabbed my attention when I was lining up the 12 Corona Gordas for the group photo. The reason for that is its beautiful reddish wrapper. It is not uncommon for H.Upmann to have good wrappers, but this one is just perfect! It is oily and smooth to touch, with hardly any noticeable veins and no imperfections at all. The triple cap is rounded and well applied, and the bunch is firm and consistent.  The prelight draw has the right amount of resistance. On my previous encounter with an aged Magnum 46, I scored it with 93 points (5 stars) and I hope if this one smokes as good as it looks, I have a feeling it may match that!

Intense, woody flavours and a medium to full body hit you from the first draw. A few more puffs and the cigar settles down, exposing its complexity. Wood, spices, roasted almonds, coffee and a lot of leather are the main flavours of the first third. The finish is long and very interesting, with spicies, vanilla and liquorice. The draw is perfect and the cigar produces clouds of smoke. The burn however is a little uneven but does not affect the cigar’s flavours.

On the second third the body turns to full and the spicy, leathery flavours take over. Notes of coffee, chocolate and wood are also on present the background. The burn problems start to worsen and the cigar burns sideways, despite my attempts to correct it. The ash is dark grey and solid, reaching more than an inch in length; but when it falls off, you can easily notice that the wrapper burns slower than the filler.

As I smoke into the last third, a bitter, carbon flavour starts to appear, obviously from the bits of wrapper that are slow burning on the one side. And as if this is not bad enough the cigar starts to go out too. A few touchups, a little tlc and it gets going again. Despite all these, the Magnum 46 is still enjoyable. The body is still holding on strongly, while the flavours of leather, wood and pepper are fighting against all odds and make the biterness not so unpleasant. It is a pity, as it showed great promise on the first third and from past experience, I know that this can be a cracking cigar!

With the lighter on hand, I managed to smoke the Magnum 46 until the end. Although bitter from the halfway line, it was not unpleasant in any stage. The view of a huge tunnel shaped coal was a little disturbing. It doesn’t happen to often, but when it does, it is enough to ruin a good cigar. In this case, it didn’t ruin the cigar completely, but it lessened it chances to score a perfect 5 stars. So four stars for the Magnum 46, with a score of around 83 points.

Score:

Happy Christmas to everyone, I hope you all have a great day. Tomorrow I will be back with another cigar that I expect a lot from; the Punch Punch.