Mid-90's H. Upmann Magnum 46

[Mad Dawg]

The Mag 46 is one of those cigars I've struggled with. Probably 95+% of the people who have an opinion on them love them, and many would call the Mag 46 the best corona gorda made. I've smoked a hell of a lot of them over the years, and they've just never rocked my world. Nice, sure, but not epic. Not like the Upmann #2, which to me is the finest regular production piramide on the market, and which rocks my world with near-perfect consistency.

But I digress. After sharing this conundrum with some friends, my SA brother Benecio generously offered to send me a mid-90's example, so that I could see what a well-aged specimen is like. He sent me one from somewhere in the '94-'96 range, and I smoked it yesterday, on a cool, breezy Texas spring morning.

The first thing that struck me about this particular cigar was its construction. It felt noticeably heavy for its size, and was just about rock hard from end to end. Examining the foot, it looked quite tight, which didn't bode well. Hah! When I clipped it and tested the draw, it was perfect: just the right amount of firm resistance. This was a beautiful example of what I've come to think of as "old school Havana" construction: a firm, tight roll that puts tons of tobacco in the cigar, yet somehow manages a perfect draw. I think that was the norm when Havana cigars were pretty much a small, craft industry, and the rollers were artists as much as technicians. I think that art has, sadly, been pretty much lost since Altadis took over and drove production to ever greater numbers. A roll that tight today would give you an unsmokeable cigar. That's a real shame, and a real loss to the cigar smokers of today.

The colorado wrapper was on the darkish side, toothy and lightly veined. Beautiful!

The pre-light flavors were dominated by that earthy, slightly musty combination that comes in really mature cigars. The earthiness was to be a dominant component of the entire smoke: dense, heavy, almost chewy earthiness, with underlying notes of cedar and a bit of leather. The tight roll yielded another excellent result: every gentle draw yielded dense, heavy clouds of smoke, a characteristic I treasure in any cigar.

Like most well-aged cigars, this one really encouraged slow, gentle smoking. An easy pace maintained a nice, even burn. The ash was mottled gray, very firm, and the cigar quickly developed that little "shoulder" at the burn line that testifies to age.

At a little past the halfway mark (and 45 minutes into the cigar), the earthiness was augmented by faint underlying notes of the toasty tobacco flavor I've come to associate with many Upmanns. I found that very interesting, that a more subtle component would come into the flavor profile that late in the cigar, though the flavors in general were deepening and the body building. I burned it to a little, 3/4" nub.

Overall, this was a very interesting educational experience for me. I think I understand the Mag 46 a lot better, but at the same time this cigar was from a totally different era. They literally don't make 'em like that any more...which is a real shame.

Awesome cigar, Gary. Thanks very much for a tremendous cigar experience!