H. Upmann Magnum 50 freestyle review

[micha]

The days up here are getting shorter and remarkably chillier. Soon it will be time for myself to move my passion inside and gone will be the evenings on my deck watching the sunset, enjoying a beautiful cigar while dreaming away. Damn it, sometimes I just want to move away from here to a warmer place where you can do that all year through.

Anyway, I‘m enjoying it as long as it lasts and this is just another night like that. Beautiful mild evening, the sun has just vanished, the air is both fresh and still mild.

My companions of choice are an H. Upmann Magnum 50 and a glass of Zacapo 23 (which will last me for another two or three glasses before the bottle is gone).

Unfortunately I can‘t tell you anything about the box code, I‘m guessing it is an early or mid 2009. It is from my humidor that holds different singles from the time before FOH where I didn‘t care or at least didn‘t know much about age or box codes.

Rolling the cigar in my hand I feel that it has a nice construction, maybe just slightly underfilled. The wrapper appears to be very fine with a mid-brown colorado shade, small crack at the foot, but nothing I would worry about. The draw is a touch more open than my preference and I taste some sweet tobacco flavour.

Opening thoughts:

The cigar is opening beautifully, smooth as silk with a lot of creaminess in the smoke. The main flavour I‘m getting is a nice, toasted tobacco, but I instantly notice a very pleasant morning toast flavour, just like the smell you get when the bread has popped from the inside of the toaster. Also noticeable is hint of spice on the tip of the tongue.

First third:

I feel some chocolate coming up and also a buttery creaminess on the palate. The ash seems to be a little loose. I‘m happy to see that the draw is just fine, I‘m getting a perfect amount of smoke into my mouth so that it washes the tongue and swirls around inside it.

The chocolate I was assuming to come up is gone just after a brief moment, feels like the cigar played a little trick on me to take me into the wrong direction. I don‘t get any spice through the nose, it is just beautifully mild and exhaling through the nose seems to increase the buttered toast sensation.

Burn is alright although not razor sharp. Dominating flavour is still the toasted tobacco.

Second third:

The smoke continues to be thick and dense and a nice fruity sweetness is starting to build up. I feel the cigar getting a little darker, but in a very gentle and pleasant way. Spice through the nose is building up, maybe some capsicum, because it has this sweetness to it.

The toasted bread is also building up. So far it has been an incredibly smooth and seamless smoke. The fruit aspects are lovely but I‘m not quite able top pinpoint them yet.

Just a little more down into the second third and it is becoming more obvious: I‘m having a buttered toast with a very thin layer of homemade apricot jam, just a gentle touch of bitterness to it. The ash is holding up much better than in the opening third.

Third third:

The toasted tobacco profile is dominating again at the start of the last third and the bread aspects have died off a bit. The smoke still has this creamy and sweet aroma which makes the cigar appear to be beautifully blended and balanced.

Back in bread: There it is again, the toasted bread is regaining strength, very enjoyable. The fruit aspects have drifted to a more cherry-like profile and I‘m sensing some very gentle underlying coffee notes. The smell of the smoke has changed remarkably: It is like sitting in front of a burning campfire. Also a little charcoal is beginning to become present in the flavour profile. I guess the cigar is showing some youth but I‘m almost down to the nub anyway. Still, the aroma of campfire wood is georgious.

Final thoughts:

I would describe this cigar as a very smooth and creamy smoke with mainly toasted tobacco and bread flavours. For those who are looking for that kind of profile it is an absolute cracker. I would have loved the fruit aspects to grow a little stronger throughout the smoke but I assume that will come with some more age.

I would rate it a 90-91 and easily 94-95 if it develops more into the stone-fruit area and loses that charcoal towards the end. The rest was beautiful as it is.

Thanks for reading and a great week,

Michael

P.S.: Please excuse the bad picture quality, my camera is just good for snapshots and unfortunately not made for tricky light conditions like those. Think I need a different setup...

[mazolaman]

The days up here are getting shorter and remarkably chillier. Soon it will be time for myself to move my passion inside and gone will be the evenings on my deck watching the sunset, enjoying a beautiful cigar while dreaming away. Damn it, sometimes I just want to move away from here to a warmer place where you can do that all year through.

amen to that,it's getting that way here to.

Although,the autumnal evenings can be the finest to behold,with a cigar.

The season of mellow fruitfulness....

Great review,and your pics are better than mine!

[DocG]

Great review! I loved the toast analogy! i am going to add it to my repertoire! Or for the purpose of my own prose, I call it my repatard!

[PigFish]

Well, your review made me interested in one! Cheers mate, nice going. Now.... for my morning toast!!! -Piggy

[mbrody]

Great review! I have some 09's that are a little rambunctious. Very good "fresh" but rather different than an example that has aged a bit. These are great smokes, either way.

[laficion]

Beautiful review & cool photos, Thanks Micha

[steve047]

Thanks for doing your review. I smoked one from SEP 08 today to see how they doing.

[MIKA27]

Thanks for the amazing review Michael.

I gave up on the MAG 50's a while back as I had a few bad experiences however after your review, I may revisit these.

[nonameno]

Hi Michael,

Lovely review and fun pictures too! The impending winter hangs over me like a dark shadow too. It will bring with it the end of all cigar activitiy until the thaw of springtime.

Thank you for sharing,

Curtiss

[micha]

Thanks a lot guys. Always great to get such positive feedback. I really enjoy writing and posting reviews here.

Cheers and happy smoking,

Michael

P.S.: Let's hope for a golden, sun spoiled autumn...