H. Upmann Magnum 50 ESL NOV 18 (WTR)

[Notsocleaver]

Interesting take for this week's review thread. I've heard of the practice before, but never tried it myself since it mostly seemed to be done with very old cigars and my cigars are generally sorta old at most. I decided to go with the Mag 50 since this particular box is one that I have very good tasting notes on, including a cigar I scored a 98 a little while back. This way I could rate the wet cigar against a larger backdrop as well.

H. Upmann Magnum 50 ESL NOV 18 Dry Review   ( Part A )

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The dry Mag 50 gives off notes and hay and dried fruit on the cold draw. Draw is a bit too firm for my preference which is a bad sign. This Mag 50 opens with those dried stone fruit notes that make this cigar what it is. Progression on these Mag 50s has generally been Stonefruit -> Shortbread and Jam -> Chocolate, with the better ones being richer, with some other notes perhaps.

This Cigar seems to follow that progression. Its tighter roll hurts the complexity. Burn goes a little wonky. The flavors progress as I've come to expect though.

This is a fine cigar, but the tight roll hurts it. 89 points

H. Upmann Magnum 50 ESL NOV 18 Wet Review   ( Part B )

I give this cigar a quick dunk in a glass of water and a roll in a paper towel. I give it a good smell before lighting and I smell wet dog. Not promising. Draw is better than the first though, which usually makes all the difference. Sometimes I feel like most of my reviews of recent Cuban cigars just come down to how well rolled that particular cigar is.

As I smoke this Mag 50 seems very fruit forward compared to others, even though I didn't notice as much fruit on the cold draw and sniff test. The Short bread and Apricot jam notes are there, similar to the first cigar. This one has some cedar and clove to it as well.

As we progress I get a weird sourish mineral note, like some one spilled some diesel next door. The chocolate malt notes show up in the last third, along with some more wood.

The final third of the cigar is super muted. A rain storm has been building and I have been smoking this cigar in a higher ambient humidity than it was stored, so I think it just got too wet to enjoy..  I don't want to pin this on the dunk, though I'm sure it didn't help. Up until the last third this was cruising towards a 95 point cigar, but losing out on the last quarter drops it to 91.

Conclusion: The wet cigar was the better cigar, but I'm not sure the wet wrapper did the trick. It wasn't better than the best cigar I've had out of this box, though it outperformed it's partner in this case. The fact that it got muted in the last third hurt it's overall score. I do think this muted flavor was from too much humidity, but I don't think the wrapper wetting was the main issue compared to the general stormy weather. I'll try it with a mag 50 again in drier weather sometime.

[Zaxeiler]

I had an issue with my (wet) last third. I wonder how many others are experiencing this too. 

[Notsocleaver]

12 hours ago, Zaxeiler said:

I had an issue with my (wet) last third. I wonder how many others are experiencing this too. 

I think me being in a wet environment to begin with hurt a little. I also wonder if size plays a role. Maybe its magic for shorter smokes?