Others’ Picks for 2016: Arturo Fuente Magnum R

• Vitola: 44
• 4.875” x 47 ring gauge 
• ~$6.99
• Purchased from Burns Tobacconist

I remember when the Magnum R line came out from Fuente. I picked up 52 and 54 sizes and tried them out…and was immediately unimpressed. Could be that I just had gotten tired of the Fuente flavor profile…could be that this specific blend of Dominican filler and binder with an Ecuadorian Rosado wrapper did nothing for me…could have been that the vitolas that they started out with were just not that exciting to my palate. Turns out it was more of that latter than anything else. I’ve tried the 52 again a couple times and just never “got” it…so I never even bothered with the 44…until I heard it was in the Top 10 for the big lifestyle magazine’s year-end countdown…and that piqued my interested. (By the way…it is “piqued”…not “peaked” or “peeked.”)

The Magnum R had a fine look to it, which is no real surprise, and a barnyard aroma to the toasted caramel-colored wrapper leaf. The foot had more earth and hay, along with a dried apricot smell. The cold draw had some of that same dried fruit flavor. From the first, there was a great creamy hay note, punctuated by the dried fruit I had picked up on the cold draw and some pepper.

The fruit diminished after just a few minutes, but the pepper stuck around and I started picking up on some toasted almonds. As I worked through the first third, I got some numbness on the lips like I got with the Piloto Cubano-heavy Golden Age by Saga. Since Fuente doesn’t like to reveal what varietals they use, we may never know for sure, but I’m better there is at least some in the mix.

The other cigars in this series simply don’t have much appeal for me, but this Magnum R #44 was truly great. While I wouldn’t have put it on my own list for 2016…because it didn’t come out in 2016…I’m glad they did because it pushed me to try it again…and now I’ve found a regular release Fuente product that I will actually buy fairly frequently.