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Another quick on the draw email reply snagged a cigar sampler offered from Puros de Armando Ramos, Ltd, on the Cigar Envy Email Discussion List in the middle of December. Paul Magier quickly sent the promised samples out and I received them in good order. The cigars have been resting in my humidor since that time.

Paul Magier was kind enough to answer some questions I had about the cigars he sent in the sampler and here is an excerpt from his email:

“Both of the red band Magus utliize a wrapper we bred specifically for this cigar, cross-breeding a cuban criollo seed with an Ecuadoran strain of Habano92… both are built around a core of the exceedingly unusual and rare wild-grown Ecaudoran swamp tobacco (”Hoja de Pantano“), which seems to occur only in the swamp lowlands of west central Ecuador, and has never been successfully cultivated on a commercial scale anywhere.”

A quick reading of the company’s website reveals an intriguing nickname, “the iron fist in a velvet glove”, for the sticks included in this sampler.

Last week curiosity got the best of me and I raided the humidor and lit up the Red Band Magus Pronto M. This stick is 4 1/2” long with a ring gauge of 42. The wrapper is a rich brown color with a smooth oily finish. The tobacco aroma from the wrapper is very seductive.

Once I was out on the patio, I used my small punch to open the cap and applied the flame to the foot. The smoke from the initial lighting of the Red Band Magus Pronto M was very pungent and even Patrice made comment of its pungency. The smoke volume was plentiful and filled the screened patio with a spicy aroma.

The draw was a little loose in my opinion, however, it did not interfere with my smoking this stick to the finger burning end. The ash was dark gray and firm. I easily tapped the ashes, inch by inch into the ashtray.

The flavors that the Red Band Magus Pronto M treated my palate to, ran from a rather hot spiciness to a woodsy, earthy tone and then managed to mellow to a mild nuttiness. I was very surprised with amount of flavor packed into such a small package.

The Red Band Magus Pronto M lived up to its intriguing nickname as “the iron fist in a velvet glove” and would be a welcomed addition to anyone’s wardrobe.