Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Luciano The Machinist Magnum is medium brown, with a few darker spots and has some slightly raised veins and fine tooth. The seams are smooth and the head is well finished. There are two bands, with the primary being black, gold and white and denoting the line, while the secondary is all gold with the brand name embossed. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of wood and earth, while the foot brings cedar and bread with light amounts of earth and spice. The pre-light draw brings cedar, dusty earth and a floral note along with a mild spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The Luciano The Machinist Magnum is a decent looking cigar. It sports a solid maduro wrapper that has a nice chocolate brown coloring. There are medium sized veins present throughout, and there is some tooth noticeable on the wrapper. The cigar is firm in hand, rolled well, and gives off aromas of cocoa, rich earth and tobacco. Faint spices on the foot with more focus on cocoa and earth notes.
John: The Luciano The Machinist Magnum comes in cellophane and has a UPC sticker with the cigar information, which tears when the cellophane is opened. There is a primary The Machinist band and a secondary Luciano band. I weighed the cigar at 14.1 grams and measured the humidity at 65.4% with the Humidimeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included a syrupy sweet tobacco, dry wood and some faint barnyard. The foot delivered a very similar aromatic profile, just with slightly reduced intensity.
Jiunn: The Luciano The Machinist Magnum has a Colorado wrapper coloration showing good oils on the fingertips. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas tell of a hint of campfire and ocean salinity.

Luciano The Machinist Magnum

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted oak, rich earth, dark roast coffee and black pepper. At a quarter inch in, the earth increases to become even with the toasted oak up front. The retrohale is toasted oak, rich earth and some black pepper. At an inch in, the black coffee mellows a bit. As the third comes to a close, the toasted oak and rich earth are even up front, with black pepper in the middle of the profile and the dark roast coffee a bit behind. The strength was slightly above medium.
Seth: The first third starts out with a sweet tobacco flavor profile that has some cocoa notes present as well. It is paired with this vegetal and barnyard profile, and there is very little body and strength present with the flavors.
John: The first third opens with a combination of herbal wood and spices, with the spices immediately intensifying to full strength through the retrohale. A few puffs in, brown sugar joins the lead on the retrohale as the spices recede to medium-plus strength, while earth moves into the finish. As the first third settles in, wood begins to lead off with the baking spices dialing back to light-plus strength. Moving toward the halfway point, bread teams up with the wood on the front of the profile, while baking spices move back up to medium strength on the finish. Through the bottom half of the first third, earth increasingly defines the finish.
Jiunn: I find myself needing to slow down on my smoking rhythm on this cigar. Doing so, I realize that there’s quite a lot going on here. Baseline of meatiness and milk creaminess. Digging further, minerals and accented dried red pepper spice. Retrohaling gives increased levels of dried red pepper spice and minerals. The finish is fairly long with milk creaminess and dried nuts. Strength and body is medium.

Luciano The Machinist Magnum

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, both the black pepper and coffee mellow a bit. The retrohale remains toasted oak, rich earth and some black pepper. At an inch in, the dark roast coffee picks back up a bit. As the third comes to a close, the toasted oak and rich earth are even up front, with the dark roast coffee in the middle of the profile and the black pepper a bit behind. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: The second third is in line with the first. No change in flavors, and the cigar is lacking complexity, body and strength.
John: The second third begins with bread and wood combining to lead off, while wood and spices occupy the center of the profile. Tannic wood and earth combine through the finish. Wood largely defines the profile as the second third continues. Wood consistently leads off and tannic wood lingers through the finish as the cigar approaches the halfway point.
Jiunn: The second third shows a shift in flavors. The profile is now showing more minerals and creamy roasted nuttiness. The notes of meat and milk creaminess is noticeably absent. With this said, I still enjoy the flavor profile, it just hits differently. Strength and body is still medium.

Luciano The Machinist Magnum

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toast level of the oak increases a bit. The retrohale is now just toasted oak and rich earth. At three quarters of an inch in, some vegetal bitterness joins the profile, even with the black pepper. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted oak and rich earth are even up front, with dark roast coffee in the middle of the profile and some black pepper and vegetal bitterness just behind. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: The final third shows no change from the first or second.
John: The final third greets me with sweet tobacco and wood, followed by tannic wood through the finish. As the last third settles in, bitterness joins the finish, bringing a noticeable edge to the profile. Moving toward the halfway point of the final third, a burning paper note enters the center of the profile, significantly detracting from the overall experience.
Jiunn: The final third is reduced to just minerals and cedar. Major lack of any kind of sweetness and creaminess that the first two thirds did such a good job of. Strength and body finishes the same medium.

Luciano The Machinist Magnum

Burn

Aaron: The burn line was fairly wavy throughout and a touch-up was needed to keep things burning in unison. The ash held on in inch and a quarter increments.
Seth: The burn was perfect throughout the cigar.
John: The burn was wavy in the first third, becoming uneven. That unevenness continued into the second third, requiring a touch-up to correct. The cigar went out near the end of the second third, requiring a re-light, and went out again in the last third, requiring another re-light.
Jiunn: Burn performance was perfect, providing an even burn, tight ashes and cool burning temperatures.

Luciano The Machinist Magnum

Draw

Aaron: The draw was a bit tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: The draw was great from beginning to end.
John: I measured the draw at 30 inches of water with the CigarMedics draw machine. Subjectively, I found the draw to be about one notch toward the open spectrum, placing it squarely in the ideal range between open and resistant.
Jiunn: The draw was also perfect, striking the ideal balance between air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted oak, rich earth, dark roast coffee and black pepper. The earth increased fairly quickly to become even with the oak up front. Later the coffee mellowed a bit. The second third saw the pepper and coffee mellow. Later, the coffee picked back up a bit. The final third saw the toast level increase. Later, a vegetal bitterness joined the profile. The Luciano The Machinist Magnum had an average flavor profile throughout. The first half inch was nice, but as the coffee and black pepper mellowed, it became average. Overall, the profile was very oak and earth driven and the supporting notes couldn’t really elevate the profile. Not a cigar I’d see myself returning to.
Seth: I found the Luciano The Machinist Magnum to be a lacking cigar, and one that I don’t very much care for as well. There was no transitioning in flavors, and there was very little going on with the cigar from beginning to end. It had this sweetness from the Mexican and Indonesian tobacco that did not mesh well and it was on top of this unpleasant barnyard profile.
John: The Luciano The Machinist Magnum opens with a pre-light that suggests richness and depth, and that promise is largely fulfilled during the first third. The early combination of herbal wood, assertive spices and brown sugar creates an engaging and energetic start, with a particularly bold retrohale that immediately commands attention. While the spice level initially pushes high, it does so in a way that feels intentional, and the introduction of bread and earth helps ground the profile as it settles in. Unfortunately, that early momentum fades as the cigar transitions into the second third. The profile narrows considerably, becoming increasingly wood-driven with growing tannic and earthy components. While the flavors remain coherent, the balance starts to tilt toward dryness, and the complexity that defined the opening third steadily erodes. The final third represents the weakest portion of the experience. Bitterness and tannic wood take control, and the emergence of a burning paper note is both distracting and damaging to the overall enjoyment. Compounding these flavor issues are repeated combustion problems, including multiple re-lights, which further disrupt the flow of the smoking experience. Despite an excellent draw throughout, the burn issues and declining flavor profile are impossible to overlook. In the end, the Luciano The Machinist Magnum comes across as a cigar with a strong opening and a clear stylistic direction, but one that struggles to maintain balance and refinement over its full duration. There are moments where the cigar hints at something more compelling, but inconsistency in both flavor development and burn performance ultimately holds it back, landing it firmly in average territory. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 51 minutes.
Jiunn: The Luciano The Machinist Magnum is a well thought out blend with good nuances and complexities. I think it reaches both novice and seasoned cigar smokers as there is a good baseline of flavors for novices but also enough nuances for a seasoned cigar smoker to identify and enjoy. Just make sure you have intent on your draws.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.40

Cost/Point

$2.04

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

4.18

Cost/Point

$2.63

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.35

Cost/Point

$2.06

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.82

Cost/Point

$1.61

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Luciano The Machinist Magnum