Punch

When you into a store and just pick different cigars at random, you're going to get a few bad ones every now and then. To me, one of the most disappointing experiences to put up with is selecting a smoke, bringing it home, pouring a drink, going outside and lighting up with the intent to just zone out and enjoy for an hour or so, and quickly realizing you bought a lousy cigar. And sometimes you get a cigar that's so bad, it simply sets the bar for everything else. I know it's only been a few months, but I'm pretty sure the Humidor blog hit rock bottom a few days ago.

I bought a Punch Bolo, got a glass of cognac, and stepped outside with my laptop. It had been a few weeks since I did any review on my blog and considering the last one was a disappointing smoke (not to mention that I had a rather bad day as well) I was really hoping for something good.

I'm not even going to get into the details here. I'll just give you a quick recap of the highlights.

Wrapper and filler all from Honduras. Size was 7 inches long, 50 ring. Cost $7.

The wrapper was bone dry to the touch and almost flaked off in my fingers. There were imperfections everywhere and running veins more pronounced than the cigar itself. As soon as the cigar was cut, parts of the wrapper unraveled in my hand.

The stick was a pain to light, taking almost 5 full minutes before I actually got the thing going. It just wasn't taking because of what I was beginning to see was horrible construction.

The draw was ridiculously loose. I would take puffs that gave me nothing but a mouthful of air. Barely any smoke made it into my mouth. I could just imagine the enormous pockets undoubtedly throughout the inside of the stick holding nothing but empty tasteless air. Obviously, this also prevented the smoke from burning even halfway decently. Within the first part alone, I needed to relight the thing twice.

Perhaps it was the lack of smoke that got to my mouth, but this cigar wasn't even remotely close to the bold tasting smoke it is advertised as. The tastes and flavors ranged from faint to nonexistent. Anything I did pick up was simple. I light wood flavor, some soft earthy tones. Nothing enjoyable enough to get into.

The only positive attribute this Punch cigar gave was a mild pleasant cedar aroma. So I guess if you're looking for a $7 incense stick, head over to your local cigar store.

I have been smoking cigars of all kinds for 10 years. This was the worst one I ever had in my life, including the low rated ones on this very site. At least there is no way to go but up.

Overall Rating: 50 (lowest possible score)