Punch Punch - BLP OCT 08 - Aged Weekend Review

PrairieSmoke · May 11, 2018

I’ve had this stick sitting in my humidor for a while now. I got it in a trade a while back and the conversation last night which led to this review competition gave me the perfect reason to light it up.

I think most of you know I’m new to cubans. I just started smoking them this year and I’ve been pretty exclusively smoking young cigars 16/17. So this is the oldest Cuban I’ve smoked by far. I do have some younger Punch Punch that I’ve smoked but I don’t think its as helpful as if I was able to compare this same box when it was young — but I can’t so I’m just going to review this on its standalone merits.

Pre-light:

This baby was packed to the gills plugged. It was hard as a rock beneath the band and I really had to go to town on this thing with the PerfecDraw to get it right.

First Third:

First impressions were that this was very smooth, no edge, elbows, or bite to this whatsoever. The first thing I noticed about the flavors is that they were very clear and stood out in a way that that I had not experienced with younger cigars. There was a nice mild cedar with cream, shortbread and a hint of baking spices (cinnamon particularly).

Second Third:

Somewhere in the second third a sweetness entered the profile and the shortbread became sweetbread with hint of anise in the background.

Final Third:

Sweetbread continued, but the cedar and some light white pepper showed up on the final third of the cigar.

Conclusion:

I was actually really impressed with this smoke. The flavors were complex, it took me on a journey and I did not struggle untangling the flavors in the same way I’ve had to in a younger cigar.

The question on the webex was whether the shift in a more approachable smoke in the 2006-2008 would result in a cigar that fell flat or did not age as nicely as they used to. I can’t really comment on how Habanos used to age because I haven’t been smoking them that long, and I can’t comment on how this particular cigar changed over that time period, but I can say that this cigar was wonderfully complex and definitely enjoyable. I would not worry about my cigar being ruined at the 10 year mark for my palate, but it is certainly “different” than my experience with younger cubans. I love them young and I can definitely say I enjoyed this one at 10 years.

Cheers guys, and thanks for the excuse to bust this one out [mention=4]El Presidente[/mention]

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