Punch DC - OER Jun 20 (JBWP3RW)

[ChangBang]

Football is back!  They have only been resting for a month, but it's a special occasion so I took out a Punch DC about a week ago and put it in my dry box in anticipation of smoking it either football sunday or MNF with my ravens.  A clip reveals a tight draw but I feel no plugs through the cigar so I assume it's just bunched up too much at the head and give it a couple shallow pokes with my draw tool, which leads to a perfect draw. With football on, my bets doing well, and winning 4/5 fantasy leagues for the week I'm in a great mood so even used a cedar spill to light the cigar!

1 - Initial flavors are light and woody.  Super smooth - was pretty much exclusively retrohaling.  Getting a weird pool chlorine taste which starts alternating with the oaky wood.  Chlorine taste starts getting into a little bit of a gasoline and then keep shifting a bit till it settles on what I would describe as a anise flavor(really looking at the flavor wheel to settle on this).  Wood is still there and these flavors are through most of the 1st third.  Towards the end of the 3rd, I get a nutty tobacco richness.

So far construction is perfect with a long holding ash and an even burn line.  Kinda expected it to be a tad wonky due to not resting for very long.  

2 - Smoke is still smooth and cool - still mostly retrohaling. I'm starting to feel the strength a little bit, think it's med-full but not really sure how to judge based on flavors.  Burn starts getting wonky after the ash dropped maybe another 1/2 inch down from the above pic?  That anise and now ginger flavor are really coming forward now, so it's def more of a savory cigar vs a sweet one. Get some hints of a dark plum flavor without the sweetness.  Ends on a rich tobacco note.

3 - Cigar is showing it's age and lack of rest - it's hard to stay lit, tunneling a bit, and getting a little dirty due to frequent puffs.  Strength had got me and feeling a tad lightheaded and dizzy(drinking root beer so not drunk yet lol).  Cigar itself ends on a tobacco and twang note that continues till I put it down.

Overall I'll give this a 5/10 - average cigar with each 3rd changing a lot.  Breaking it down probably 1/3 - 5/10, 2/3 - 7/10, 3/3 - 3/10.  I'll say being a year old...it's not ready.  I bought a box with the intent on only smoking these once or twice a year, so I'm happy on how it performed and hope it ages well!

[Kaptain Karl]

Thank you for the review! I have a box with basically the same code. I'll let it rest for another year before trying another. The only one I had from my box was clearly too young but had a ton of potential. 

[Rhinoww]

A good reminder that sometimes even now cigars need to rest.