Blast from the past: Punch SS2

[El Presidente]

I was perusing Bond Roberts and came across an old favourite. I still have a cab or two remaining somewhere but my favourite was the Punch Royal Seleccion 11.  Still, a bees dick between them. What a great period that was for Corona Gorda lovers!

Discontinued in 2002

[NSXCIGAR]

I've dabbled with SS1/2 from the early 2000s and was always disappointed. If you can find them before 2000 however...

I also preferred the RS 1/2. I found they withstood the early 2000s a bit better. 

[El Presidente]

1 minute ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I've dabbled with SS1/2 from the early 2000s and was always disappointed. If you can find them before 2000 however...

I also preferred the RS 1/2. I found they withstood the early 2000s a bit better. 

Completely the opposite experience.  98 (late) 99/00.....disasterous at close to a 30% construction fail. Same for Punch SS1. . 

Final year of Punch SS2 were generally excellent. 

I still preferred the Punch Royal Seleccion Number 11.  Sweeter, more honeyed, more nuanced.  That and the Upmann Super Corona were my favourites. 

 

[NSXCIGAR]

I'm sure many were good, I just swung and missed quite a bit. Same with Party Lonsdales of the early 2000s.

[Bijan]

15 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I've dabbled with SS1/2 from the early 2000s and was always disappointed. If you can find them before 2000 however...

I also preferred the RS 1/2. I found they withstood the early 2000s a bit better. 

I've had some great 2002-2003 SS2. Still incredibly strong at times.

[KCCubano]

I had a couple cabs of SS2. No issues at all. Superb smokes. Liked RS 11 and SS1 equally as well. Yes Rob great CG period back in the day. Don't really recall much about the Black Prince. I had one box. Preferred RS 11 and SS2. 

[El Presidente]

3 minutes ago, KCCubano said:

Don't really recall much about the Black Prince. I had one box. Preferred RS 11 and SS2. 

I preferred the RS11 and SS2 over the Black Prince as well. However it did have its own legion of fans. Tad too light for me without the pay-off in complexity (to my palate)

[NSXCIGAR]

Black Prince was quite mild for the time. I never liked them. Yes, they always had their devotees but they were a very poor seller in the day. After 02 they hung around for years at $175-200/box.

[anacostiakat]

Stellar cigars IMHO!  I do have some socked away.  Am afraid to smoke them.  

[joeypots]

I had a few cabs of the SS#2. Good cigars when they came around but it took a very long time.

[KCCubano]

Agree. At least 5 yrs for me but well worth the wait!

[BrightonCorgi]

I have a late cab of SS#1's with the bands on them.  Has to be rarer than the pre-band cabs.

[KCCubano]

35 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

I have a late cab of SS#1's with the bands on them.  Has to be rarer than the pre-band cabs.

I had 3 Cabs of SS1. All with bands. Thinking 07s and 08s. Kept a couple in FOH locker for a long time. 

[La_Tigre]

16 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Completely the opposite experience.  98 (late) 99/00.....disasterous at close to a 30% construction fail. Same for Punch SS1. . 

Final year of Punch SS2 were generally excellent. 

I still preferred the Punch Royal Seleccion Number 11.  Sweeter, more honeyed, more nuanced.  That and the Upmann Super Corona were my favourites. 

 

Where would you place RGCE on that 98-04 spectrum?

[Bijan]

1 hour ago, BrightonCorgi said:

I have a late cab of SS#1's with the bands on them.  Has to be rarer than the pre-band cabs.

SS2 never had Bands. SS1 went way into the band times 2009 I think?

So not rare. I've only had them with bands.

[BrightonCorgi]

14 minutes ago, Bijan said:

SS2 never had Bands. SS1 went way into the band times 2009 I think?

So not rare. I've only had them with bands.

Think of the decades of SS1's without bands vs. 2-3 years with.

[Bijan]

13 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Think of the decades of SS1's without bands vs. 2-3 years with.

That's fair and I understand that logic, but 90+% of the SS1 I've seen has been from post 2002-2003. Generally with any cigars that's discontinued, the majority of what remains today is from the last 5 years or so of production. (I've practically never seen pre 1999 SS2, almost everything I've seen has been from the last couple of years, 2001-2002, and maybe 2003).

Edit: There have been 12 SS1 cabs on Bond Roberts 8 with bands, 4 without. So I might have overstated it, though every single one of the banded ones were from 2008, and 3/4 of the unbanded ones were partial boxes, so I'm not totally off base I think.

Edit 2: Also not 2-3 years, 2002/3-2009 5-7 years