Punch Super Robusto OCT 06

[stever]

Thanks for the follow-up. Great reveiw.

Been wanting to revisit the PSR, but will now hold off.

[Colt45]

Thanks Rob. I'm glad I have some, and glad I can't access them. :-)

[pnutbutrsangwich]

I only went with the Estupendos when they were both released, but your reviews make me think that I'll regret only getting the one. Nice job, Prez!

[HeavySmoke]

» I was asked to do a follow up review of the Punch Super Robusto after the

» follow up review of the Ramon Allones Estupendo the other day.

»

Thank you for taking the time to do this review. Much appreciated. You do the best reviews and the most certainly the most credible.

John:-D

[cvm4]

I never bought a cab of these, but I do have some singles laying around. Thanks for the review.

[wp2]

Great review Rob. Mine are resting, resting, resting.

[El Presidente]

Punch Super Robusto

OCT 06

Punch Super Robusto

50 x 150mm

I was asked to do a follow up review of the Punch Super Robusto after the follow up review of the Ramon Allones Estupendo the other day.

Smithy and I both reviewed the Punch Super Robusto in November 2006 so I pulled another this morning from the initial box I reviewed. My camera is in for service until this afternoon so I borrowed some of the initial photo's.

Let's start with the initial review so that we can make some valid comparisons.

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Initial Review in November 2006.

Construction was perfect. No hard or soft spots. Good oil on the wrapper. Smell at cold was an unsettling amonia but these cigars are young having been rolled in August. Cuban cut the end and the draw was immaculate requiring and ever so slight pull.

Torched the foot to be met with an acrid amonia taste and aroma....I let it burn off a few millimeters to allow it to settle down. Medium full bodied, bitter and sharp....yet tremendous hints of caramel and cream? This cigar fought with itself to establish an identity...one minitue cream...one minute cardboard...one minute cream...one minute grass...it was all over the bloody place to an extent that it was intriguing. The burn was crooked, it couldn't hold an ash but these things are to be expected in such a young cigar.

As much as I respect Smithy's palate....how can you take someone who smokes a cigar like this seriously?

Into the second third it lost it's strength and entered into a malaise almost as if it had tired of fighting with itself and called a truce. Any bitterness had left by this stage. There was a small side battle between Cohiba Grassiness and Punch Creaminess but it stayed in the outer realm. The cigar meandered along and both Smithy and I were concerned we had seen its best punches (excuse the pun), but then it entered its last third and final stage. The flavour returned in spades. Body reached full, perfect balance and structure, btterness and amonia disappeared. Great length on palate with toasted tobacco, leather and cream. The finish to this cigar was astounding. It reminded me so much of the Tang Upmann Monarch released in 2002. Both I and Smithy nubbed it.

It would be completely unfair to rate this cigar now. It needs a good three years put away but it has the balls to age for 10-15 years. Both Smithy and I agreed that it has a 95 ranking cigar written all over it. It will become a great because it has the raw complexity and mongrel to see it through. This is a 2 year old thoroughbread with immense potential.

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Review July/2007

This box has had superb construction. Great oily wrapper. Smell at cold is leather and cream. Gone are the amonia notes found 9 months ago.

Cerrated the cap to find a good draw and a clean tobacco taste on the palate without anything else of note. Slowly torched the foot before taking an initial draw through the nose. Medium/full, blast of pepper spice but not wild as expected. Simply a thoroughbred stamping its hoof. Settled down quickly into a medium bodied offering. Initial impressions were a distinct Cohiba grassiness. Long green stalks of grass that you pluck and chew on as you walk along a riverbank looking for the next hole to cast a fly. There are elements of cream and old leather which balance out the grassy profile. Spice through the nose almost gone.

Past the first third and an increasing meaty, chewy core to this cigar becoming apparent. It is a savoury note which brings a mushroomy, cooked porridge note to the tongue. The overt grassiness has taken the form of chinese tea which lends me to believe that this cigar is still a long way from being ready to smoke. It is still evolving but the agressive amonia of the first tasting are gone.

Cream and leather re-assert from the halfway point along with the green chinese tea. Now just a touch under Medium body in profile and the cigar languishes into a good but not great cigar. My guess is that the tea characteristics will dissipate within another 12-18 months and be replaced with a heightened cream note with a sweet edge. The cigar is trying to fashion more flavours with no great success at this time. Fleeting glances of coffee and marzipan. None convincing as they struggle to break through.

Well into the last third and the body of the cigar transforms to medium full. Wet wood characters emerge along with the earlier mushrooms and cooked oats. Black tea replaces the green. Cream almost gone. Leather still apparent. Some bitter notes upsetting the balance of the final inch and a half and hence the Punch Super Robusto is put to rest.

In summary....developing nicely but still 2-3 years before we will see what this cigar will evlove into. My guess it is something special. If I were to take a stab in the dark a review in 2009/10 would see a medium bodied cigar loaded with cream, coffee, marzipan. A malty, chewy cigar with a sweet edge somewhere between a La Gloria Tainos, Sir Winston and Esplendido.

Time will tell but it is a waste to smoke them now. :-)

Smithy was always the stylist