Punch Black Prince SEP 00

[greenpimp]

Punch Black Prince ARA SEP OO

I am not a huge mild cigar fan, but I enjoy one from time to time, especially when it has been a few days or more since my last cigar. My senses are more acute and I am able to appreciate the subtleties better. Having finished with a cold recently, I thought of this bastard as a good choice for the first smoke back.

Well constructed, medium Colorado in color. Draw firm to perfect. Smell prelight that of chocolate and aged tobacco, predraw similar with some spiciness on the finish.

Good amount of mild, smooth, aromatic smoke from the first puffs. Milk chocolate and a smooth herbal quality. Ash is flaky and quite black. Coffee bean steeps in as the smoke progresses and grows to mild-medium. Pleasant with a long finish which sweetens at the end of the first third, adding a dried fruit element.

Second third creamed coffee and an increasingly earthy finish. Still very smooth and well kempt. A bit of roasted nut characteristic. And at near the halfway point, something very interesting. The flavors meld together in a medium, quite complex whole. No real describable single flavors, just an aged, synthesized whole. Like earthy creamy fragrant savory spice kind of flavor. Or as my friend Peter likes to say, that “Aged Cuban cigar flavor.” Of course he’s an avowed existentialist so I mistrust his palate as well. But that’s besides the point. Or perhaps that is the point. Please pardon.

Finale sees overdone caramel and unsweetened chocolate with herbal overtones. Almost a spicy tarragon character. An austere and slightly sullen finish, but still quite pleasing and controlled. No bitterness but the finish does grow spicier. Medium plus with quite a bit of character, though tightly wound.

All in all an excellent cigar. The finish was quite unique, one I do not taste in other Punches, let alone other Cuban cigars. So different from the other Pnuch corona gordas I have had. There is a sober, almost enigmatic element in the finish. Dark and astringent but pleasingly so.

I would give it a 91. It is a cigar that gives you something to think about.

[El Presidente]

The last Black Prince I had was 18 months ago and I rattled through my notes to see if I could find the tasting. Unfortunately I can't but if it was half the experience of yours it would have been memorable....I doubt it :-)

I smoked a lot of Black Prince earlier in the decade but they were all 2-5 years old and they lacked the complexity you describe so eloquently. This is a cigar which obviously needs age to develop its special nuance. I am guilty of believing back then that the cigar did not have the essential ingredients to age well. It was my mistake and a mistake I have made with other cigars (LGC Medaille D'or No 2 comes to mind). I could't give the Punch Black Prince away at the time and I never kept a box for myself.

This is a good topic for another thread I will start.

Great review mate :-)