Video review HERE.
(Description taken from Cigar-coop.com website)
First, it was the Punch Egg Roll, then it was Punch Chop Suey. Now General Cigar has it's third installment of its limited-edition Chinese New Year series, the Punch Kung Pow.
Punch Kung Pow is a five-country multi-national blend highlighted by a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over a Honduran Habano binder and long filler leaves from Brazil, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. It will be available in a 6 x 52 Toro. The cigars come in 20-count bundles placed inside a takeout-style box with a shout out to the Year of the Ox (for the 2021 Chinese New Year). Production is handled at the HATSA factory in Danlí, Honduras. A total of 4,500 boxes have been produced – up from the 3,650 boxes of the Punch Chop Suey. Pricing is set at $5.99 per cigar.
“The Chinese New Year Series for Punch has become a new tradition and for the 2021 release, we took a page from the Szechuan cookbooks. The medium-to-full-bodied blend is vaguely sweet with an undercurrent of spice, just like the popular Chinese food dish of the differently-spelled name. We put a new spin on the takeout container for this year’s release, and we’ve once again hit the post-holiday sweet spot for cigar lovers with a per-cigar price of just $5.99. My advice: get your hands on this one fast because it’s coming in hot!” commented Ed Lahmann, Senior Brand Manager for Punch.
Blend and Origin
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Honduran Habano
Filler: Brazilian, Honduran, Dominican
Country of Origin: Honduras
Factory: Honduran American Tobacco SA (HATSA)
Vitolas Offered
Toro: 6 x 52
The cigar has an oily wrapper and 1/2" of the foot is unfinished.
The cigar has a nice feel in the hand. The density shot shows the unfinished foot.
The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up of the unfinished foot were quite earthy; leather, black coffee, and rather low amounts of cedar and brown sugar. Then as you get to the wrapper there are nice caramel notes. The earthiness tones down somewhat at this point. Once you get to the wrapper you have cedar, brown sugar, caramel, leather, nutmeg, and black coffee. The cigar is actually much better once you get to the wrapper.
Because of my experience with several of these cigars prior to the review I decided to score it in quarters.
As the cigar burned toward the first quarter I noticed you could clearly see where the unfinished foot met the wrapper. Here is a shot of that point.
At the first quarter (24 minutes) the same flavor notes are still in play. The leather is quite manageable at this point. There is black pepper rated at 7 1/2. The cigar is quite enjoyable at this early stage. I rated the first quarter 93.
At the midpoint (48 minutes) things started to change. The earthiness is starting to rise. The initial nice sweet flavors are being covered by layers of earthiness. The cigar is medium bodied and seems to be moving up. The finish is earthy with just a hint of caramel with nice lingering black pepper. The earthiness is really muffling the sweeter flavors. I rated the midpoint 90.
Moving through the third quarter (1 hour 8 minutes) the leather, black coffee, and earthiness has reach a peak. The caramel notes are not longer there. There are hints of cedar and brown sugar. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The black pepper is very good; around 8 rating. The finish is a lot of earthiness, some leather, and hints of brown sugar. The lingering black pepper is very good. I rated the third quarter 86.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 24 minutes. In the final quarter some sweeter notes tried to make a comeback. The cigar is not quite as earthy. The cigar is a low grade full bodied. The finish has a little more cedar, a touch of brown sugar, and nice lingering black pepper. The cigar started out one way and went downhill. I had high hopes for this cigar, too. The cigar made a slight comeback attempt so I raised the final quarter score to 87.
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