Origin : Cuba
Format : Ninfas (Slim Panatela)
Size : 33 x 178 mm (7”)
Box Date : EAR – April ’02 (Controlado Feb ’05)
Discontinued in 2002
Hand-Made
Price : roughly $7/cigar in 2002
More info about purchasing Punch cigars...
Appearance : 
Natural (Colorado Claro), flat sheen, few veins. Box pressed beyond any cigar I’ve ever seen with hard corners. The appearance is elegant by its nature. Generally white, grainy ash; flakey & not as dense as the tight draw would lead one to expect.
Origin : Cuba
Format : Petit Robusto
Size : 119 (4.7'') x 20.64 mm
Ring : 52
Smoking time : 1h 15min
Pairing : Cuba Libre
Bought in June 2013
Boxcode : BTO OCT 12
Price : 27 EUR each
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Today we've got a guest review from our reader Juha Murto. Enjoy!
Well, this is my first review ever on the internet. So I decided to smoke something special. I managed to get my hands on these beautiful Behikes and I’d been planning to smoke one per year so that I can see how they age over time. Let's see if this little robusto is worth the hype.
Origin : Cuba
Format : Half Corona
Size : 3.5 x 44 (90 x 17 mm)
Ring : 44
Hand-Made
Price : ~$6
More info about purchasing H. Upmann cigars...
The H. Upmann Half Corona was released in 2011 and quickly became quite a popular cigar and a regular smoke for many cigar aficionados around the world. Why? It isn’t just the flavors, the construction and the price of this stogie that make it popular, but the size, which is a distinguishing characteristic. This Half Corona measures just 3.5” with a 44 ring gauge, making it a short cigar. You can smoke one of these at a leisurely pace and still finish up in less than 40 minutes, so it is perfect if you are pressed for time and still want to enjoy a nice stogie.
Origin : Cuba
Format : Laguito No. 1 (Long Panatela, also known as Lancero); 38 x 192 (7-½")
Box date : December 1985 (NIUL)
Hand-Made
Price : To the extent they can be found, a Davidoff No. 1 will run around $100 per cigar. Note: Be cautious, there are numerous counterfeit Davidoff No. 1s claimed to be on the market. I’ve heard to be weary of the Davidoff band being “too white” to have had 30+ years of age.
The Davidoff No.1 was part of the original line of Davidoff cigars introduced in 1969. Beginning in the mid 1980s, quality control became a concern to Davidoff. In 1987, Zino Davidoff condemned Cuban craftsmanship on French television. The rift between Zino and Cubatabaco escalated to the point where, in 1989, Zino publicly burned 130,000 of the Cuban-made Davidoff cigars that he had deemed of low quality and unfit to sell. Officially, the Cuban Davidoff line was discontinued in 1991.
This box was acquired new by my father, an infrequent cigar smoker, in the late 1980s. He died about ten years later and, in remembrance, I have taken to smoking one of these (or one of a small handful of other cigars that were his) on the anniversary of his passing. I think it has been three years since I last smoked one of these. This year I was out of town on that date, so I am smoking this a bit late. Obviously, this cigar has great significance for me, but I have no problem disassociating an objective review from a subjective occasion.
Origin : Cuba
Format : Dobles (Robusto Extra)
Size : 155 x 20 mm (6 1/8 x 50)
Box Date : POS – August ’06
Intruduced in : 1,200 cabinets of 50 produced in 2006 exclusively for the Habanos distributor in Germany, Fifth Avenue Products Trading.
Hand-Made
Price : 700 € / 50 (original price fixed by distributor); roughly $17/cigar in 2006
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Today we're publishing a cigar review submitted by one of our readers, Matthew B. Enjoy!
Why review a special release cigar which is no longer available for purchase, and yet not old enough to be considered vintage? Because it’s there. I typically smoke two cigars a day and have been for nearly twenty years. While I enjoy each and every cigar, the process of reviewing them provides me unique focus and delivers conclusions beyond simply “good” or “bad”.
Read the full review of Bolivar Colosale (Regional Edition Germany)...
Origin : Cuba
Format : Corona Extra
Size : 127 x 19 mm (5 x 48)
Ring : 48
Release : 2012
Hand-Made
Price : 11 EUR each
More info about purchasing Punch cigars...
Punch Sir John, a 2012 regional edition for Germany, is most probably named after John Tenniel, a British illustrator and politicial cartoonist for the Punch magazine. Knighted by Queen Victoria, he is also known for his illustrations for Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is named after a group of 48 premium tobacco retailers in Germany, called “John Aylesbury” (see comment below).
I've had this cigar in my humidor for quite a while now (about one year I guess, since its release) and decided to put it to light on one of this year's last sunny days.
Read the full review of Punch Sir John (Germany Regional Edition)...
Origin : Cuba
Format : Grand Epicure
Size : 5.1 x 55
Released : 2013
Box code : ALT JUN13
Hand-Made
Price : ~$20 each
More info about purchasing Hoyo de Monterrey cigars...
The Hoyo de Monterrey Grand Epicure is one of the first 2013 limited editions to be released this year and this fat 55 ring gauge cigar really looks the part. Personally, I’ve always been a fan of the Hoyo line which is known for its sweeter profile. As many aficionados know, the Edición Limitada cigars are hand rolled by expert rollers and the wrapper, filler and binder leaves come from carefully selected plants from the Vuelta Abajo plantations (the best growing region in Cuba) and aged a minimum of 2 years.
Read the full review of Hoyo de Monterrey Grand Epicure 2013 LE...
Origin : Cuba
Format : Sublime
Size : 6 1/2 x 54 (164 x 21.43 mm)
Released : 2004
Hand-Made
Price : N/A
More info about purchasing Cohiba cigars...
I’m going to do something a little different in this review and instead of reviewing a cigar in current production I am going to go deep into my aging humidor and have a cigar that I haven’t sampled for a long time.
Originally released in 2004, the Cohiba EL Sublimes attracted some very favorable reviews. In early 2005 I bought five of these cigars. I smoked two over the next couple of years and quite enjoyed them. I decided to age the remaining three but I did smoke one about 3 years ago before I started reviewing for this site.
Suffice to say that my collection grew exponentially since that time so these did get a little lost in the humidor but while doing my cigar rotation and autumn cleaning of the humidors this past week I decided to smoke one with the intent of making it a review. As we head into the 10th year anniversary of this cigar’s release I decided to see how this cigar has aged. Of course, the Sublimes are no longer readily available nor are they in production so this review will not factor cost or pricing at all. With that in mind, let’s see how this 2004 Sublime has aged.
Read the full review of Cohiba Sublimes 2004 Limited Edition...
