Vitola: Toro- 6” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $5.99
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Several cigar companies are now making special “Chinese New Year” releases. Davidoff was probably the first notable entrant into this pattern and most of the releases tend to be fairly serious in nature. General Cigar’s Punch division decided to take a more lighthearted approach a couple years back when they released the Egg Roll, a Rothschild size cigar that shipped in containers shaped like Chinese take out boxes. Last year the Chop Suey had a different size and different container, so no one was surprised when this year’s take-out-food-shaped box was different still.
The Punch Kung Pow! (Yes, misspelled from the food item and inclusive of the exclamation point) is a 5-country blend featuring fillers from Brazil, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, a Honduran Habano binder, and a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. It does celebrate the Year of the Ox, which is “a year of hard work, determination and rebuilding”…which is something we are sorely in need of at this time.
Kung Pow! is available from brick and mortar shops around the country and is limited to 4,500 boxes of 20 cigars. I bought mine from Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga, but if your local shop doesn’t carry them, out sponsor, Small Batch Cigar does.
Prelight
Once again, kudos to General and Punch for being creative and having fun with the packaging. It just isn’t done enough in the cigar industry and the Punch brand is probably something that should always be taken a little more lightheartedly since the mascot is a court jester. The band is a nice red and gold with tons of foil and a look that belies the bargain price of the cigar. Cool presentation all the way around.
The wrapper leaf was a dark chocolate brown color with an oily feel to it, which I expect from Broadleaf. The wrapper stopped short of the foot, leaving it shaggy, which has become another hallmark of this series. The wrapper leaf had aromas of leather, anise, and coffee beans, while the foot had earth, coffee, and unsweetened cocoa powder notes.
Once clipped, the draw was very good, which was a welcome change from last year’s very small ring gauge release that had more than its share of tight cigars. The cold draw flavors were of anise, leather, espresso bean, and earth.
Flavor
Once fired up the Punch Kung Pow had notes off cedar and earth and anise right off the bat, while just the exposed, shaggy foot was burning. After the wrapper started burning, I immediately got additional flavors of leather, espresso bean, and semisweet chocolate that overlaid everything else. If you really want to see how much impact a wrapper leaf has on the flavor of a cigar, burn something like this with a pronounced shaggy foot. That continued through the rest of the first third and I definitely got some “punch” from the cigar that was displaying a nice medium-to-full body.
The second third had more sweetness from the Broadleaf wrapper in the form of dark chocolate, overlaying notes of earth and leather, while pepper spice and anise played in the background.
The last third had more pepper—for even more punch!—along with chocolate sweetness and underlying leather and earth flavor.
Construction
I had a great draw, very even burn line, and solid ash throughout.
Value
Very good cigar with a bargain price tag, so great value.
Conclusions
The Punch Kung Pow(!) definitely lived up to its name, delivering punch and pow in terms of body along with a decent amount of strength. To top it off, it had a very good flavor throughout with a pleasing complexity, especially during the first third where it starts off with the wrapper-less shaggy foot. If you like the Punch brand or full-bodied cigars in general, you should probably get your hands on these while they last.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
