Review of Punch Golden Era Cigars

Punch Golden Era cigars are made in Honduras with Honduran-grown, Cuban-seed Corojo wrappers and binders, and Honduran-grown Habano and Cuban-seed Corojo filler tobaccos. These cigars became available in May 2023, and are offered for sale in three sizes including a Robusto (5 x 50) priced at $9.99 per cigar, which was supposed to be the subject of this review. For more information about the cigars, please see the press release.

The first sample Punch Golden Era Robusto began with an unexpected taste which was so unusual that I thought something was wrong with the cigar. After smoking it for five minutes, I put it down and then fired up a second sample, which wasn't much better. The taste was bland with some sour notes and hints of bitterness. I smoked the second sample for 15 minutes, down to three inches remaining without any improvement.

I have to give the reputable Punch brand the benefit of a doubt, and at least consider the possibility that the samples may have been adversely affected at some point during transit between the factory and my humidor. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to rate the cigar at this time. My trip back to the Golden Era may just have to wait until the future.

Six Weeks Into the Future

Six additional weeks in the humidor did not change my opinion very much. The above two samples spent two weeks in my humidor prior to being reviewed. A third sample from the same batch did not show much improvement after being in my humidor for a total of eight weeks. Although aging will improve most cigars, it will not make a bad cigar good. Premium cigars are usually ready to smoke after resting in your humidor for a few days subsequent to their acquisition. Cheaper bundled cigars may need more time.

The third sample Punch Golden Era Robusto still had a sour flavor all the way through, along with some occasional bitterness. The cigar burned fast, and lasted only 25 minutes down to two inches remaining. Although the third sample was not enjoyable, additional time in the humidor did smooth out some of the rough edges, at least enough to make the taste barely tolerable.

Since the market is flooded with really good cigars these days (so many cigars, so little time), we could smoke even more bad cigars in a quest to uncover a different batch of Punch Golden Era cigars that might taste somewhat better. However, as the saying goes: You only get one chance to make a good first impression! We enjoy sampling cigars to identify those that we like, then buy more (not the opposite).

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer.