Punch Short De Punch

📌 Brand: Punch
📌 Line: Short De Punch
📌 Size: Petit Robusto (4 3/4" × 50) Paraisos
📌 Weight: 12.7 g
📌 Age: 2 years
📌 Origin: Cuba

Tasting Notes

• Cedar – Clean Cuban woodiness

• Toasted Bread – Warm, subtle sweetness

• Earth – Light, dusty base

• White Pepper – Mild retrohale kick

First Impressions

The Short De Punch shows a classic Colorado wrapper, smooth with minimal veins and a fragrant cold aroma of cedar and bakery sweetness. Cold draw is slightly tight, giving hints of earth and faint pepper.

Smoking Experience

• First Third – Cedar and toasted bread lead with mild pepper. Draw tight and burn begins drifting to one side.

• Second Third – Earth develops lightly, sweetness fades. One-sided burn worsens and the cigar requires the first relight after the second correction.

• Final Third – Pepper sharpens a bit, toasted bread returns, but the tight draw continues to restrict smoke output and dull complexity.

Pairings

• Alcohol – Appleton Estate 15 Year Black River Casks - Warm oak, dried fruit, and mild spice add depth to the cigar’s softer cedar core.

• Tea – Assam Mokalbari East Black Tea - Malty, bold, and slightly sweet — perfect to fill the gaps left by the cigar’s inconsistent performance.

Music Pairing

“Be Thankful for What You Got” – William DeVaughn
Smooth glide that adds warmth to the cigar’s thin middle.

Final Thoughts

The Punch Short De Punch delivers a pleasant Cuban profile built on cedar, toast, and soft earth, but the experience is held back by a slightly tight draw, a persistent one-sided burn, and a relight. The flavor is good, but the performance misses consistency.

Final Score: 6/10
Why not a 10?
Tight draw, uneven burn, and a mid-session relight disrupted balance and reduced flavor clarity.

Only cigars that deliver flawless draw, balance, flavour evolution, construction and satisfaction get a 10.