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Review by Greg |
Appearance: 10 out of 10 |
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Box Code/Year: 1998 |
Construction: 9 out of 10 |
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Average rating: 9.60 |
Flavor: 9 out of 10 |
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Value: 10 out of 10 |
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Experience: 10 out of 10 |
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Review notes: Punch Corona 1998
What a beautiful day with lots of sun and a gorgeous blue sky. There was a fairly decent breeze blowing that actually kept it a bit on the cooler side, but 65F isn’t so bad. :D Temp on the porch reading a steady 70F though.
A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to pick up a fiver of 1998 Punch Coronas, and today I decided I’d put fire to one. I went to dig it out the wine-a-dor and oops! Just happened to accidentally spill a small bowl of beads that I forgot was sitting on one of the boxes on top shelf. Needless to say it took me a while to empty the wine-a-dor and clean all those little suckers up. Wife was standing behind me arms folded tapping her foot and I heard myself say, “Well I didn’t MEAN to do it.” She huffed and went to go make sure the baby wasn’t planning on making a sudden appearance and decide to eat the beads (again, but that’s another story).
After finally getting the mess up and all the boxes neatly stacked back in the wine-a-dor, I grabbed the smoke, camera, and The Ultimate Cigar Book.
The cigar was a slight pale brown and very little oil to the wrapper. This thing looked like it had some age on it, which of course it did. Decent construction with slight veins and the cap wasn’t perfect but did have the triple layer in one spot.
I punched the head with the largest sized ring very carefully (usually use the medium ring) and slowly the procedure was done.
Pre-light draw was of well-aged mature tobacco with a hint of sweetness. It was a bit on the tight side, but certainly not plugged. I toasted the foot and the smoke drifted to my nose with a delicious smell of wood (cedar) and spice. I could already tell this was going to be a good smoke.
I put fire to the foot and first draw was full of wood, leather, and delicious smooth, raw, aged tobacco. Just a smidgen of peppery spice was barely noticeable as I exhaled through my mouth and nose. A dark gray ash formed quickly as I took several draws in a row. I just couldn’t seem stop! A bit of earthiness was in there somewhere. Something I should describe as a sharp taste. The draw was absolutely spot on with not too much and not too little smoke flowing through.
A little ways in the wrapper had a small crack pop up informing me the cigar was slightly on the damp side towards the foot, but that was the only spot during the smoke.
Almost at the halfway point, the cigar really picked up in body and the spice picked up a bit, however still very smooth. Lots of wood and leather with a twinge of sweet earth. That raw, mature tobacco taste lingered afterwards and was quite good. I was thoroughly enjoying this cigar!
There was definitely no doubt of nubbing this baby. Towards the end the sweetness picked up quite a bit and the smoke had creaminess to it. Ah but all good things must come to an end. It’s a shame I only have a few left of these to enjoy! |
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Bolivar
