Tasting Note

Occasionally, a cigar's quality defies its price tag. This was particularly true for the Punch After Dinner, a full-sized Churchill that retails for less than $6 yet delivers a performance easily worth twice as much. It's a true multinational blend with a wrapper from Ecuador, a U.S. binder and filler from Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. In lesser hands, such a blend might end up muddy and nondescript, but the tobaccos here come together quite cohesively, each leaf playing off the next for a dense, chewy smoke that's earthy and sweet. Like all cigars from the core Punch line, it's made in Honduras by General Cigar. This is a smoke that has been on the market for 20 years, though given its suggested retail price, it seems immune to inflation.