Here we are once again for another cigar review and no, it is not Monday already. Brian had some family related business come up suddenly that he needed to take care of so I decided to get a quick review together.

Tonight I decided to fire up my last remaining Punch Champion. This particular cigar is a Perfecto weighing in at 4.5 inches by 60 ring gauge at its thickest point. The Punch Champion is found within Punch’s regular lineup, however it is a unique blend only found in this particular vitola.

While inspecting, I found this cigar to be a rich brown color with a beautiful oily sheen. When pinched the cigar feels firm and smooth to the touch. After clipping just a bit off of the cap I found the draw to be a little snug but decided to go ahead with the lighting process.

After a quick toast and light I had the cigar producing a good amount of flavorful smoke. The first third of the Punch Champion produces a rich and dense Honduran Tobacco flavor with a medium body and smooth finish. After exhausting the smoke I found that it left me with a thick and sort of syrupy feel in my mouth which was a nice change of pace from some of the other cigars I have been smoking as of late.

The burn was fairly even and burned nice and slow leaving a light colored and firm ash. While the draw remained a little firm it still produced a decent volume of smoke. The only downside at this point was that the smoke seemed a little thin and aerated. This made it a little difficult to pass the smoke through my sinuses, but overall did not take away from the smoking experience.

As I smoked into the second third of the cigar the draw began to open up a bit and the thin smoke turned into dense heavy smoke that filled the room with a nice tobacco aroma. The flavor was still a dominant Honduran Tobacco flavor, but some light woody tones began to enter the picture. The body picked up slightly but stayed within the Medium Body range as the finish remained thick and smooth.

After about forty five minutes I began to burn into the final third of this stick. This is where the complexity started to kick in. The flavors were still a rich Honduran tobacco taste with mild woody tones, but I began to get a salty flavor that started to make me salivate. The salty flavor seemed to make the other flavors taste much richer which I really enjoyed.

Overall I think that this is an excellent example of a good Honduran cigar. With a price point of 3.90 per stick (in my area) or 65.00 per box at many online retailers, I think that this is a great buy overall. The perfecto shape seems to be a bit of a slow starter, but once you get into the thick part of the stick things really pick up and become interesting.

If you have the chance to pick up one of these sticks I would suggest doing so.