Punch

Punch is a Cuban cigar brand sold around the world by Habanos S.A. It is one of the oldest Cuban brands. Manuel López founded it in the mid-1800s to sell cigars in Britain, where the humor magazine Punch was popular. Mr. Punch, the magazine’s clown figure, still appears on the boxes with a cigar in his hand. In 1931 the brand moved to the factory of Fernández, Palicio y Cía., which bought Hoyo de Monterrey the same year. Today Punch and Hoyo de Monterrey are both made at the La Corona factory in Havana.

Well-known sizes include the Punch Punch, a corona gorda, and the Double Corona. In 2019 the Short de Punch became the brand’s first cigar with a 50 ring gauge. The leaf comes from the Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Río. Habanos rates the brand medium in strength.

Because of the U.S. embargo, Cuban Punch cigars cannot legally be sold in the United States. After the 1959 revolution the U.S. rights to the name passed to companies outside Cuba. They now belong to General Cigar Co., part of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, which makes a separate non-Cuban Punch in Honduras with no Cuban tobacco: Punch (Honduran). It was one of the first cigar brands made in Honduras.