General Brings Cigar Presses to Stores With Punch Store Press

General Cigar Co.’s latest release will provide many consumers the opportunity to see a cigar press in person for the very first time.

The company has begun shipping the Punch Store Press Series to select retailers. It’s a collection of three different cigars—each a different blend and size—that are packaged in boxes that are similar to how cigars are box-pressed at a factory. Each retailer that received the cigar also got a replica cigar press.

The Punch Store Press Broadleaf is a 7 1/2 x 54 double corona that uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper and binder over Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. It is priced at $9.99 per cigar.

For the Habano, the company uses a Nicaraguan habano wrapper over a Honduran wrapper and fillers from Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Nicaragua. It’s offered in a 6 1/2 x 54 torpedo, also priced at $9.99.

The Punch Store Press Mata Fina is a 5 1/2 x 55 robusto gordo that uses a Brazilian mata fina wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Pricing for the Mata Fina is $8.99 per cigar.

Within the box, each cigar is separated by a piece of wood and the cigars protrude slightly above those wood dividers. That’s how many cigars are box-pressed in factories, though some factories have switched to non-wood dividers. They are placed in these types of boxes and then placed inside the press which applies force to help rapidly square the cigar.

Even cigars that aren’t box-pressed go into a cigar press. However, those cigars are placed in molds where the insides are rounded out to form cylinders. They are subject to the same type of pressing but the goal is to provide a more uniform round shape.

General says that only 130 presses were created for stores.