General Cigar Co. Celebrates Punch’s 180th Anniversary

The celebration is one-year later, but General Cigar Co. is finally ready to commemorate the 180th anniversary of the Punch brand.

As you might be expected, it will come in the form of a new cigar called the Punch Aniversario Double Corona, a 7 1/4 x 54 vitola. The cigar will use a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over a Connecticut broadleaf binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.

It has an MSRP of $14.99 and is limited to 3,400 boxes of 10 cigars, which General says is the most limited Punch cigar it’s ever released. Those boxes will begin heading to stores in early September.

“Perhaps more than any other handmade cigar brand that has graced a tobacconist’s humidor, Punch has been symbolic of a trailblazer, a maverick and one who is unapologetically self-assured in their choices,” said Ed Lahmann, senior brand manager of Punch, in a press release. “Today, we celebrate Punch as the first name in Honduran-crafted cigars with this special release. We look forward to upholding the brand’s legacy for today’s Punch loyalists and the next generation of Punch enthusiasts.”

Punch, the cigar brand, was founded by a German man in 1840 and was named after Mr. Punch, a puppet show character whose roots trace back to the 16th century. The Cuban Punch brand was sold and acquired a variety of times up until the Cuban Revolution of 1959, when it was eventually seized by the state. Fernando Palicio, who owned the rights to the Cuban brand prior to 1959, eventually sold them to Villazon & Co., which eventually became General Cigar Co.

Today, there are two Punch brands, the Cuban one sold by Habanos S.A. around the world, except in the U.S., and the non-Cuban version sold by General that is only offered in the U.S.