While most cigar companies releasing cigars for the Chinese New Year lean heavily on the character of the Chinese Zodiac Calendar—this upcoming year is the year of the rabbit—and red and gold colors, General Cigar Co. has taken a decidedly different approach over the years. It’s turned to popular American Chinese food dishes for the names of its annual Punch-branded Chinese New Year release.
This year’s cigar is called the Punch Spring Roll, a 4 1/2 x 50 petit robusto that uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over an American broadleaf binder and fillers from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and broadleaf from the U.S. Like most of the releases in this series so far, it features an unfinished foot where the wrapper is removed to expose the binder and filler tobaccos. The Spring Roll is made at STG Danlí, General’s factory in Honduras.
“Punch Spring Roll is like a three-course meal: It delivers a great smoking experience in a size that really brings the blend to life, and it comes at a price point that hits the post-holiday sweet spot for cigar lovers,” said John Hakim, brand manager of Punch, in a press release. “Paying homage to the original, Spring Roll is the yin to Egg Roll’s yang. Since the Year of the Rabbit is said to bring good fortune, we invite Punch fans to kick back and let the good times Spring Roll.”
The MSRP is set at $5.99 per cigar and the cigars will come in red-colored boxes made to mimic the popular cardboard boxes used for Chinese takeout. There are 5,000 boxes of 25 cigars for this release. Unlike most companies releasing Chinese New Year-themed cigars, General only sells the cigars in the U.S. because that’s the only market where it holds the trademark for Punch.
This is the fifth release in the series, each of which has leaned heavily on American Chinese food dishes for both the names and the packaging.
Note: The following shows the various Punch Chinese New Year Series releases. Some of these cigars may have been released after this post was originally published. The list was last updated on April 25, 2023.
- Punch Egg Roll (4 1/2 x 50) — 2019 — 3,000 Bundles of 25 Cigars (75,000 Total Cigars)
- Punch Chop Suey (7 x 37) — 2020 — 3,650 Boxes of 25 Cigars (91,250 Total Cigars)
- Punch Kung Pow! (6 x 52) — 2021 — 4,500 Boxes of 20 Cigars (90,000 Total Cigars)
- Punch Fu Manchu (6 x 50) — 2022 — 6,400 Boxes of 20 (128,000 Total Cigars)
- Punch Spring Roll (4 1/2 x 50) — 2023 — 5,000 Boxes of 25 Cigars (125,000 Total Cigars)
I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.
