Punch is the name of two brands of cigars, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in Honduras for General Cigar Company. [1]
Punch is the name of two brands of cigars, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in Honduras for General Cigar Company. [1]
The Punch brand was first registered in 1840 by German named Stockmann and named for the European puppet show character, Mr. Punch (not the magazine, which was created a year later). The brand quickly became a success, especially in Great Britain. The first change of ownership came in 1874, when the brand was bought by a Luis Corujo, and again in 1884, when the brand was purchased by Manuel López Fernández and its bands and boxes still bear his name to this day. Retiring in 1924 and dying shortly after, López gave ownership of the brand to Esperanza Valle Comas, who only held it for a few years before the Stock Market Crash of 1929.
Like most other businesses around the world, the Cuban cigar industry faced financial hardships. In 1930, the firm of Fernández, Palicio y Cía bought up the brand, where it became one of the company's headlining cigar marques, along with Belinda, La Escepción, and Hoyo de Monterrey, and maintained its popularity with British cigar smokers.
After the embargo was set against Cuba by the United States, Fernando Palicio fled Cuba for Florida, where he subsequently sold his cigar lines to Frank Llaneza and Dan Blumenthal of Villazon & Co., which has continued to make Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, and Belinda cigars from Honduran tobacco for the American market.
Cuba subsequently nationalized the tobacco industry and Punch continued production and is still a popular, multi-locally-marketed Cuban cigar line. Among connoisseurs, the eponymous Punch, Double Corona, Churchill, and Super Selection No. 2 are especially prized and sought after.[ citation needed ]
Punch also produces two machine-made cigarillos: the Cigarritos and Cigarritos Reserva.
Punch has two Edición Limitada production cigars. One was released in 2013, and the other in 2017. It is also extremely popular as a brand for the Edicion Regional series of cigars produced by Habanos for local markets.
The following list of vitolas de salida (commercial vitolas) within the Punch marque lists their size and ring gauge in Imperial (and Metric), their vitolas de galera (factory vitolas), and their common name in American cigar slang.
Hand-Made Vitolas
Edición Limitada Releases
Edición Regional Releases
Cohiba is a brand for two kinds of premium cigar, one produced in Cuba for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic for US-based General Cigar Company. The name cohíba derives from the Taíno word for "tobacco".
Bolívar is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic from Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco for General Cigar Company, which is today a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Both are named for the South American revolutionary, Simón Bolívar.
Diplomáticos is the name of a cigar brand, produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, at the José Martí factory in Havana.
H. Upmann is a Cuban brand of premium cigars established by banker Hermann Dietrich Upmann. The brand is currently owned by a British corporation, Imperial Brands. The cigars are manufactured by Habanos S.A., the state-owned tobacco company in Cuba, and Altadis in La Romana, Dominican Republic.
Romeo y Julieta is a brand of premium cigars, currently owned by Imperial Brands. The brand is currently owned by two Imperial Brands subsidiaries, Habanos S.A. in Cuba and Altadis in the Dominican Republic.
Trinidad is a Cuban brand of cigars, named after the city of Trinidad, Cuba. The production plants are located in Cuba, managed by the Cuban manufacturing company Habanos S.A., and in the Dominican Republic by the Spanish manufacturing company Altadis, a subsidiary of the British tobacco company Imperial Brands.
Partagás is the brand name of two lines of cigars made by two independent & competing entities, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company; the other, containing no Cuban tobacco, produced in the Dominican Republic for General Cigar Company, a division of Scandinavian Tobacco Group of Denmark.
Quintero is a brand of premium cigars, owned by British conglomerate Imperial Brands. The brand is produced in Cuba by Habanos S.A., the local state-owned tobacco company, which also owns the brands Cohiba, Montecristo, and Romeo y Julieta.
Hoyo de Monterrey is the name of two brands of premium cigar, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company and the other produced in Honduras by General Cigar Company, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match.
Vegas Robaina is the name of a premium cigar brand, produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company.
El Rey del Mundo is the name of two premium cigar brands, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and other produced in Honduras by the Villazon family.
Ramón Allones is the name of two premium cigar brands, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and other produced in Honduras for General Cigar Company, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match.
Quai d'Orsay is a premium cigar brand, made in Cuba under contract with Habanos SA.
La Gloria Cubana is the name of two premium cigar brands, one produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other produced in the Dominican Republic by El Credito Cigar Company for General Cigar Company, now a subsidiary of Swedish Match. La Gloria Cubana was sold to General Cigar Company by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo in 1999 for an undisclosed sales price.
Vegueros is the name of a brand of premium cigars produced on the island of Cuba for Habanos SA.
Por Larrañaga is the name of a cigar brand produced in Cuba for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, as well as a non-Cuban line of cigars produced in the Dominican Republic and Honduras for Altadis, a subsidiary of Imperial Brands. Por Larrañaga cigars have been in continuous production in Cuba since 1834, longer than any other Cuban cigar brand.
San Cristobal de la Habana is the name of a Cuban cigar brand produced in Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company.
Cuaba is the name of a Cuban cigar brand produced in Cuba for Habanos SA, the Cuban state-owned tobacco company.
Gispert is the name of two premium cigar brands, one previously manufactured in Cuba for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company, and the other in Honduras for the Franco-Spanish tobacco monopoly Altadis S.A., a division of Imperial Tobacco.
Sancho Panza is the name of a cigar brand in Cuba dating from 1848, and still produced there for Habanos S.A., the Cuban state-owned tobacco company.