Punch Honduras

The Honduras page announced Punch, and the link led to the Cuban article — that of a brand founded in Havana in 1840 for the English market, with its Mr. Punch puppet on the lid. The reader was therefore given the history of a cigar he would not find in Honduras. This article puts that misunderstanding right.

The Honduran Punch was born of the Cuban nationalisation: the name, taken up outside the island, has been made in Honduras since the 1960s and was sold in the United States throughout the embargo. It built its own following there, on a profile earthier and fuller than the Havana's, and on prices that stayed affordable while the Cuban became a rare commodity.

Two brands, two countries, one shared name inherited from the same nineteenth century — one of the scars 1960 left on the geography of the cigar, and the atlas shows it rather than smoothing it over.

Range Depth

• Punch Honduras

  Wrapper Ecuadorian Habano · Strength Medium

  Earth, wood, frank pepper: the classic Honduran profile, at a price that made its following throughout the embargo. Nothing to do with the Havana of the same name.

  Robusto · Churchill

• Punch Gran Puro

  Wrapper Habano Maduro · Strength Full

  A Honduran puro — every leaf comes from the country, filler included. The demonstration that Honduras is sufficient unto itself.

  Toro

🥃 Pairings

• Honduran rum

  Spirits

  A pairing of country, on a cigar that lays claim to its terroir down to the filler.

• Black coffee

  Coffee

  The pepper of the blend can take a frank roast.