2001 Punch Rare Corojo Rothschild

[ElkTwin]

In the late 90s you could count on 3 things in the cigar world: a Davidoff cutter would not tear the wrapper, the Blazer Micro-Torch would light a cigar in the wind, and Punch Rothschilds in the box of 50 would cost under a C-note.

Everybody loved the regular line, especially the double maduro, and they were a staple in most humidors. Frank Llaneza was knocking them out of the park at Villazon.

The Corojo craze was ramping fast, and putting Corojo in the name of your cigar was gold. Put a second label on the stick and -BAM - charge a buck more. General did both. Special releases of Punch Rare Corojo in several sizes sold out fast, and 50 Rothschilds sold for at least $150 a box!

Never mind that the wrapper wasn’t really a Corojo, but rather an Indonesian Sumatra, it was red, silky smooth, and deliciously spicy. The Punch Rare Corojo took the regular line and kicked it up a notch. And there was that second band!

Then in 2001 Villazon went apeshit, rolled a metric crap ton of the Rare Corojo, updated the packaging, and went more mainstream with the line. I bought a bunch on sale and stashed them.

Here we are 20 years later and the spiciness has matured and smoothed out. I appreciate Sean’s willingness to try one and review it.