Cigar Accessory Review: Palio Cutter

Introduction

From the Palio website: “From concept and design to product testing and refinement, Palió has been engineered to deliver the most precise cut available in the cigar accessory market today. In a test conducted by Synergistic Medical Technologies using force-gauge analysis, Palió maintained its sharpness over other cutters by a dramatic margin.”

MSRP: $29.99 – $37.99 (Dependent on color/print)

Evaluation

Cigar Accessory Review: Palio Cutter

The cutter is quite light as it uses primarily composite materials for the body. It is a two piece cutter as there are two equally designed sides that move opposite each other when opening and closing. There is a looped finger slot at each end, so you could put your thumb in one and index or middle finger (or both) in the other and operate it very easily with those fingers. The blade opening is fairly large and can probably easily accept up to a 64 ring gauge. The nice thing about two piece cutters is that the opening between the blades is always centered, so there are no worries about cutting off center. The length of the cutter when closed is 3 5/8 inches and 4 1/2 inches when fully open. It is  2 1/8 inch wide and at its thickest parts, the cutter is 3/8 of an inch deep. Each face of the cutter is slightly contoured so that it is thinner nearest the center and thicker at the ends so that you can use the cutter as a cigar rest when it is sitting on the table.

Cigar Accessory Review: Palio Cutter

To use the cutter, you put your fingers in the loops and just pull the blades apart. There is just a slight detent that helps keep the blades closed, but it’s not very noticeable when you attempt to pull the blades apart. One you have the blades open to a size you need to cut, you line it up and then just bring your fingers towards each other to complete the cut. There is a nice slight drag to the movement of the blades so it gives you a lot of control for the cut. As soon as you’re done cutting, there’s no switch that you need to press to release the blades to get all of the tobacco out, you just pull your fingers apart again and I just do a few quick open and closes over the ashtray to clear out any remnant tobacco.

On the cut, the blades are very sharp and you don’t really feel any resistance from the cigar itself. I think the slight drag of the blade movement helps to hide any resistance that may be present. Another benefit of the thinness of the body is that it’s very easy to line up the cuts to make sure you’re taking off only the amount of the cap that you want. Some other cutters with bulkier bodies can present a bit of a challenge in this aspect.

Pros

+ Very sharp blades

+ Light in weight

+ Durable

+ Lifetime warranty

Cons

– Still looking for something to gripe about

Conclusion

Other than when I’m evaluating another cutter, the Palio has been my regular use cutter for about 4 years. I like how light and thin it is and the fact that it has remained very sharp throughout all of the cuts in its life is a testament to the blades. The price is very reasonable and the only price differences between some models is based on the finish of the body if you want other colors or more advanced graphics. We all know that cutters grow legs and walk away at times, so if you lost one, it doesn’t break the bank. Having a lifetime warranty on the product doesn’t hurt either. I haven’t had to use the warranty, but I also don’t have it banging around in a pocket or backpack much which can lead to failure for any lighter or cutter. The only real wear on the body is at the points where it rests on the table, but other than that, there aren’t any scratches present.

I use the cutter as a cigar stand quite a bit and as you may have noticed from the site, I take pretty much all of my pre-light review pictures with the cigar resting on this. I really can’t say enough good things about this device, it’s a very simple and effective design, works great and has never let me down in any fashion. I highly recommend that you give one a try to see how it works for you as you may come across your next full time cutter.

Cigar Accessory Review: Palio Cutter