Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Punch Golden Era Lancero is light brown with some darker marbling and there are some decently raised veins present. The seams are smooth and the caps are decently applied. There are two bands, with the primary being gold and dark blue and carrying the brand and line names. The secondary band is gold and has a tobacco leaf on it. The aroma from the wrapper is a damp, musty cedar and earth while the foot brings cedar and light earth. The pre-light draw brings lightly musty cedar and dusty earth, along with a mild spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The Punch Golden Era Lancero is a nice looking cigar. The bands pop against the cigar. The wrapper has this dark Natural and Colorado coloring, and it has medium sized veins scattered throughout. There is a nice firmness to the cigar, and it has aromas of spices, tobacco, earth and stone fruit. Leather like texture.
John: The Punch Golden Era Lancero came in cellophane and did not have a UPC sticker. I weighed the cigar at 8.0 grams and measured the humidity to 61.4% with the HumidiMeter Pro. What initially looked like a single band is a primary Golden Era band with a gold leaf secondary band tucked in under it. Aromas from the wrapper included sweet, mild raisin, tobacco and faint earth. From the foot, all I could really detect was hay.

Punch Golden Era Lancero

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with heavily toasted cedar, bold black pepper and light earth. At a half inch in, the earth picks up a bit. At three quarters of an inch in, a light creaminess joins in. The retrohale is toasted cedar, zingy black pepper, earth and some light creaminess. At an inch and a quarter, the toast level lightens up a little. At an inch and a half in, the earth increases a bit more as the pepper mellows slightly. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is just ahead of the black pepper, with earth just behind it and some creaminess in the back half of the profile. The strength was slightly above medium.
Seth: The first third begins with sharp spice notes that are paired with tobacco, rich earth and currant qualities. Fruitiness with some sharp pepper and mineral. Medium in strength and body.
John: The first third gets going with creamy spices at medium strength, earth to follow and a mossy earth to finish. A mild bread is detectable through the retrohale. The mossy earth teams up with tannic wood on the post draw as the first third settles in. As the cigar progresses, the spices recede to light-plus.

Punch Golden Era Lancero

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the black pepper mellows a fair amount and becomes a bit dull. At a half inch in, the black pepper is no longer dull. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth with dull black pepper. At an inch and a half in, the earth is now right behind the toasted cedar. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is up front, with earth right behind. The black pepper is in the middle of the profile with the creaminess a bit behind. The strength dropped down to medium.
Seth: The second third is fairly in line with the first. Sharp spice and mineral notes that are paired with tobacco and rich earth. Bits of stone fruit/currants present as well. Medium-full in strength and body. Still smoking cool and well.
John: Medium strength spices kick off the second third with earth following and earth and tannic wood combining on the finish. The spices recede to light-plus strength as the second third progresses, with earth remaining in the center of the profile at medium strength.

Punch Golden Era Lancero

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the earth becomes even with the toasted cedar. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth with some black pepper and light creaminess. At an inch and a quarter, the creaminess picks up a bit. At an inch and a half in, the pepper increases a bit and some wood bitterness joins in. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with the pepper not too far behind and the creaminess and wood bitterness are in the middle of the profile. The strength bumped back up to slightly above medium.
Seth: The final third is in line with the first and second. Consistent, but solid. Sharp spices, some mineral qualities, earth, tobacco and fruit notes. Medium-full in strength and body. Finishes well for a lancero. Never got bored with flavors or any quality.
John: Creamy earth is the initial flavor component here with a dry, tannic wood to finish. The profile remains stable until the halfway point, where earth is driving the post draw.

Punch Golden Era Lancero

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy at times, but never needed any intervention. The ash held on in one inch increments.
Seth: Amazing burn from start to finish.
John: The burn was straight through the review process with the ash holding on just over one inches before I would tap it off.

Punch Golden Era Lancero

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: Perfect draw.
John: The draw was at most one notch towards the resistant spectrum which puts it in the ideal range between open and resistant.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with heavily toasted cedar, bold black pepper and light earth. Some creaminess joined in a bit later. The second third saw the pepper mellow a fair amount and become dull and then later lost the dullness. The final third saw the earth become even with the toasted cedar and some wood bitterness joined in. The Punch Golden Era Lancero had a nice start with a full and vibrant delivery of flavors. It dropped a level in the second third as the pepper and earth switched places and remained at that level the rest of the way. This vitola had a bit of a better showing than the Robusto, but past the first third was pretty much inline with it. Not a cigar I’d see myself coming back to as JRE wasn’t able to create the same magic with this Lancero version that they’ve been able to do with their other offerings.
Seth: I enjoyed the Punch Golden Era Lancero. I would definitely smoke it again, buy some as well. I would love to see how they smoke with age. They have this quality that I believe they will age well. I don’t think it will take them to this epic level, but they will improve. I appear to be a fan of the Punch Golden Era in some ways, and I am interested in smoking the other vitolas now.
John: The Punch Golden Era Lancero delivered pleasant flavors but I never found the flavor combinations to be particularly complicated or dynamic. It was consistent from start to finish. Both the draw and the burn were perfect. The price point on the cigar is attractive, especially for a Lancero format. Setting the price point aside, the overall flavor delivery doesn’t stand out in the market for me to want to return to this in the future. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 55 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.00

Cost/Point

$1.83

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$1.91

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$1.91

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Punch Golden Era Lancero