1960's Punch Air France (PQRW)

[CaptainQuintero]

  Something a bit different this week, I picked up these 5/6 years ago. These were gifts given out on Air France Concord and came in a plastic case containing 5 cellophaned 5 1/2 X 42 cigars. I narrowed them down to possibly being Palmas Reales. I haven't the case to hand but managed to find a picture online.

  The cigar is in very good condition, the cello is well yellowed. I'm certainly in the camp that believes that all Cubans should go back to being put in cellophane; it seems to keep them lovely and fresh. The band is showing it's age, plenty of oil has soaked through. The flat and smudged embossing shows how much use the die must have had, almost worn out, and how post-revolution things like the quality of die weren't a priority.

  Good draw, construction looks and feels good too.

  Straight off and the smoke is super thick; velvety and soft. A hint of wood but mostly a core of heavy stewed plum. Not overly sweet but there is a touch in there. A nice element is a definite ripe blackcurrant note, just like Ribena if you have that where you are. Something worth noting is the sheer amount of smoke being produced, absolute clouds of the stuff, must have been fun on an aeroplane! The aroma is lovely; rich, sweet and heavy but I'm not sure how I'd feel about being locked in a cabin with it.

  Second third and the plum recedes into the background and it's replaced by something akin to heavy damp forest floor; dank wood, mulching wet leaves and a slight undertone of overripe berries. There's a slight sparkle too, almost champagne-like.

  Final third and the dark berry notes have returned in a tawny port package. The cigar isn't particularly getting darker or more broody, just lots of evolution. Still that champagne fizz and coming in is a distinct sickly sweet honey. I've never experienced honey this intense before, occasionally hints of it in La Gloria Cubana but never expected it in Punch and not at this intensity. 

  The last third could be summed up as dank wood, champagne fizz and that overwhelming honey. Great stuff.

94/100 

[aphexafx]

Wow, crazy!  That's a new one.  Would an airline dare hand out tobacco (*gasp*) today?  Absolutely not.  I'm happy it was still such a great smoke.  Great review and thanks for sharing this one with us.  

P.S.> Those cases look so 70s.  Clearly they were ahead of their time!

[THEMISCHMAN]

Very cool. Sounds like a great cigar.

[MD Puffer]

great review and interesting history!

[rcarlson]

Very cool.  

Any more on the history of these?  The Concorde was tested in passenger-free flight in 1969, but didn't come into regular passenger air travel until the mid 70's (according to Wikipedia).  Were these handed out to developers/testers or celebratory launch for passengers?  I'm fascinated by this because tobacco and aircraft is such a relic.  I can barely imagine people smoking cigars on an aircraft without dying from acrid asphyxiation.    

[99call]

1 hour ago, aphexafx said:

Would an airline dare hand out tobacco (*gasp*) today? 

I've seen a Concorde menu somewhere, where you could buy cabs of cuban Davidoff on board......a better time!

[99call]

Lovely review, and what sounded like a wonderful cigar

[Bram Smoker]

Great review! I was lucky enough to try one of these about ten years ago and the memory still sticks with me. It was a nicotine bomb even with that many years on it. Your comment one the smoke is dead-on. Super thick and delicious. All parties smoking with me that night had copious amounts of tar produced as further evidence of the power in these gems. Thank you for smoking and sharing. 

[TheMonk]

What an interesting cigar! Thanks for sharing.

[CaptainQuintero]

2 hours ago, rcarlson said:

Very cool.  

Any more on the history of these?  The Concorde was tested in passenger-free flight in 1969, but didn't come into regular passenger air travel until the mid 70's (according to Wikipedia).  Were these handed out to developers/testers or celebratory launch for passengers?  I'm fascinated by this because tobacco and aircraft is such a relic.  I can barely imagine people smoking cigars on an aircraft without dying from acrid asphyxiation.    

 From what I gathered they were late 60's so that ties in with what you're saying. I don't think they were particularly rare, these were around £50 for the 5 pack when I got them, which is less then Monte#3 in the UK. In fact that's straying solidly into bargain territory with today's prices.

  I know batches of 5/10 of the packs floated around in auctions a few years back for similar sorts of prices. 

  I think all many airlines had similar cigars for sale. I think I remember seeing British Airways having an Upmann version that had the same packaging but in blue.

[Hotboxx]

It's over. Forget the "Drawing" and give this man his cigars. Great job 

[PigFish]

Thanks for sharing mate. Great review!!! -R

[cigaraholic]

Thanks for the memories!

[David88]

Thanks for this review. I had never heard of these so it was certainly interesting. It would have been a great way to fly!

[Stump89]

Very cool, thanks for posting this!

[Elvis]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

[Corylax18]

Very Cool. Thanks for sharing. I can't imagine spending 5 or more hours in a smoky airplane cabin!

[CaptainQuintero]

14 hours ago, Corylax18 said:

Very Cool. Thanks for sharing. I can't imagine spending 5 or more hours in a smoky airplane cabin!

  I'd like to see the upholstery after a few weeks of the plane transporting cigar/cigarette smoking passengers. The tar stains must have been immense

[ErikB72]

I don’t much like flying , but I wouldn’t be so afraid if I could smoke a cigar

[Brian24]

That’s a fancy stick. Cool review.

[Edward7]

Bump because this is so cool and whenever I’m on a plane I think of these cigars from seeing this post. Must admit, it would be annoying sitting in a plane full of cigar smoke. Now if there was a highly ventilated section, I’d be all over that! 

[Nino]

On 4/7/2019 at 9:06 PM, CaptainQuintero said:

 

  I think all many airlines had similar cigars for sale. I think I remember seeing British Airways having an Upmann version that had the same packaging but in blue.

Great review !!

At Lufthansa we had a line of "Senator" cigars, specially branded for LH that were passed around after lunch/dinner to First Class passengers until early 80's if I remember correctly.

Back in the 70's it was absolutely normal to smoke during the flight and what better experience than a cigar in First Class.

And absolutely normal to smoke cigars in the cockpit - watch at 03:41 as Cpt Charly Dorfmeister puffs away during an interview in 1992 about the new A-340 :
 

 

[westg]

On 4/8/2019 at 11:38 AM, Corylax18 said:

Very Cool. Thanks for sharing. I can't imagine spending 5 or more hours in a smoky airplane cabin!

We spent 3 on that little bus in Cuba ...you had the front seat. The guy with a few crossed wires at the back pumped away .?

Great post ??

[Wookie]

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing!

[BrightonCorgi]

Concorde use to fly over my house on approach to Dulles Airport.  Everyone would stop what they are doing to watch it.  On a 2nd grade field trip we got to walk up down the aisle of the plane at the airport.

Has anyone ever smoked a cigar on an airplane?  Last time I saw any smoking on a plane was about 20 years ago on a domestic Air India flight.