Punch Mr. Punch’s Weiners | halfwheel

Cigar companies have a long tradition of releasing creations based around specific holidays: Tatuaje’s Monster Series for Halloween, Viaje’s Stuffed Turkey for Thanksgiving, and HVC’s Black Friday for that made-up shopping holiday. As far as I know, there has not been a branded release for Mother’s Day, but two years ago, General Cigar Co. debuted the first release in what has since become a popular series under the company’s Punch brand with packaging based around various traditional aspects pertaining to Father’s Day. 

In 2023, the company started the series with Dad Bod, a cigar that came packaged five cigars to a canister about the size of a 500ml/16.9-ounce can. While the cans had the appearance of a pop-top beverage lid, they were not opened like a can of beer; instead, the top piece was designed to be removed as a whole. Sticking with the beer theme, the cans were packaged in four-packs, meaning a box purchase included 20 cigars.

One year later, General released Dad’s Home Movies, a 6 x 50 box-pressed toro packaged in 10-count boxes that was designed to look like a two-cassette VHS release, complete with sleeve. The top of the box even included stickers of windows on each end that showed photographs of VHS magnetic tape on spools.

Earlier this year, the company announced it would be releasing the Punch Mr. Punch’s Weiners, a 6 x 50 toro sold in 10-count packaging designed to look like a pack of hot dogs. In keeping with the hot dog theme, each cigar is double-capped, and the label of the package of cigars is very reminiscent of a label that could be found on a package of hot dogs.

In an interesting twist, General says the cigar can be smoked from either end, because each cigar features two different filler blends: one half of the cigar contains Dominican andullo tobacco that the company says was aged for two years in the leaves from a royal palm tree. The rest of the blend includes an Ecuadorian Sumatra-seed wrapper over an American broadleaf binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Andullo tobaccos are wrapped tightly in large pods known as yaguas, almost like 15-foot-long burritos, and then wrapped in rope to help compress the tobacco even further. The end result is something that is more or less a large log of tobacco where slices are cut off, as seen in the video, and are more commonly chewed or smoked via pipes. Andullo is more of a process than a seed varietal, though it’s something that is typically only found in the Dominican Republic.

Each cigar has an MSRP of $6.99 and they are sold in packs of 10. The cigars were rolled at the STG Danlí factory in Honduras.

“Mr. Punch’s Wieners may have a funny name. And a funny shape,” said Scott Abney, brand manager for Punch, in a press release. “But this blend is no joke. Loaded with rich tobaccos and rounded at both ends to offer two unique smoking experiences, Mr. Punch’s Wieners is the perfect gift for Father’s Day and a cigar you’ll want to come back to all summer long.”

• Cigar Reviewed: Punch Mr. Punch’s Weiners
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: STG Danlí
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Sumatra-seed)
• Binder: U.S.A. (Broadleaf)
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Andullo), Honduras & Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $6.99 (Bundle of 10, $69.90)
• Release Date: April 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: Undisclosed
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Even outside of the memorable packaging—more on that below—the Punch Mr. Punch’s Weiners is fairly unique from a visual standpoint: both ends are capped, and the “Smoke From EITHER END” printed on the bands is hard to miss. The wrappers are a mottled milk chocolate brown color covered in oil, and each has numerous veins running along their lengths. All three cigars are nicely spongy when squeezed, and each has a cap made up of lighter colored tobacco on one end. Strong cocoa nibs dominate the aromas coming from all three wrappers, followed by earth, sweet barnyard, milk chocolate, leather, hay and light anise. Due to the capped ends, the scents from the feet are virtually identical to what I found on the wrappers, although each seemed to have a bit more pepper to them. The cold draws include a strong, gritty earth flavor followed by more cocoa nibs, leather tack, coffee beans, oak, tree bark and light confection’s sugar sweetness.

The cigars start off with a blast of caramel sauce sweetness combined with light black pepper and zesty spice on my tongue, but the profile quickly shifts to include gritty earth and creamy oak as the top flavors. Additional notes of creamy leather, hay, varnish, coffee beans, dark chocolate and barnyard show up at various points, while a light brown sugar sweetness dominates the retrohale, since there is virtually no pepper to be had at all thus far. My first and third cigars feature a small amount of salinity on my lips, but it is not very strong at the moment. Flavor ends the first third at medium-full, while the body and strength both land at a solid medium. When it comes to construction, my second cigar needs a couple of minor burn corrections to stay on track, but the other two cigars are excellent in that regard, and there are nothing but great draws and plenty of thick smoke for all three cigars.

While initially the flavors do not change from oak and earth, by the halfway point, there is a noticeable change as the main flavors morph into notes of coffee beans and sourdough bread. Secondary flavors of roasted peanuts, earth, salted potato chips, oak, leather and powdery cocoa nibs flit in and out, and there is a substantial increase in the amount of spice present on my tongue. Two of the three cigars also feature a new mint leaf note on the finish, with the second cigar being the strongest of the two. The retrohale has also changed dramatically and now includes more black pepper and a new barbecue sauce sweetness. by the end of the second third, By the end of the second third, flavor easily hits the full mark, but the body remains at a solid medium, and the strength hits a point just over the medium mark. My first and second cigars each need a quick touch-up with my lighter to stay on track—both before the halfway point—but other than that, the construction is great.

In the final third, sourdough bread and rich coffee beans continue to dominate the profiles of all three cigars, followed by dank earth, creamy oak, dark chocolate, generic nuttiness, charred meat and light nutmeg. The mint leaf note remains present on two of the cigars, while the last cigar features a very light citrus note. The amount of spice on my tongue has not changed from what I found at the end of the second third, and it is consistent between the three cigars. There is almost no change when it comes to the retrohale—which is a very good thing—as the combination of black pepper and barbecue sweetness continues to play a large role in the overall profile. Flavor ends the cigars at full, the body remains at a solid medium, and the strength ticks up enough to reach medium-plus. Other than a minor burn correction for my last cigar, all aspects of the construction are problem-free until I am finished with each cigar.

Final Notes

• Although Andullo tobacco is not exactly a common addition to cigar blends, there have been a number of releases that have included it, including the Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth, VegaFina Fortaleza 2 Andullo, La Aurora ADN Dominicano, CAO Arcana Mortal Coil and Fratello’s The Pelican.
• Punch is not the first company to sell a cigar that is capped on both ends. The original Viaje Zombie cigar was capped on both ends, though not made to be smoked from either end. Cigars International tried patenting a concept where the cigar was capped on either end, but made to be cut in the middle and smoked from either, somewhat similar to a Toscano. In addition, Tabac Trading Co. has marketed a similar experience with its Muestra de Tabac cigar, which is a perfecto with two open feet. Fratello also released the ViceVersa, which has a different flavor profile depending on which end you cut and smoke from.
• In order to keep the reviews consistent, I smoked all three cigars starting from the same end.
• Having said the above, I did try the cold draw on both ends and found virtually no significant difference in the flavors between them.

• Interestingly, while both ends are capped, the top piece of the caps on one end was a noticeably lighter shade for all three cigars that I smoked for this review.
• As with previous releases in this series, the packaging for these cigars is top-notch. It actually does look like a package of hot dogs that you would find at a local supermarket.
• Speaking of the packaging, both of the previous releases have placed in halfwheel’s Packaging Awards: the Dad Bod took fifth place in 2003, while Dad’s Home Movies took eighth place in last year’s awards. I expect this packaging to at least be in the running for this year’s awards as well.
• While the reviews on halfwheel do not take prices into account, but I would be remiss if I did not mention the $6.99 price point for these cigars—and the price point for all of the cigars in this series so far—are a major selling point.
• General Cigar Co. advertises on halfwheel.
•  The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• These cigars are listed as being 6 x 50 vitolas. Above are the measurements we took when we measured them. However, the ring gauges are not listed because the size of the band covers the area that is normally measured. Charlie—who measures the cigars—tried measuring outside the band, and the cigars had a lot of variance. One cigar was 47 at the bottom and 51 at the top.
• The final smoking time averaged out to two hours and 11 minutes for all three cigars.
• If you would like to purchase any of the Punch Mr. Punch’s Weiners cigars, site sponsors Cigars Direct and Famous Smoke Shop sell them on their respective websites.

Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.