Holt’s describes the Vintage line in similar terms to the standard Punch line, with a medium-to-full body featuring a choice of an Ecuadorian natural or Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper, a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and a filler blend of Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan leaves. The kicker is that these cigars are aged for a full year in cedar cabinets before being released.

There are six sizes – all with a second band with the word “Vintage” – ranging from five to 7 1/4 inches and in thickness from 44-54 ring gauge. All are packed in solid-wood cabinets of 25 cigars each at retail prices ranging from $76.95 for the No. 20 (5 x 50 robusto) to $124.95 for the No. 40 (7 1/4 x 54 double corona).

It’s the first new Punch style in four years and the sixth on the market. The standard Punch line, the Punch Deluxe line and the Punch Gran Cru style were all available prior to the Cigar Boom of the 1990s and the Punch Rare Corojo blend was added in 2001. The all-Honduran-leaf Punch Gran Puro was the last new version, added in 2003. All Punch cigars are still made in Honduras.

Supremes seem unimpressed by Maine’s anti-tobacco delivery law:
The United States Supreme Court heard arguments on November 28 for and against a Maine law which requires common carriers such as DHL, Federal Express and UPS to check any package of tobacco products (including cigars) against a Maine list of unlicensed sellers, to deliver the package only to the person to whom it is addressed and recipients under age 27 must present identification to the driver.

The law was hauled into court by three “motor transportation associations” from neighboring states, noting that the U.S. Congress has specifically exempted carriers from being subject to a “patchwork” of differing state laws.

The Maine law was struck down at the District Court and Court of Appeals levels and several of the justices noted some difficulties with the arguments put forward by Maine deputy attorney general Paul Stern that the Congress did not intend to have such legislation stand in the way of state laws which protect public health. According to a report by Peter Yost of the Associated Press, Justice David Souter told Stern that “Congress wanted to end a certain category of regulation” in order to advance the efficiency of delivery companies nationwide.

Moreover, Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out that the practical effect of the Maine law will simply be to have Internet or mail-order tobacco products sellers use the U.S. Postal Service, which is untouched by the Maine law. Thanks to substantial raises in the taxes on cigarettes in Maine, consumers are looking for out-of-state vendors who can supply cigarettes less expensively through the Internet.

The impact of this decision will be substantial for cigar smokers and how they can receive cigars ordered from companies which use DHL, FedEx, UPS or similar services for delivery. “Similar laws in several other states definitely would be at risk if the Supreme Court does not rule in favor of the state of Maine,” said Dennis Eckhart, head of the tobacco litigation and enforcement section of the California attorney general’s office. A filing by state attorneys general supporting Maine’s case stated that 40 states have some kind of statute in place that restricts or prohibits delivery of Internet-ordered cigarettes.

The carriers believe, however, that if the Maine law is upheld, “any number of states will impose different standards on any number of different products that they deem unhealthy or unsafe.” That would lead to a slowdown of the entire package-delivery network in the U.S.

The Court of Appeal decision said that “Worthy motives are not enough” to allow the Maine law to be upheld, noting that any change in the existing law had to come from the Congress.
~ Rich Perelman

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