It wasn't that long ago that the Punch Double Corona, as one of the hardest Cuban cigars to find on the market, was worth its weight in gold. That all changed in the last five or six years as consumer tastes evolved to shorter and fatter cigars. What remained the same is the 7 5/8-inch x 49-ring cigar's astonishingly good taste, which offers cocoa and coffee bean flavors that are complex with toasty, leathery undertones. It's a medium-bodied smoke, perhaps less powerful than it was a decade ago, but the tempered strength is more than made up for in finesse and refinement.

Most of the Punch Double Coronas are made by top-ranked rollers in the new La Corona factory on the outskirts of Havana. Recent visits to key factories suggest that the cigars are now produced in very limited quantities due to waning demand.