The Big Cut

[junkman_56]

Below are a couple of articles from the European Cigar Cult Journal (http://www.cigar-cult.com/cig/) that review cutters and punches.
The articles are great head-to-head comparisons of these devices. The articles are a little old, but the information is still valid.
For those of you that don’t know this magazine, it is great. European Cigar Cult Journal is a bi-lingual magazine, printed in both English and German. It is more focused on cigars than Cigar Aficionado and concentrates more on Cuba and Cuban cigars.

The Big Cut part 1
The Big Cut part 2

I’m a huge fan of punches, but most punches are a small diameter.
There are a couple of punches in the article that have a diameter of 12.5 and 13 mm (32 ring gauge).
Some of these punches are only available in Europe, but the internet is a wonderful thing.
They all can be found on-line.

I want to give a special thanks to Reinhold C. Widmayer (European Cigar Cult Journal | Editor-in-Chief) for allowing me to post these articles.

edited to update link for ECCJ

 

[stevehawk]

Good info, Carl! As we discussed at our mini-herf in VA last month, I prefer to use a punch, but would like it to be a larger ring guage. It looks like Europe is ahead of the game in that respect.

Anyone know where to get a good, larger guage punch in the U.S.? The only ones I've seen appear to be the same size.

 

[Secret Santa]

Good info, Carl! As we discussed at our mini-herf in VA last month, I prefer to use a punch, but would like it to be a larger ring guage. It looks like Europe is ahead of the game in that respect.

Anyone know where to get a good, larger guage punch in the U.S.? The only ones I've seen appear to be the same size.

[snapback]261900[/snapback]​

So you like big punches do you... :whistling:

 

[stevehawk]

Good info, Carl!  As we discussed at our mini-herf in VA last month, I prefer to use a punch, but would like it to be a larger ring guage.  It looks like Europe is ahead of the game in that respect.

Anyone know where to get a good, larger guage punch in the U.S.?  The only ones I've seen appear to be the same size.

[snapback]261900[/snapback]​

So you like big punches do you... :whistling:

[snapback]262546[/snapback]​

LOL... only for cigars. I try to avoid them when they're aimed at my head. :laugh:

 

[The Master]

When it comes to the quality of the cut, in my opinion nothing compares to the Swiss Army Knife. I have cut over 10,000 cigars with one I was given back in 1998 and it still cuts perfectly even though I have never had it sharpened.

The Zino is also a great cutter for when you don't want something heavy in your pocket. I have never been a fan of Xikar because they break so often. Yes their customer service is good, but I don't want to waste my time dealing with shipping things back and forth. I have never had to send in any of my SAK's.

 

[lucasbuck]

I too was surprised to see the SAK ranked so low. It's the next best thing to the Palio in my experience.

 

[N2Advnture]

I too was surprised to see the SAK ranked so low. It's the next best thing to the Palio in my experience.

[snapback]263145[/snapback]​

I'm with you Craig

1) Palio
2) SAK
3) Original Xikar (not the new ones)
4) Punch

~Mark
Cigarmony

 

[Mrepp]

hmm interesting, I was given a redwood Xikar as a gift, haven't had any problems with it at all but its only got 400 gars under its belt. Would be nice to find something to cut the larger rings though.

 

[rangerdoug]

Xikar makes a folding siccor cut that I realy like to use. Cuts very nice and folds up to almost nothing. Better than the other make and Zino to me is one of the best Double guilitine cuts around and I still have mine from 1997.

 

[stevehawk]

I gotta give a shout out to Carl (junkman_56) for the awesome large ring gauge punch he sent my way. Thanks a bunch, bro! It works like a charm and I love it! :thumbs: