Lotus Triad Punch Cutter Review

Manufacturer: Lotus
Price: $19.99
Time in Use: 2-Years

Pros:
Solid metal with nice weight & size
Stylish
Dual spring loaded sharp self-cleaning punches

Cons:
Single guillotine cutter crushes rather than cuts cigars
Guillotine opens by itself in your pocket
Small cutter limits use to about 58 Rg

This was one of the first accessories that I bought when I got back into the hobby. I have a love/hate relationship with this cutter in that I love the punches and hate the cutter. The spring loaded punches are super sharp making piercing any cigar cap a breeze. The smaller of the two punches is great for opening lanceros and other small ring gage sticks while the larger punch can handle even a 7x70.

The cutter is flimsy and does more crushing than cutting. The fact that it opens by itself when bouncing around in my pocket is incredibly annoying if not a little dangerous. For now it looks like I’m not leaving home without my Xikar Xi1 and this punch/cutter.

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...psxz8veaye.jpg

This could be a great tool if they lopped off the cutter and just made this a shotgun shell sized dual spring loaded punch, heck if anyone knows a tool a& dye maker I’ll fund the development of that piece. I see it looking something like this.

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...ps87r6gtks.jpg