Many moons ago I tried out the Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary Robusto. I enjoyed it enough that I figured it deserved another visitation. But first, the gritty details. The 15th Anniversary features an Ecuadorian grown Habano wrapper, a Nicaraguan (Jalapa) grown binder and a Nicaraguan filler. This cigar is made in Rocky’s boutique factory in Nicaragua. Rumor has it that one of the filler leaves is grown on a top secret farm in Nicaragua that only grows that particular tobacco. This cigar is box pressed (Hey, that’d be a great name for a blog!), thus it is square-ish as opposed to round. The cigar itself was firm yet spongy, had a nice aroma, and the wrapper was dark brown, almost charcoal, with two simple silver bands. It was not terribly difficult to punch; in the past when I used other cutters, box pressed cigars always fell apart on me. The punch is now my go-to for everything but torpedoes. But I digress.
I lit up at about 5pm. I was immediately struck with a mouthful of flavors that made my mouth water. Definitely a smooth smoke, with an easy draw. I will mention here again that I like to drink water with my cigars, as I feel I can discern flavors better. As advice for all, don’t use spring water, it has a tendency to have its own flavor that masks what you’re smoking. At least that’s what happened to me. After the first few puffs, all I could taste was that crappy spring water from Starbucks. So I went without for the rest of the outing.
25 minutes in, I started noticing a soft leathery flavor, slightly spicy, maybe peppery. I taste peppery in almost everything it seems. I think I don’t know what I’m tasting really, except that it’s spicy and makes the roof of my mouth tingle a little. Maybe spicy is a better choice.
An hour in, and I’m really getting hit with the flavor bombs. Nutty flavors that leave my tongue feeling like I ate almonds. Slight cocoa undertones that turn mocha-coffee the closer the cherry gets to the ring and the smoke warms up.
The fire tried to die towards the 65-70 minute mark. I had to puff like crazy to keep it lit, and finally just used the lighter to keep it alive. It never did run, which is awesome. At the end the flavors were very nice, leathery, earthy, cocoa-y, smooth from start to finish… all in all a great smoke that I would obviously buy again and again.
So to review:
Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary
Size: Robusto
Cost: $10
Length of smoke: 90 minutes
Flavor: leathery, earthy, cocoa-y
TGT Rating: 8/10
Note: TGT ratings are completely subjective, as everybody has their own taste preferences. Smoke with caution, gusto, and an open mind.
