Rocky Patel Winter Series 2009

Overall Score

1 review for Rocky Patel Winter Series 2009

  1. Austin

    Rocky Patel Winter Series 2009

    Rocky PatelOrigin : Honduras
    Format : Robusto
    Size : 5 x 50
    Wrapper : Pennsylvania Maduro
    Binder : Ecuadorian
    Filler : Nicaraguan
    Strength : Full Bodied
    Hand-Made
    Price : ~$6-7 each

    This is a guest cigar review by Austin Fruechting, a cigar aficionado and entrepreneur. Feel free to follow him on Twitter!

    My name is Austin Fruechting, and I have been a cigar enthusiast for the past few years. I began smoking a pipe seven years ago and dabbled in cigars. After a couple years, cigars became my dominant preference. I believe there is nothing better than to socialize around, or relax with, a cigar, especially if paired with a good scotch or wine. Some of my favorite cigars include most of the Tatuaje line, Padron 64’s & 26’s, and Oliva V’s & Cains. I am an entrepreneur and my passion for business and for cigars has lead to the opening of my own cigar and wine bar, The 7th Street Reserve, which is scheduled to be open in the summer of 2010.

    This is cigar is part of Rocky Patel’s limited release series and was gifted to me by a great BOTL.

    Construction

    This is an attractive cigar with very well designed bands that compliment the dark Pennsylvania maduro wrapper quite nicely. It is fairly toothy and has just a couple veins. Although it doesn’t have any soft spots, it does seem to get progressively tighter from the foot to the head.

    Pre-light

    The wrapper and foot give off a very pleasant sweet tobacco scent with hints of cocoa. The cold draw is fairly tight, but not too tight as to raise any concerns for the smoke. The cold draw gives a very tantalizing sweet spiciness that stays on the tongue and lips as well as bits of leather and wood

    The Smoke

    It starts off very strong, definitely stronger and fuller bodied than Rocky Patel’s average cigars. The taste is a very complex spice, but not harsh. The best way I can describe the complexity is in a comparison to peppernuts. There are just so many different spice flavors coming across that you just can’t pick out one or two. The smoke carries some cocoa aromas. About one half inch in the cigar begins to mellow out some and some woody notes come in briefly and then fades out. Shortly after that the cocoa that has been evident in the scent emerges in the taste. The burn line in the first half is wavy, but not too bad. It burns with a blue smoke and produces a fair amount of light grey smoke. The ash is just plain ugly, but holds well.

    Halfway through the cigar the woody notes come back in with hints of leather. This combines to create the dominant flavor of coffee at this point. The cigar sticks with these flavors for a while, but transitions once more before the finish. The cigar finishes with a harsher spiciness, black pepper, and a hint of chocolate. The taste makes me think of burnt coffee that’s been sitting on the warmer for days. The burn line in the second half was not good. It required a couple touchups. Once it varied more than a half inch without showing any signs of correcting itself before I touched it up.

    Final Thoughts

    I very much enjoyed this cigar and it was definitely one of my favorites from Rocky Patel. The total smoke time on this cigar was 2 hours and 10 minutes. It is a very full bodied cigar with a decent amount of complexity. Its draw was a little too stiff, but I don’t want to knock the cigar for this because the first one I had did not have this issue. So as I have only had two, I don’t know if this one was an anomaly or if others have that issue as well. The finish was disappointing. This cigar was on pace to be a great cigar, but the burn issues and the burnt coffee taste at the end diminished the overall experience quite a bit.

    If I found them in a store, I would definitely pick a few, especially since they’re only $6-7 and of limited quantities, but wouldn’t do a box.

    Helpful?
    0 0
    • Zen Cigar

      This is the third of Rocky’s seasonal selections and has proved to be his most successful.This ultra dark wrapper is vveiny and slightly oily. After I clip it it draws easily and it burns evenly with a nice amount of smoke.

      This has a little bite to it. There is some acidity and woodiness, that to me gives the indication it’s not quite ready to smoke.

      There is some wood I pick up halfway through with a rich tobacco core. There are also noted of burnt coffee grouns that show up now and again.

      So far I would say this is not too complex as it doesn’t really change as I smoke it. Overall it is decent, with ok flavors that are present all the way through. Towards the end it loses its balance and the flavors get muddled up.

    • Cigar Palace

      Very classy writing
      I didn’t have a very good experience with RPs.
      I wish you very good luck with your plans.

    • Gparry

      I am a BIG fan of most of the Rocky Patel cigars and this one is one of my favorites…Do your self a favor if you haven’t tried one yet ….do so as soon as possible!

    • Ted

      Austin –
      Great review and parallels some of my observations…..you just stated it much better than I could have. Some of the burn issues could have been my fault as I noticed some wavering humidity in the humidor.
      As for the last 1/3….this could be one of those cigars that are only best to smoke to the 2/3rds point. I don’t know why that is, but some just are. Great review!
      Ted

    • Ed

      Austin –

      Great review! I have not tried the Winter line, but I have smoked the Autumn cigar. The Autumn has great flavors, but it can be inconsistent as far as construction.

      Good luck to you with your store; it is great to hear folks pursuing their interests and dreams. Hopefully some day, I will do the same.

      -Ed

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Cigar Region Honduras
Filler Nicaragua
Wrapper Pennsylvania Maduro
Binder Ecuador
Length 5
Ring Gauge 50
Vitola Robusto
Construction Hand Made