Origin : Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
Format : Torpedo
Size : 155 x 25 mm (6.1 x 52)
Ring : 52
Wrapper : Ecuador
Filler : DR, Nicaragua
Binder : Nicaragua
Hand-Made
Price : ~$8 each
More info about purchasing Rocky Patel Vintage 1992 cigars...
Where do you even begin a review of this cigar? Here you have one of the more popular mid-range stogies from a celebrated manufacturer, Rocky Patel. If that’s not enough to garner respect, peruse the glowing reviews exuding from major cigar publications and online retailers. There’s no way this isn’t a superb cigar, right?
After all, you’ve been told it’s a great smoke. You can’t argue with the popularity of Rocky. What if you were to say this is just a decent smoke? Uh oh!! Faux pas!!
Well, that’s what the Patel Vintage 1992 is... a decent smoke.
Appearance : 
The wrapper (10 year old Ecuadorian Sumatra) is dark brown and oily enough to offer a nice sheen to contrast the stogie’s classic double band. Make no mistake, this is a superb example of how a nice cigar should look. The wrapper does contain visible veins, but I have yet to understand how that detracts from appearance. The only knock I could imagine as relates to appearance is that the tip is crooked. However, I have seen numerous premium cigars exhibiting such a characteristic and, personally, do not consider it a flaw.
Construction : 
The construction of this cigar is very nice. My Xikar cutter made quick work of the receptive head and the burn was excellent. The initial ash held tight for about 2” and exhibited decent color (not the whitest, but certainly a respectable burn).
Flavor :
Ah... the meat of the review. Well, let’s back up a minute. I consider it a treat to smell fine tobacco. A whiff off a great smelling foot is almost as enjoyable as the smoke itself. I was anxious to inhale the aroma of this aging smoke. Its cellophane wrapper was dingy yellow. What a treat... a ripe stogie, begging to be enjoyed!!
The mood was quelled rather quickly by the inability of this Patel to offer anything more than a faint smell of fine tobacco. I have had numerous cigars offer more aroma from the nose than this stick exhibited from the foot. Bad start.
The initial light was rather easy. A few quick puffs and we were off. The initial inch or so of the smoke was fairly boring. There were hints of spice, but this was drowned by an unimpressive woodsy, earthy taste. Somewhere in the initial third, I started to pick up more of the spice. There were also faint instances of a sweet taste, but far too isolated to be of real note.
The last half of the cigar saved the classification of “decent” smoke. The spice picked up, turning into a peppery taste. The inhale would leave a tingle of spice on the tip of my tongue, with a nice coffee taste to follow. Overall, the flavor of this torpedo was of earthy tones with what I would call nice spice.
Value :
At $8 or so a stick, this is probably not truly a mid-range cigar... maybe upper mid-range. Unfortunately for Rocky Patel, there are many, many smokes in the $3-5 range that would match this offering. The Punch Rare Corojo is of similar construction and wrapper and offers much more bang for the buck. One of my other low-priced faves, the Partagas Black Label, wipes the floor with this offering in the flavor department.
Overall Rating :
This is a decent, yet uninteresting smoke.
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