I was looking – has this refrain gotten old yet? – for another small smoke today. As my regular tobacconist is closed on Mondays, I took the slightly longer walk downtown to another store which, in addition to being open today, also has some different cigars on offer.
My regular shop doesn’t carry many Rocky Patels, so I thought today would provide a good opportunity to try a brand which I haven’t actually smoked before. A classic-looking burgundy-and-gold tin caught my eye as soon as I began to peruse the small cigar offerings. I was particularly intrigued by the “Aged 12 Years” slogan emblazoned on this five-pack of Rocky Patel Juniors. And at just $15, I was sold. I paid and hurried home, pulled a shot of espresso and sat down to fire up one of my new acquisitions.
Upon opening the tin, I was greeted with five cellophane-wrapped beauties with rosy maduro wrappers, each wearing a double band bearing the Rocky Patel name and “Vintage 1990.” Being mindful of the draw problems I have encountered with cigars of this size in the past (these are exactly the same format as the C.A.O. Brazilia Cariocas and Mx2 Daggers), I pulled out one of the softer-feeling cigars in the box and set the others in the humi to hopefully open up a bit. As it turned out, I need not have worried about the construction. Upon clipping the head of this stogie, I was greeted with what was almost too easy a draw. The pre-light aroma was fruity and pungent.
I toasted the foot, finding the cigar took to the flame a bit unevenly. This stogie requires some encouragement to get going. The first couple of puffs of smoke were voluminous and very smooth – almost devoid of any single recognizable flavor. I take that as a sign that they’ve really used well-aged tobacco. As the cigar started to heat up, I got wispy notes of fruit, earth and hay. The aroma was herbal and fruity. There was also some kind of spice (not picante – think baking spices: cinnamon, allspice, clove?) which was reminiscent of the C.A.O. Mx2. Well into the first third, I started to pick up some floral notes, as well.
Unfortunately, my enjoyment of this cigar was cut short: bad burn problems meant I had to fuss too much with the lighter and puff too hard and I ended up calling it quits early. I think I’m having bad luck lately with the burn on my stogies. I swear I’m lighting them well…but in any case I’m going to be even more careful to take my time with the next one of these. As I’m sure you can tell from this first look, there are some great qualities in this cigar. I’m hoping that maybe one of the firmer examples from this tin will burn more evenly (I tested the draw on one of them and found it to be surprisingly good). In the meantime, I will sum up my first experience with the Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 Junior by saying it’s a good cigar. I just don’t yet know how good.
2 Comments
February 5, 2008 at 7:28 pm
[...] In the Humi Cigar Review: Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 Juniors – Initial Notes [...]
July 8, 2008 at 5:13 am
[...] recently had another one of these guys, hoping for better than last time. Unfortunately, I ran into even worse burn problems than with the first one, obliterating any [...]