Rocky Patel Winter Collection Robusto

[Lumpold]

Well, it's dog walking time again. This stick has been catching my eye since I received it a short while ago from Cliff. It's got a wrapper that is enticingly dark and somewhat oily. There are a few veins running along it, but it's a gorgeous looking wrapper.


Clipped and toasted. The pre-draw in this is so easy it's untrue, and has a nice bitter chocolate flavour to it.

Lit and ready to go, we set off. First thing I notice is that it's still really easy to draw on this smoke, like too easy. Checking the foot, I can see why, while, upon initial pre-light inspection, it looked fine, after lighting, it would seem there has been a slight mishap during the rolling process, and it looks like I've pulled a stem out, even though I haven't... you can see the gap in ash in the next photo. The flavours are good, with a huge amount of dark chocolate and a nice mild peppery-ness, with a nice amount of smoke.



Unfortunately, it seems like the stem that was pulled out was a friggin' tree, and the smoke is suffering from quite an uneven burn. I don't think the fact that it's 45* outside it helping this. You can see the beginnings of the burn problems in following photo.



The flavours begin to mellow a little, and when I say mellow, I mean more like relax. Unfortunately, the burn just won't ease up on this stick, and it gets even more erratic, even with numerous touch ups. This is a shame, as I think I would have enjoyed this stick much more if it wasn't for this. The flavours I'm getting are great - nothing is over-powering, but the total effect is still strong - like a well made curry.



Damn you all to hell, I haven't got another cigar with me, so I'm gonna persevere with this one, I like the flavours, any how. I don't know if it's the uneven burn causing the flavours to hit me in the manner they do, but the smoke is flip-flopping between the chocolate and a spicy-woody flavour, with a continual creamy-nut on the exhale and at the back of my throat, it reminds me of macadamia nuts, but doesn't really taste like them.



Thank the lord for perseverance, in the last couple of inches, the burn sorts itself out somewhat, although there is definitely one side of this cigar that thinks it's in a race with the opposite side. The spice dies out, leaving the chocolate, wood and nuts to give a nice, chilled out, pretty damn good ending to this cigar.

Unfortunately for me, these were a limited release, although from what I can find these were slightly reblended for a line known as the Patel Brothers, so I may try to find some of them to see if this blend is good without the burn issues.

[dannysguitar]

Nice review. I liked the Winter Collection a lot more than the Patel Bros.

[elderboy02]

Thanks for the review. I like the Patel Brothers more than I like the Winter Collection. Just picked up a box of the Patel Brothers corona

[s15driftking]

love love love love love love love love love love this cigar.

[SvilleKid]

Hey, I've had cigars that burned with a tunnel down the middle after lighting also. Always ends up as a burn problem. usually has to do with an inadequate rolling of the filler.

Wish I had more of these to send you, since I'm not a big RP fan, but these were some that Jeremy had given me, and I don't think I have anymore. But glad the flavor was working!

[Lumpold]

Originally Posted by SvilleKid

Hey, I've had cigars that burned with a tunnel down the middle after lighting also. Always ends up as a burn problem. usually has to do with an inadequate rolling of the filler.

Wish I had more of these to send you, since I'm not a big RP fan, but these were some that Jeremy had given me, and I don't think I have anymore. But glad the flavor was working!

No worries, Cliff. I'm figuring from the way this burnt that there was something pulled almost entirely and chopped, as the tunnel, while evident in the ash, wasn't there at all when I checked the foot when I toasted it.