Rocky Patel Decade Toro
May 14, 2009 Cigar
Tonight’s review is the Rocky Patel Decade Toro.
Rocky Patel Premium Cigars turned ten-years-old and made a cigar to celebrate the milestone.
The full-bodied smoke has a soft box press and sports an Ecuadoran wrapper around a binder and filler from Nicaragua. It is made in Danlí Honduras at the El Paraiso Factory – the facility owned by Nestor Plasencia and family that has produced the Rocky Patel Sungrown cigars among others.
Each box of Decade cigars says “Against all odds” on the inside, refering to the 10 years during which the brand has been in business. The underside of each box lid features black and white illustrations of cigars being produced.
It’s hard to believe, considering the top-notch cigars he has produced in the past, but the Decade may very well be his finest blend yet.
The decade previously received a whopping 95 point score in Cigar Aficionado. Let’s see where it’s at.
And now, on to the review.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Size: 6.5×52 (Toro)
Origin: Honduras
Wrapper: Unknown
Binder: Unknown
Filler: Unknown
MSRP: $9.90
APPEARANCE and CONSTRUCTION -
The Decade Toro has a very dark brown, clean looking wrapper. It’s well applied and has no visible blemishes or marks. I smoked two samples of these from two separate B&M’s, but both had a sort of spongy feel to them. Not soft, but spongy. The slight box-press felt nice in the hand. Cap was cleanly applied as well.
SMOKING CHARACTERISTICS -
The foot had a very distinctive nose of espresso and some earthiness.
I cut using my standard punch cut. The draw was very loose. A little too much for my liking.
The Decade Toro lit evenly and quickly. It generated a TON of smoke. The loose draw certainly had something to do with this.
The Decade burned a little unevenly for most of the first 2/3 of the smoke. The ash was tight with a salt and pepper color.
The smoke seemed to be fairly light and airy.
FLAVOR -
The initial flavors I got were a Cedary sweetness with some spice in the back of the palate. There was a nice transition around the midway point where it turned to some of the espresso flavor I picked up on the initial aromas. There was then a third transition within the final third that had some dry leather flavors. Where this cigar took a down turn was at some point in the final third where it started to pickup a bitterness on the finish. I waited for it to transition away, but that bitterness remained throughout the entire final third. It thought it may have been partly due to the loose draw and the cigar burning a little hot, but I experienced that same bitterness on another sample I had which had a better draw.
OVERALL IMPRESSION -
This was an enjoyable cigar that showed a masterful blend. The flavors and in particular, the way they transitioned, shows a lot of thought and experience was put into this line. The bitter finish definitely detracted from the overall score. While not the 95 points CA gave it, it was still a cigar I would recommend and buy again.
TOTAL SCORE – 92
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Tags: Decade, Honduras, Rocky Patel, Toro
June 7th, 2009 at 9:11 am
In all honesty: I love my Rocky P’s. For me it is the Rocky Patel Sun Grown Junior. The taste and the draw is great and they are not that expensive. Really good to enjoy myself.