Today I am smoking a Rocky Patel Renaissance robusto and this little cigar is a very nice looking little stick and feels as if it has a very firm pack. The label is a nice looking off-white with browns and embossed gold, very well done. After cutting and taking a pre-light draw there is a slight sweet taste on my tongue which is very pleasant. Unfortunately the draw is a bit too snug for my liking. I try to open it up with a secondary cut but nothing seems to fix the overly tight draw.
After lighting I am greeted with a nice semi-sweet old world spice. As the smoke continues the flavor shifts to a dry oak and leather flavor. The further down the stick the more dry the flavor becomes and starts to actually have a slight bitter after taste. I certainly don’t want to bash this cigar but the dry bitter oak flavor is not one of my favorites. When nearing the end of this smoke the flavor of licorice and a subtle ash flavor emerge. I’m no Wolgang Puck but I doubt “ashy licorice” were the flavors Rocky Patel was shooting for with this cigar.
On the bright side this cigar burned marvelously. Never once did I need to touch it up and it stayed cool the entire way down even though I had to work it a little bit due to the tough draw. To be brutally honest I didn’t really care for this cigar. I would like to thank my buddy Brian for sending it to me. Who knows… maybe I just got a bad one?
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- Good draw
- Ash flavor
- Snug draw
