Cigar Review: Rocky Patel TAA Signature

Torpedo; 6" x 52 ring gauge; $7.70 at Burns, Chattanooga

This is one of the seemingly endless supply of new Rocky Patel smokes introduced in the past couple years. While some have been great (Decade and Winter Blend), some have been just so-so (ITC 10th, Summer Blend), and some have gotten resoundingly bad reviews (Autumn Blend, Split Decision). The Rocky Patel website rivals that of Drew Estate for worst cigar company website that I have seen: there is little to no info on many cigars from the company, making it seem like they have not updated their site in over a year (furthermore, the incessant use of Flash makes the website slow to load and a pain in the butt to use--what it needs is less gimmicky crap and more useful content). There is no information or even a press release about this TAA cigar or the seasonal smokes or the many cigars they make that are exclusive so online retailers. Very disappointing.

So I found this out by asking the clerk at Burns and through researching a few websites: this cigar is an exclusive to shops that are part of the Tobacconists Association of America. That's about all I could find out that I am absolutely sure about. On the prelight inspection, the aroma was chocolate and coffee. The wrapper had some rather large veins and it seems stretched in places, which to me speaks of lesser quality than I would expect in an RP stick. The cap was pretty sloppy, too. There were some soft wpots along the body that I made a point to watch out for if I had any burn problems. The prelight draw was easy and the flavors are creamy mocha with just a little bit of spice.

Creamy and spicy are not two descriptors that you see together very often, but they do both apply here. The flavor after lighting made me think of a cafe latte with some cayenne pepper in it: coffee, cream, and spice. At the beginning, the body was stricly middle-of-the-road medium.

At the halfway point, there was really nothing new to report flavor-wise. It was a pleasant smoke, but not one that has nuanced changes. The burn was very good to this point, requiring just a minor touch-up. The draw had been perfect.

In the end, this falls in the good-not-great category of RP cigars, which is especially disappointing since it is a "special" cigar for a trade organization. Unfortunately, this means that Rocky's best sticks are still the ones that re the most expensive (Decade and Olde World Reserve)--the exception being the Edge, which is a great cigar in the mid-range price-wise. If that mid-range price is where you are looking to spend your money, I have to recommend the Edge over this cigar any day of the week.

Body - 5/10
Strength - 5/10
Complexity - 4/10

AFP Scale
Prelight - 1/2
Construction 1.5/2
Flavor - 3/5
Value - .5/1
Total - 6/10