Robusto, 5" x 50 ring gauge, $7.80Rocky Patel wraps up his first year of seasonal blends with the Spring Collection 2009. This cigar is composed of Nicaraguan filler with a Pennsylvania Broadleaf binder (don't hear of that tobacco-growing region much!) and a Sumatran wrapper. This review is not scheduled to publish until long into the summer, but I smoked it just a couple weeks before spring ended, so I made it in under the deadline. The seasonal blends so far have been a hit-and-miss affair, but mostly misses--with the Winter blend being the only one I have smoked more than once. How will this season stack up?
The appearance of the Spring Collection is very nice. The Sumatran wrapper is a medium-to-dark brown with little to no oily sheen. There is light veining, but nothing that detracts from the appearance. The aroma from the body of the stick is faintly cocoa, while the foot is rich with dark chocolate. The banding is nice, with a green and gold color scheme to go with the Spring theme; the design of the banding could be better, though, as the year "2009" is almost unreadable in black on green. The prelight draw was free with just a bit of coffee flavor along with some citrus and a little bit of spice.
Right off the bat there was some spice in this cigar. Often lately, much of the "spice" I seem to get in cigars is of a black pepper nature, but this was different--much more like a chili pepper. Also, there was a citrusy tang that was quite unusual and pretty nice. Through the first third this continued, with that citrus flavor morphing into a more grassy characteristic. The draw was flawless, but the burn did have to be corrected once.
I did not have to correct any other burn issues during the second third, but the flavor did deteriorate somewhat. It became more grassy and the spice went away completely.
In the final analysis: another Rocky Patel seasonal blend and another "swing-and-a-miss." The flavors in the last third were still grassy with a woody aspect creeping in as well, but generally it just bored me. Adding to my displeasure, the wrapper split about a quarter inch below the head and the whole thing threatened to unravel on me. While not a bad cigar, the Spring Collection did not rise to the level of "really good," much less "great." I would recommend ignoring this one--I finished off the evening by lighting up something else with more character and flavor.
Body: 6/10
Strength: 5/10
Complexity: 4/10
AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1/2
Flavor: 2.5/5
Value: 0/1
Total 4.5/10
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