ROCKY PATEL VINTAGE 1990 ROBUSTO

ROCKY PATEL VINTAGE 1990
ROBUSTO

Origin: Honduras
Wrapper: Honduran Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Dominican & Nicaraguan

Place of purchase: Famous Smoke Shop Online

TASTING SHEET RESULTS

SIZE: 5.5x50
APPEARANCE: very good to excellent: upper seam a bit loose, thin leveled veins, firmly packed bunch, nice box-press, even colored dark wrapper with a bit of redish hue
CONSTRUCTION: good to very good on initial inspection; but later on encountered problems: head cracked on clip, unravelled on nub
DRAW: perfect
BURN: very good to excellent
AROMA: very good to excellent
FLAVOR: good
DOMINANT FLAVORS: cocoa, salty tobacco
AFTERTASTE: faint salt
STRENGHT: somewhat mild to moderate
SMOKING TIME: ~ 90 minutes
GENERAL IMPRESSION: average

CUT: Xikar
PRELIGHT: faint cocoa, tobacco
LIGHT: easily with a classic flame lighter
BEVERAGE: coke

1/3:
At the outset met with light, natural, non-sweetened cocoa and nicely treated and aged tobacco. No power, pepper or spice, just hints of earth and salt present. Effortless nose blow – just salt detected. Mild to medium body. Very smooth.



2/3:
Strangely, considering all the praise this smoke recieves, very little complexity, if any. The smoke is abundant, flavors remain unchanged, barely medium body. The burn is even, very thin mascara, with perfect draw. Great aroma of chocolate. Compact but fragile ash.



3/3:
At this point, I am scratching my head. Am I smoking a dud? I had very high expectations for this smoke. Decided to change beverage to Port. Good idea, as it introduced a whole new set of flavors: dark earth with hint of leather. Salt still in the background on the palate. As expected, no tar build-up.



NUB:
Completely lost head of the cigar and it started unravelling badly, flavors remained from the last third. Finish not particularly heavy.




Aside from bad head, which cracked on clip, I cannot help but feel that my palate has been off in this case. I have repeatedly found that milk kills my palate. Have had some milk and cereals for breakfast at about 10 A.M. Vacation time allows me two cigars per day and this one was sampled between noon and 2 P.M. I am certain milk prevented me from tasting all the great nuances reported on this fine smoke. Switch to Port was too little, too late. As this was the only smoke I had, the jury is still out for me regarding this Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 Robusto. By the way, does anybody know what is with this 1990 Vintage claim? I suspect only the blend remained the same, plus tobacco used has the same age on it as the original, but all the cigars with original 1990 plant/harvest tobacco are long gone.