Rocky Patel Sun Grown

Country: Danli, Honduras
Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
Size: Robusto 5 x 50
Price: Paid $5.70 minus 10% Discount = $5.13 at local smoke shop


Pre-Light:
Since I haven't smoked one of these in a while, I figure why not light one up for a review. Being a fan of Rocky Patel cigars, I was eager to start this up. Looking at the cigar, it had minimal veins, some soft flat spots and a little tear near the foot of the cigar. Smell wise, the cigar put out a nice rich tobacco scent. After I cut the cigar with my Xikar guillotine cutter I took a pre-light draw which was not bad. . I did fail to mention that the cigar did crack a little when I cut it. Depsite the little problems I am still anxious to have a go at this.




1/3:
Starting off the cigar put out a lot of thin smoke. Short finish which is quite pleasant. Flavors picked up are an earthy flavor being the most predominant. A nice even burn is accompanied by a light gray ash. As I got deeper into this cigar, the draw plugged up on me a little. Also, those soft spots burned real quick, but did not affect the burn one bit.




2/3:
Just as I thought the cigar was getting better, it took a turn for the worse. The cap and wrapper started to peel and kept catching my lip and eventually ripped. This is only the begining. The draw happend to get worse, than better, than worse again. It plugged than came un plugged, etc. I guess on a good note the cigar was putting out an excellent smelling aroma, kind of nutty. I started to pick up hints of a sweet, rich cedar flavor. That's about all good I can say at this point. Did I mention that the wrapper started to peel in the middle of the cigar as well.
(Sorry for blurry picture).



3/3:
Winding down on the cigar was a nightmare. The wrapper was peeling everwhere. If I took the band off of this cigar, the wrapper would totally come off and be un-smokeable. Therefore, I decided to smoke this down to the band and call it the night. As for flavors in the last third, I picked up a toasty flavor that was decent. Surprising enough the cigar was still producing lots of smoke. Draw was better, but kind of hard to concentrate on something when the wrapper is flaking from everywhere.

Conclusion:

Having had plenty of these Rock Patel Robustos before, this medium bodied smoke is definitely the first one that I ever had a problem with. I am not sure why, maybe just a bad one from the factory, who knows. I will have to try another one of these again shortly and see if I have the same problem, which I shouldn't. Anyways, on the review of this cigar. It was just down right bad. Good points were the flavor, aroma and burn was decent. Draw was spuradic and with the problems with the wrapper, it made the smoke un-enjoyable. This cigar is going to get a bad rating, but please hear me out when I say that these Sun Growns are really good. I would still pick one up to try. It's worth a shot in my book.

Rating: D