Rocky Patel
Sixty
I had the
chance to meet three times this Show Man, this gentleman in the cigar world
that is Rocky Patel.
I told him
one day that I found his portfolio so extensive (it's more than 62 ranges in 32
years), that it went from excellent to not so good. He answered: yes, you said less good and not bad, so in
fact you are talking about your tastes which are not necessarily those of your
neighbor. That's exactly it! This former lawyer has understood everything:
he brings out a pack of different cigars to satisfy all palates.
This new
module, Rocky prepared it in the biggest secret; nobody saw it coming: a cigar
for his 60ème birthday. It might sound pretentious to make a cigar
for his own B-Day, but then again, you don't know Rocky very well to think that;
his marketing team explains it very well: Quality
comes with age, and after 60 great years of life, Rocky Patel's passion for
premium cigars has never been so refined. To celebrate his unbridled love for
branded cigars, and in honor of this momentous occasion, we are proud to
present... The Rocky Patel Sixty.
Let's go
and discover what we are presented as a jewel.
The box is
blood red with the representation of tobacco plants, and gold Sixty, 1961-2021
topped with a midnight blue seal with the RP logo.
The
inside lid is midnight blue with a multitude of information about the cigar;
for example something very interesting, that the cigar has been further aged
before being distributed.
To
tell you about the cape, it will take me a moment since it is almost 80% covered
by what seems to me a huge ring. Correction: if you look closer, it's actually
three separate rings.
They
are of blue, red, gold, off-white color; they are decorated with liserets.
So
I start by removing the foot ring, which is the most imposing: it ends in 60,
then going up we have a graph again taking a tobacco plant. The goal is to take
off the ring and to make it go down slowly because it is slipped under the
second ring.
Once
removed, I have a rather dark brown cape with beautiful veins here and there; it
has a silky and slightly oily aspect which makes me think that little by little
Mexico is cutting back on the lead that Ecuador had in cape quality.
Another
moment of contemplation, then I practice my cutting and lighting ceremony.
Cold, I have black pepper but also chocolate.
The
foot ignites perfectly and already gives me a good amount of smoke that
instantly sets off my alarms, the body goes on alert: alarm, mayday, s.o.s... I
undergo a head-on collision with a tide of red pepper and a cohort of very dry
earth that settles and takes possession of my mouth in less time than it takes
to say it.
Fortunately
it lasts a very short time, I would tend to say a great classic of new cigars,
to stabilize towards medium-strong.
This dry earth always lines my
mouth, but also a large proportion of my throat and leaves a soft dehydrated
feeling there.
So far Rocky has kept his word: Join us in celebrating Rocky Patel's 60th
birthday with a cigar unlike anything we've ever rolled.
I'm not surprised by the good burn and
satisfactory draw; it's often easier on a box-pressed. The pepper weakens back
to a sort of white pepper, the earth remains dry but with very present clay-like
sensations alongside it, which leads to its fall on medium. It is quite
disturbing to find oneself with a palette of flavors reduced to its simplest
expression and to say to oneself wow, that it is good! Mind you, don't get me
wrong: this cigar is not just pepper and earth, as there is cinnamon, oak,
chilies, leather, milk chocolate and even black tea, but their appearance is
stealthy and of short vibration to the point that the pepper and earth keep the
top of the hierarchy all the time of the tasting.
As I reach
the next ring, my cigar fires off bursts of black or red pepper that make it go
back towards the strong line but without really reaching it.
And pushes
the door of my campfire memory, the one where we could afford to burn dry oak.
This one is very quickly assimilated by the earth and the pepper and gives me a
kind of homogeneous molasses which insinuates itself everywhere, no tiny
papilla or nook resists to it, it even infiltrates with deep in the throat,
which leaves me a big impression of thirst.
And then in the apotheosis, I would say the last few inches, this magma explodes and the earth airs out, to release a salty trickle on the lips and a soothing in the mouth. I start thinking about the end of the movie Gladiator, when after having overcome a lot of trials, Maximus finds peace, his wife and his son in the Great Prairies. I can finally take full advantage of this vintage cigar and fully feel the sensations of a tobacco that has been left to rest quietly, not quickly as my Innu friends would say.
The tastings, of the order of two, were carried out on Toro cigars of 16.51 cm for a cepo of 52.
Wrapper: San Andrés.
Binder: Nicaragua.
Filler: Nicaragua.
In conclusion: here is a very surprising cigar in many respects, with a slightly more negative point is the friability of its ash, but with long moments of pleasure and out of time. It is certainly not within the reach of all amateurs, and here I am not talking about beginners but about palates; you have to be able to appreciate this sensation of dryness to reach nirvana. Personally, I enjoyed it so much that I have to leave you with a sentence from K.K. that sums up my state of mind during this tasting. I have to go and get some at the civet.
I would conclude by telling you that it is the
love of the product that manages to bring together such different individuals
around a table. Isn't that the most important thing to
know about cigars? Kolja Kukuk, Rocky Patel's Sales
and Marketing Director for Europe
Price at the time of writing: 23 euros.