Xen by Nish Patel (older banding with “Zen” name)

With four new cigar lines, Rocky Patel Premium has taken on some aggressive expansion of its portfolio.  I’ve covered the Thunder by Nimesh, the Rocky Patel Fifty, and the Rocky Patel Vintage 2003.  The last cigar to cover is the Xen by Nish Patel.

The Thunder by Nimesh was blended by Rocky’s cousin, Nimesh Desai.  The Xen is Rocky’s brother Nish’s creation.  Nish has been taking a more active role on the cigar side over the past couple of years and this is the first cigar to bear his name.

The motto for the Xen is “Rethink Connecticut”.  While this is slogan that Rocky Patel is using, this was clearly a theme at the 2011 IPCPR for a lot of Cigar manufacturers.  In other words, the theme has been don’t consider Ecuadorian/Connecticut shade cigars your father’s mild strength, mild body, and low complexity cigars.  Instead, look to them to have greater strength,  more robust body and increased complexity.

Time will tell how the Xen as well as the other manufacturers live up to this.  On to the details I have:

Blend Profile

No details have been disclosed about the filler, but here is what I do know:

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Unknown

Vitolas Available

There will be four vitolas.  Each of the vitolas will be a box-press.  The cigars will be sold in boxes of 20.

Short Robusto: 4 x 54 (SRP $6.25)
Robusto: 5 x 50 (SRP $6.25)       
Toro: 6 x 52 (SRP $7.00)
Torpedo 6 1/8 x 52 (SRP $7.50)

I hope to have more details in the future once these make their way to retailer shelves.

Note: This cigar was originally called “Zen by Nish Patel”, but has been renamed “Xen by Nish Patel”.