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| Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada 2012 |
When Rocky Patel Premium Cigars released its “Rocky Patel Decade” to commemorate ten years in the cigar business. It also became a game-changing cigar for the company as it became a huge success for the company. In 2010, it was Rocky Patel’s 15th anniversary in the cigar business. For that milestone, the company came out with a separate 15th Anniversary Cigar as well as a special version of the Decade. This special version of the Decade features a different wrapper, and some modifications to the blend. Since 2010, it has been released once a year on a limited basis (mostly to Rocky Patel lounges). Today we explore the third release of this special version of the Decade – the Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada 2012. Overall, I found the changes to the blend to be very good, and a must have cigar in my book.
The Rocky Patel Edicion Limitada 2012 is made at the El Paraiso factory in Honduras. The breakdown of this cigar will provide more insights, so let’s get into the particulars right out of the gate.
Blend Profile
The Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada has used the same wrapper for the three years this cigar has been released. As opposed to an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper which is used on the original Rocky Patel Decade, the Decade Edicion Limitada uses a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper. There is also an extra leaf of ligero in the blend.
Wrapper: Pennsylvania Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Vitolas Available
The Decade Edicion Limitada comes in three sizes. The cigars are packaged in boxes of 20. For 2012, the word is that 500 boxes per vitola were made.
Robusto: 5 1/2 x 52)
Toro: 6 by 52
Torpedo: 6 1/4 by 52
Appearance
For this cigar experience, I selected the Robusto vitola. The most striking feature about the Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada 2012 Robusto is its dark oily wrapper. The wrapper has a dark roasted espresso bean color. Being the wrapper is so dark, the wrapper seams are well-hidden. There are also some visible veins. Finally, from close inspection to the wrapper it does have a bumpy feel to it.
There are also three bands on this cigar. The first band is a standard Rocky Patel band. It has an ivory background with a copper “RP” logo in the center. The logo is flanked by “Rocky” and “Patel” to the left and right in cursive copper font. The second band is located just below the first band. It also has an ivory background. It features “DECADE” in copper font with “10th Anniversary” located below it in a smaller copper font. The third band is located below the second band. This also has an ivory background with the text “EDICION LIMITADA” in copper and black font. The third band also features copper and black striping across the top and bottom. This third band is unique to the Decade Edicion Limitada while the other two bands are found on the regular Rocky Patel Decade.
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
For my smoke of the Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada 2012 Robusto, I opted to go with a straight cut. Once the cut was completed, I immediately proceeded to start the pre-light draw. The dry draw notes were not very complex, but were flavorful. I detected these notes to be mocha flavored. I considered this to be a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to toast the foot of my Decade Edicion Limitada 2012 and see what this cigar experience would deliver.
Flavor Profile
The start to the Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada 2012 started out with flavors of roasted coffee and earth. There also was some mild spice on the after-draw. Between the five and ten percent point of the smoking experience, the earth flavors morphed into flavors of nut. The coffee and nut flavors were the primary flavors for the remainder of the first third. The coffee and nut were also very three dimensional flavors – meaning you can separate the two flavors (as opposed to being more of fused flavor like a hazelnut coffee). Toward the end of the first third, the mild spice on the after-draw.
In the second third the coffee flavors became more of a classic chocolate flavor. The chocolate and nut flavors alternated back in forth in terms of what was the primary note. In the second third, I was also a little surprised I was not picking up more spice given there was an extra ligero leaf in the blend. It wasn’t until the final third where I detected any significant spice. The spice was along the lines of a pepper spice. The chocolate flavors did diminish in the last third and the nut and spice took over. Overall the flavors were a little muted toward the end. The resulting nub was ideal – firm to the touch and cool in temperature.
Burn and Draw
The burn of the Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada 2012 did require several touch-ups to keep it burning straight. The touch-ups were more frequent than I preferred. The resulting ash was also a little on the flaky side. The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal, but I noticed with the Edicion Limitada 2012 you need to be a little careful about overdrawing this, otherwise it can easily start to burn on the hotter side. No issues with the draw – I found it to be an ideal draw from start to finish.
Strength and Body
From a nicotine perspective, the Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada 2012 provided just the right amount of pop. I assessed this cigar to be medium to full strength from start to finish. There was some nice depth to the flavor notes on this one. I also assessed this to be medium to full-bodied. Both the strength and body balance each other very nicely – giving the perfect amount of strength and flavor throughout the smoking experience.
Final Thoughts
I will admit, I have not smoked the 2010 or 2011 versions of the Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada, but I will say the 2012 version is a very good cigar. I am a big fan of Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper, and I like how it was integrated into this blend. While I mentioned I felt the extra leaf of ligero did not add as much as much spice as I would like, it did deliver just enough spice. This is a cigar I probably would recommend to a more seasoned cigar enthusiast – as opposed to a novice. As for myself, I enjoyed this cigar, and I would go back to it again. I also look forward to sampling the previous and future incarnations of this blend.
Summary
Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Medium to Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: Nice to Have
Score: 91
Source: The cigars for this assessment were purchased from Outman Cigars in Greenville South Carolina.
