Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto

Over the years, cigar companies have released cigars to commemorate milestones or occasions. Sometimes these are limited edition cigars, annual releases, or even regular production cigars. Rocky Patel Premium Cigars is no exception. In 1995, an entertainment lawyer named Rocky Patel along with Phil Zanghi would found a company called Indian Tabac. Eventually Patel and Zanghi would go separate ways. Patel would rename the company Rocky Patel Premium Cigars and the rest would be history. Last year, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars commemorated 25 years since Patel got into the cigar business. As a result, a commemorative cigar was released for the occasion called the Rocky Patel Quarter Century. This is the cigar we are going to take a look at today in the Robusto size.

For completeness, we list the major milestone releases for Rocky Patel Premium Cigars. These include anniversary cigars as well as the birthday cigars for Rocky Patel himself.

Rocky Patel Decade (In addition: Edición Limitada and Cameroon; for 10 years of Patel in the cigar business)
Rocky Patel 1961 (Year Rocky Patel was born)
Rocky Patel Fifteenth Anniversary (for 15 years of Patel in the cigar business)
Rocky Patel Fifty (For Patel’s 50th birthday)
Rocky Patel II-XXVI (2/26 is Patel’s birthdate)
Rocky Patel Twentieth (Natural and Maduro; for 20 years of Patel in the cigar business)
Rocky Patel Fifty-Five (For Patel’s 55th birthday)
Rocky Patel Quarter Century (For 25 years of Patel in the cigar business)
Rocky Patel Sixty (For Patel’s 60th birthday)

Without further ado, let’s break down the Rocky Patel Quarter Century Cigar and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The Rocky Patel Quarter Century is highlighted by a San Andres wrapper over a Honduran binder and fillers consisting of Nicaraguan and undisclosed tobaccos. The cigars are aged two years after rolling, with tobaccos aged ten years before that.

Wrapper: Mexican San Andres
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Nicaraguan, Not Disclosed
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera Villa Cuba S.A. (TAVICUSA)

Vitolas Offered

The Quarter Century is being offered in three sizes. Each is presented in 20-count boxes.

Robusto: 5 1/2 x 50
Toro: 6 1/2 x 52
Sixty: 6 x 60

Appearance

The San Andres wrapper of the Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto had a medium brown color to it. There was not much in the way of oil on the surface of the wrapper. The wrapper had some visible veins, but did a decent job at hiding any visible wrapper seams. This was a wrapper that had a slightly bumpy surface to it.

There were two bands to the Rocky Patel Quarter Century. The primary band features a pale yellow Rocky Patel circulus “RP” logo on a maroon and black pinstriped background. There is a pale yellow ring surrounding the circulus logo. In between the ring and the circulus logo is the text “QUARTER CENTURY” in pale yellow font on a red background. There is a red background to the left and right of the ring with a black print pattern. The far right of the band has a gold perforated stamp-like edge that serves as a band fastener.

The secondary band is red with dark pinstripes toward the top and bottom. On the band is the text “Rocky Patel” (in cursive) and “25th Anniversary” (not in cursive) – both in a pale yellow font.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

Prior to lighting up the Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto, a straight cut was used to remove the cap. Once the cap was detached, it was time for the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered a mix of milk chocolate, earth, and a slight citrus note. Overall this was an excellent pre-light draw. At this point it was time to light up the Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto started out with notes of milk chocolate, natural tobacco, cedar, fruit, and white pepper. It didn’t take long for the milk chocolate notes to emerge as the primary note with the natural tobacco, cedar, fruit, and pepper settling in the background. As the cigar moved through the first third, the fruit made a few short guest appearances with the milk chocolate in the forefront. Meanwhile there was an additional layer of white pepper on the retro-hale.

As the cigar experience of the Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto entered into the second third, some earthy notes emerged in the forefront. At the same time, there was an increase in the natural tobacco notes. By the midway point, the earth and natural tobacco notes took over as the primary notes with the milk chocolate settling not the background with the cedar, fruit, and pepper notes.

There wasn’t much change going into the final third. The earth and natural tobacco notes remained primary. The cedar, pepper, fruit, and now occasional milk chocolate notes rounded things out. This is the way the Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto came to a close. The resulting nub was slightly soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto needed some touch-ups along the way – particularly after the first third. These touch-ups kept the cigar on a straight burn path and kept the burn line straight, but they required more frequency than expected. The resulting ash was silver-gray with some dark streaks in it. This was an ash that was on the firm side. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both were ideal.

Burn of the Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto

Draw

The Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto had a draw that was on the open side, but not loose. Normally I prefer a little resistance on the draw, but in this case it was simply a preference thing as it didn’t result in any adverse effects.

Strength and Body

The Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto started out as a medium strength, medium-bodied cigar. For the most part, the strength level remained relatively constant throughout the smoking experience. As for the body, there was a slight increase along the way and by the second half, the cigar progressed to medium to full-bodied territory. During the second half, the body didn’t increase much in intensity.

In terms of strength versus body for the Rocky Patel Quarter Century Robusto, the body maintained a slight edge throughout the smoking experience.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

One of the things many have overlooked is how good a 2020 Rocky Patel Premium Cigars had in terms of products. The company had excellent releases with the Rocky Patel Cigar Smoking World Championship and the highly acclaimed CiRocky Patel Grand Reserve. From this author’s point of view, there was the grand slam home run with the Rocky Patel Winter Collection 2020. Now along comes the Rocky Patel Quarter Century, and once again Rocky Patel knocks another one out of the park with that cigar.

The Rocky Patel Quarter Century was simply an amazing cigar experience in terms of flavor – and it all came together perfectly in the Robusto format. The cigar delivered an excellent balance and synergy of flavors on the palate. After I smoked each one of these, I wanted another. This is a cigar I would recommend to any cigar enthusiast. As for myself not only would I smoke one of these cigars again, but it easily is one I would buy a box of. At 92 points, this exceeds our threshold for Cigar Coop Standard of Excellence.

Summary

Key Flavors: Milk Chocolate, Earth, Natural Tobacco, Cedar, Fruit, White Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Very Good
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Finish: Very Good