Tonight, after work, was a little rough. My girls were both acting up, my wife got mad at me over a discussion we had, and I was just kind of "done". Once the girls started acting a little better (thanks to my wife's intervention, nothing I did) and once my wife got past being mad at me, it was time for a cigar. In fact, it was time for a big cigar, something that would take awhile.
I keep the Rocky Patel Vintage line around as my daily, go to smoke. It's absolutely one of my favorites. A lot of people will disagree with me, but I think of it as a poor man's Padrón Anniversary Maduro. Actually, if you buy them retail, they're not much cheaper than the Padrón, so you'd really be better of just getting the real thing. But I get them as "seconds" from CBid, usually for around $2 a stick, and to me, that's a fantastic deal.
Anyway, tonight I pulled out a Rocky Patel 1990 Vintage "A" size. It's 7.5"x54.
This thing is HUGE.
I expected it to be much like the regular Vintage 90's that I regularly have, but longer. I was pleasantly surprised, however.
The cigar started off very smooth. The smoke was prodigious, and while I wouldn't call it creamy, as it was a little too smooth for that, it was definitely pleasant. An attenuated version of the usual Vintage 1990 flavor.
That lasted about 2 inches, or about 10 minutes (for me, I'm a fast smoker). Then it started getting very pleasantly spicy. Very much like a PAM, even more so than the RPs usually do. The spicyness continued for most of the middle third of the cigar, and the smoke production picked up even more, and now I would describe it as creamy! Really very nice.
The last third of the cigar, a full 45 minutes later, got really powerful. The nicotine was really kicking in. Unfortunately, while the smoke just kept coming in wonderfully thick and heavy clouds, the flavor really flattened out. The spicyness was lost, the creamy flavor overpowered by the pure nicotine rush. I could definitely feel a buzz as I decided to let this thing go out with about 2 inches left. Just too much power for me, much more than I've ever gotten from a 'regular' RP Vintage.
In sum, this was the best of the RP Vintages, in my opinion. Definitely NOT worth what I paid picking it up as a single (it comes in a very nice wooden coffin) at a local B&M shop, which was $10. But I noticed that CBid has the big "gift box" of 15 RP cigars (5 Vintage '90 'A's, 5 Edge 'A's, and 5 Sungrown 'A's) currently at under $100. That might be a worthwhile purchase, especially if the 'A' size improves the Sungrown anywhere near as much as it did the Vintage. The Edge 'A' size I'm willing to give a try, but honestly I already find this cigar to be borderline too powerful, so while I'll give it a shot, I'm more likely to try and trade these off to someone who appreciates the power.
I keep the Rocky Patel Vintage line around as my daily, go to smoke. It's absolutely one of my favorites. A lot of people will disagree with me, but I think of it as a poor man's Padrón Anniversary Maduro. Actually, if you buy them retail, they're not much cheaper than the Padrón, so you'd really be better of just getting the real thing. But I get them as "seconds" from CBid, usually for around $2 a stick, and to me, that's a fantastic deal.
Anyway, tonight I pulled out a Rocky Patel 1990 Vintage "A" size. It's 7.5"x54.
This thing is HUGE.
I expected it to be much like the regular Vintage 90's that I regularly have, but longer. I was pleasantly surprised, however.
The cigar started off very smooth. The smoke was prodigious, and while I wouldn't call it creamy, as it was a little too smooth for that, it was definitely pleasant. An attenuated version of the usual Vintage 1990 flavor.
That lasted about 2 inches, or about 10 minutes (for me, I'm a fast smoker). Then it started getting very pleasantly spicy. Very much like a PAM, even more so than the RPs usually do. The spicyness continued for most of the middle third of the cigar, and the smoke production picked up even more, and now I would describe it as creamy! Really very nice.
The last third of the cigar, a full 45 minutes later, got really powerful. The nicotine was really kicking in. Unfortunately, while the smoke just kept coming in wonderfully thick and heavy clouds, the flavor really flattened out. The spicyness was lost, the creamy flavor overpowered by the pure nicotine rush. I could definitely feel a buzz as I decided to let this thing go out with about 2 inches left. Just too much power for me, much more than I've ever gotten from a 'regular' RP Vintage.
In sum, this was the best of the RP Vintages, in my opinion. Definitely NOT worth what I paid picking it up as a single (it comes in a very nice wooden coffin) at a local B&M shop, which was $10. But I noticed that CBid has the big "gift box" of 15 RP cigars (5 Vintage '90 'A's, 5 Edge 'A's, and 5 Sungrown 'A's) currently at under $100. That might be a worthwhile purchase, especially if the 'A' size improves the Sungrown anywhere near as much as it did the Vintage. The Edge 'A' size I'm willing to give a try, but honestly I already find this cigar to be borderline too powerful, so while I'll give it a shot, I'm more likely to try and trade these off to someone who appreciates the power.
IMHO RP makes some great cigars