Rocky Patel Old World Reserve Torpedo Maduro (5x54)

I'm a little out of chronological order here, but oh well, it's my blog and I can put things in any order I want to.  This is part of my continuing Florida vacation, and during this trip I had a chance to smoke a Rocky Patel Old World Reserve(RPOWR).  I went with the Torpedo Maduro in a great 5x54 size that I hadn't yet smoked.

I had read quite a few reviews on this cigar, and honestly I was really looking forward to smoking it.  Dinner had been earlier in the evening with my sister and her husband and my Uncle and his wife along with my wife and kids.  In celebration of my son's and wife's birthdays that are 3 days apart we went to Benihana Orlando for a great dinner.  We had quiet a dinner (the final bill reflected that fact!) and afterwards he headed back to my sister's house for drinks and conversation.

I cut the head on the RPOWR and toasted the foot.  After a sufficient time I took a first draw and was met with a full flavored taste suggestive of espresso.  After a few draws I took my lighter and attempted to get the foot evenly lit, a battle I would encounter throughout the course of this cigar.

I always look forward to maduro wrappers, they can offer up really great flavors often times suggesting a bread or yeast undertone, but sadly this cigar failed to deliver those expected tastes.  The espresso flavor was good, however it was anchored by a very earthy taste that wasn't unpleasant, but certainly wasn't great either.

An additional strike against this cigar was the fact it refused to stay lit.  It was quite tight in its construction forcing you to draw hard against it to get a full mouth of smoke, but left unattended for more than a minute equated into the cigar extinguishing itself.  This constant battled not only detracted from the overall cigar smoking experience, it I believed introduced a harsh charcoal and carbon taste, a byproduct I believe of the constant lighting and going out of the burn.

At one point I commented how disappointed I was with this cigar, especially given how good Rocky Patel cigars are as a whole.  My sister gave me a blackberry beer that they had in the fridge, and while tasty I'm still not much of a beer guy so when a bottle of a sweet red wine she had was opened, I switched to that and enjoyed that for the rest of the evening.

Overall I was disappointed by the RPOWR and its smoking performance.  Whether or not it was a fluke or simply a bad cigar I honestly don't know and probably won't ever know as unless I am given for free another one of these cigars to smoke, my own money will not be used to buy it again.  There are too many great cigars out there to put good money after a bad smoke.

After about 2/3 of the way down the cigar, it put itself out (surprise!) and I put it in the ashtray for retirement.  My uncle who was smoking cigarettes offered up one of his smokes, and seeing as he has his cigarettes rolled at a a small store by his house using pipe tobacco, I was curious to try it.  The tobacco was great however the taste of the paper and filter detracted from the smoke, but hey beggars can't be choosers.

Overall a great evening was had even though the cigar didn't carry its weight.  I didn't let that ruin the vacation, however like I said I won't be smoking the RPOWR anytime again soon.

Until we smoke again...