Rocky Patel Winter Collection 2009

[eyesack]

My friend Johnny (JohnnySmokestar) gave me an RP Winter today while we were making our rounds looking for Anejos. It was an awesome smoke! Very complex, and I suppose now rare since they've stopped making them. Anyone else had these?

[SureShot81]

I thought Anejos only came out at Christmas.

[eyesack]

Yeah they do, but he thought maybe we'd find someone with them.

[SureShot81]

You got my hopes up. I have drifted away from RP lately, but will give the Winter a try. Thanks for the suggestion.

[muellator]

I need to try some more RPs, I've only had the Olde World Reserve, which I enjoyed, and the R4, not so much. I want to try the V90 and 92, both are on my list.

[eyesack]

If you can find winters! But I've been turned on to RP lately, having smoked both V90 and V92's, (I like the 90 better), and the Edge corojo as well.

[SirR]

I've never tried them, but they say these are a must try from RP. They look very tasty.

[arodgers]

Looks like I'm headed to the B&M Thursday. I'm a big RP fan and this is one I haven't tried yet.

[Warren]

The Winter 2009 is the best of the seasonal blends IMO. By a lot. Whatever you do skip the Summer '09. Actually run from those.

[JohnnySmokestar]

Yes, eyesack, they are rare and no longer in production so hence I bought that lovely box. They're my favorite out of all the seasonal blends. RP really puts out a good, consistant, quality smoke. They only RP I did not enjoy are the Sun Grown blend. Just not tasty at all.

I completely disagree with the Summer 2009 review, I've smoked at least a box worth of them and I do find them an enjoyable smoke. The Fall 2008 which you can find on occasion are the lightest of the seasonal blends. Winter 2009 is a dark, veiny, full bodied smoke with complex flavor and is by far the cream of the crop. If you enjoy the winter's, look fowad to Patel Bros. blend comming out soon which should feature the same tobacco if im not mistaken.

As for Spring 2009, I was told at first they weren't quite ready and needed to age. Recently it seems they've taken on more complexity with the time and are enjoyable smoke. Recently released, Fall 2009 is quite a treat and I've smoked roughly 4 or 5 them up until now. They taste similar to the summer's with a bit more complexity and a peppery zing.

The Edge's are a nice cigar but the Olde World Reserves are just fantastic and come in a nice square box press. They are a balanced medium flavored cigars and one of the only cigars where I prefer the what I think is a habano wrapper over the maduro, as I usually tend to favor maduros.

Finally that brings me to the Decade line. They are a killer smoke. I've only smoked one. They also come in that box press similar to the Olde World Reserves. I tend to stay away from them because they range in the 13-14 dollar range per stick here. While I extremely enjoyed the Decade that I smoked, I just haven't smoked enough of them to give an impression that I'd highly stand behind with them.

Hope this helps anyone interested in some of the RP varieties out there.

--Smokestar

[eyesack]

Woohoo! I've been wondering when you'd make an appearance! Haha that was a great wealth of info there, Johnny! What'd you think about that Arganese ML3? Let it rest a little more? I think those RP Winters you got should do really well with some nap-time on 'em, if you can save yourself some lol.

I have an Olde-World Reserve Maduro that I won from that photo-contest, so I'll have to give that a try next.

Thanks again for that info and the yummy stick!