Rocky Patel "Sun Grown" Review

[magno]

The Rocky Patel Sungrown line features a wrapper of Ecuadorian Sumatra purportedly surrounding the same binder/filler combination of Nicauraguan and Dominican tobaccos found in the now highly regarded "Vintage" line of cigars.

If you read a few of Rocky's comments on his own online forum, you'll see that he is quite proud of the construction on these cigars. My initial inspection, however, left me rather unimpressed with this rather rough and bumpy looking Torpedo. It wasn't horrible, mind you -- just not what I would call an archetypal rendering of this particular vitola. But I suppose such initial impressions are to be expected when the cigar in question spent its previous 6 hours in the humidor along side an Aurora 100 Anos Belicoso. Hell, Lyle Lovett isn't THAT ugly, but he could scarcely do much to help his case when he paired up with Julia Roberts. So I guess I'm inclined to cut this $8 dollar stick a little slack. Looks aren't everything, afterall, as Lyle would probably tell you.

Most cigars light when I put a match to em, so I wasn't terribly surprised to see this one do the same. Some cigars, however, take a little more time than others to taste, well, like they were meant to taste. Rocky's torpedo was one of these cigars, with perhaps a hint of ammonia and some sourness to start. The ammonia dissipated quickly, but the sourness remained a little longer; the cigar seemed to taste on the green side; some might call it grassy. I was concerned I was holding a dud of a cigar when the "real" flavour profile came together a half-an-inch in: it was toasty, bready, chewy, rich, sweet -- very sweet, in fact -- and the sourness was all but gone.

Rocky labels this a medium-full bodied cigar; I'd say it smokes closer to full. I suspect this impression has alot to do with the rather loose draw I experienced, which naturally produced a copious amount of smoke with each pull. I don't usually go for easy draws because they tend to yield a pretty overpowering smoking experience that's often plagued with harshness and flaky ashes. But this cigar was remarkable: No harshness to speak of and a rock solid ash. The burn verged on perfection, with no touch-ups required. Oh, and I did have to eventually flick the ash...twice. So much for my initial quality inspection.

The pervasive sweetness of this cigar is easily attributed to the Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. I was turned on to these wrappers in my early days as a cigar smoker and became a big fan of their sugary taste. But those cigars (Zinos and Hoyos mostly from what I recall) were not terribly full bodied, and I soon gave them up for others that were stronger and more complex.

La Gloria Cubana recently released their "Reserva Figurado" line with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper that I found nice and sweet, but still too mild and condescending to get me excited. Rocky Patel's "Sun Grown" line expounds on this flavour profile in a way I think more experienced smokers will appreciate: rich and sweet, but also bold and never patronizing.

[Uniputt]

Nice review. I am a fan of Rocky Patel's vintage series, despite some of the negative reviews as of late. I've enjoyed each one I've smoked.

I've hears ome good things about the new "The Edge" by Rocky, too. Now this.
Crap, I guesss there's gonna be two Rocky's to look for next time I go to the shop.

I'll definitely pick one of these up. Thanks again.

[TheSmokingHiker]

Originally Posted by Uniputt

Nice review. I am a fan of Rocky Patel's vintage series, despite some of the negative reviews as of late. I've enjoyed each one I've smoked.

I've hears ome good things about the new "The Edge" by Rocky, too. Now this.
Crap, I guesss there's gonna be two Rocky's to look for next time I go to the shop.

I'll definitely pick one of these up. Thanks again.

If you have trouble finding the edge, send me a PM. I have 4 of them in my humi, and I would be more than willing to share one with ya.

Nice review magno. I gotta get my hands on one of those now.

[DAFU]

..............thanks for the review! It seems as though Rocky has some of the best cigar buys out there now!!!

[radar]

Nice review Magno, looks like another for my try list.

[magno]

I'm one of those few people who have yet to be impressed with the "vintage" line, so I really didn't expect much from this cigar and was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by Uniputt

Nice review. I am a fan of Rocky Patel's vintage series, despite some of the negative reviews as of late. I've enjoyed each one I've smoked.

I've hears ome good things about the new "The Edge" by Rocky, too. Now this.
Crap, I guesss there's gonna be two Rocky's to look for next time I go to the shop.

I'll definitely pick one of these up. Thanks again.

[miketafc]

Great Review Magno!

Love the 90 and 92 RPV Robustos and will be looking to find this one and edge now.

[KingMeatyHand]

Good review. Looking forward to lighting up the one sitting in my humidor.

[Roger Miller"]

Originally Posted by Uniputt

Nice review. I am a fan of Rocky Patel's vintage series, despite some of the negative reviews as of late. I've enjoyed each one I've smoked.

I've hears ome good things about the new "The Edge" by Rocky, too. Now this.
Crap, I guesss there's gonna be two Rocky's to look for next time I go to the shop.

I'll definitely pick one of these up. Thanks again.

Cheapercigars.com has specials on RP's right now.
http://www.cheapercigars.com/Rocky_Patel.html

The Edge is a buy 10 get 20 deal -- http://www.cheapercigars.com/the_edg...cky_patel.html

Just in case anybody was interested

_____
rm

[magno]

I thought I'd do a follow up:

I just grabbed a few more of these Sungrowns. I mentioned in my original review that the Sun Grown I had was not all that attractive. All three that I purchased yesterday are gorgeous looking cigars -- much much much nicer looking than the one I reviewed.

[magno]

Just an FYI for those who care: CA gave this cigar a 90 rating in the March issue. Their description didn't jive with mine, but I am inclined to agree with this rating give or take a point or two.