My first La Aroma de Cuba was given to me by a co-worker nearly a year ago and since that day, I’ve smoke quite a few more. As soon as I came up with the idea to launch Oak & Smoke, I was determined to make the La Aroma de Cuba my first official cigar review. I originally intended to take some pictures for this review, but found myself without a camera when the occasion to smoke my final stick came. That really was an unfortunate turn of events for reasons I’ll get to in a moment, but first on to the review.

La Aroma de Cuba is an old turn-of-the-century Cuban brand and was reportedly one of Winston Churchill’s personal favorites. The name has resurfaced as a reproduction made for and distributed by Ashton. The current incarnation boasts a colorful and old-world style band that is big as it is bright. The wrapper is dark and rich and made from a special Cuban seed, Honduran grown tobacco. The binder is Honduran and the filler is mixture of Cuban seed Honduran and Nicaraguan tobacco. Until recently, most of the sticks I’ve had were smoked shortly after purchase and never properly aged in my humidor. I frequently encountered burn problems and found the draw to be a little too tight for my tastes, but all that changed. I was determined to leave the last cigar alone and try it again in a few months. Well, that day was today and I was absolutely floored. The draw was perfect and it burned perfectly all the way around from start to finish.

You’re probably wondering why I keep coming back to a cigar that can be a bit of a pain in the ass and the answer is taste. To date, I have not enjoyed the taste of any cigar more than I do with the La Aroma de Cuba. It isn’t the spiciest or strongest cigar I’ve had, in fact they are the embodiment of “medium”. The cigar has a very distinctive almond flavor that has been extremely consistent from one stick to the next. While the flavor kicks up a notch about midway through it remains consistently nutty. One of my favorite aspects of the whole La Aroma de Cuba experience is the price. A box of 25 churchills will run you approximately $100 and the individual sticks typically run around $5 to $6 each. The flavor and the price were more than enough to keep me hooked on this cigar, but now that I know to give them plenty of humidor time I’ll enjoy them that much more.

This review has been a long time coming, but I just hadn’t gotten around to smoking the Rocky Patel Sun Grown Torpedo sitting in my humidor for the past four months. Fortunately, the side effect of procrastination is one an appropriately aged cigar. As a self-described fan of Rocky Patel cigars, I was definitely looking forward to giving this one a try.

This cigar features a 5-year old Ecuadorian sun grown Sumatra leaf with a Nicaraguan binder and a blend of Dominican & Nicaraguan filler. According to Rocky, the Sun Grown is a medium to full-bodied cigar and by just looking at the rich, oily wrapper I suspect I’ll agree with his assessment. The torpedo is 6.25″ long and sports a substantial 52 ring guage. The cigar features the traditional double band setup Rocky uses on nearly all of his cigars, but this one features wrappers that are bold with a vibrant red and gold color scheme.

This cigar is nicely wrapped with a good solid feel in your hands. The best word that came to mind while holding, cutting and lighting the cigar was “tight”, but the draw was anything but. The resistance through the cigar was well measured. The light went well and the burn started off a little on the uneven side at first, but settled in to a good clean burn. The smoke was cool and quite thick and creamy. The ash seemed thick and dense and seemed to hold on to the stick for dear life. Immediately upon lighting, this cigar has some punch. The flavor is a little on the strong side, but not so much as to turn me off. It starts off with quite the pepper kick, but settled down a third of the way in and switched rather smoothly to a nice nutty taste. The finish was decidedly milder in flavor than it was in the beginning, but it did start to get a little hot near the end. The cigar lasted a lot longer than I expected and I was in a little bit of a rush at the end, so I’d probably chalk that up to me.

The Rocky Patel Sun Grown Torpedo cigar is, like Rocky says, a good medium to full-bodied cigar. I like my cigars right smack dab in the middle and the Sun Grown is on the strong side of medium and would go great after a nice steak dinner. At $5 to $6 per stick, the Sun Grown is a reasonable priced cigar and one I would recommend to anyone who likes their cigars with a little kick.

The Rocky Patel Decade is a special 10th anniversary release from Rocky and the torpedo earned a 95 rating from Cigar Afficionado. Rocky himself brought a whole bunch of these cigars to give away at the Aleppo Smoker I attended back in March and I forced myself to leave it alone for a while. This past weekend I finally took it out of the humidor and fired it up.

The overall construction of the Decade is absolutely top-notch with a nice, oily Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper and a special (marked “secret” on the Rocky Patel web site) blend of Nicaraguan leaf for the binder and filler. The cigar is made at the Nestor Plasencia owned El Paraiso Factory in Honduras and it is the same factory that produced the Rocky Patel Sungrown, another cigar sitting in my humidor and due for a review in the near future.

The Decade is box pressed and feels nicely wrapped and sturdy. The Decade lit up easily and the burn was nice and level. The smoke was very pleasant with a rich, full aroma and great draw. I would best describe the flavor profile of the Decade is a bit of sleeper. The rich, chocolate colored wrapper belies a smoke that is mild mannered, but in reality the cigar packs a little more punch than its exterior might indicate. This cigar teeters on the brink between “medium” and “full-bodied”, but regardless of its moniker, this cigar has some teeth and those of you who prefer your cigars on the mild side, might want to think twice before you drop $10 on a Decade. The cigar has a nice spicy flavor with a touch of nuttiness that I found quite pleasant. It got a little hot down near the end, but nothing I’d consider a problem and I smoked this bad boy right down to my thumb.

The Decade was an exceptional smoke and I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes a nice “medium” cigar with a little kick.