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 a strong the 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. Well, 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.