Rocky Patel Nording Robusto Review

Rocky Patel Nording Robusto

Origin : Honduras
Format : Robusto
Size : 5 1/2 X 50
Wrapper : Costa Rican maduro
Binder : Mexico
Filler : Honduras/Nicaragua
Paid 4.40 USD at Atlantic Cigars

I received my first shipment of NCs last week and I was anxious to try one. I was able to wait 4 days (it seemed like a long time...) for the cigar to stabilize in my humidor (68%) and I tried it. I picked this one because I wanted to try a cigar of which I already knew the CA rating (90 in the April 2011 issue) to be able to see what a 90 cigar tastes like.

Pre-light

The wrapper had a few veins, some bigger than others, but more on that later.

This cigar has a nice corkscrew cap, but when I was preparing to clip it, I accidentally knocked it off along with a piece of the wrapper ... Thankfully the binder underneath it was almost at the cap level and manage to hold everything. But just as a precaution, I removed the top band and moved up the lower one to cover the rip in the wrapper to help hold everything together. The draw was easy, which it stayed until the end, and it's aroma was of a deep tobacco taste. I don't really care for the design of the band, but that's irrelevant.

First third

It lit normally but the burn was uneven all the way through and I had to correct it 3 or 4 times and even relight it 2 or 3 times.

A big vein ran almost all the way to the foot and constantly prevented the burn to be even, slowing it compared to rest of the circumference.

The smoke was easy to produce and tasted of a deep tobacco taste, some spice and a little burned wood.

The ash stayed on for about an inch.

Second third

The spice intensified, more so than the burned wood and tobacco aromas. Some slight bitterness started to appear as well as a bit of a caramel aftertaste. The ash fell a bit quicker this time.

Last third

The aromas stayed the same but intensified. At that point, the wrapper had started to unravel and I had to move the band over it again but it didn’t hold very long. It was becoming more and more difficult to enjoy the cigar with it breaking apart, so I had to throw it away before finishing it. I still took me about 1 ¼ hour to get to that point.

Overall it didn’t make for an enjoyable smoke. Having to correct the burn over and over was the factory’s fault for choosing a bad wrapper, but the unravelling of it was my fault. I know that those two things have no impact on the taste of the cigar and I have to forget about that to give a fair rating. So based on the taste of the cigar, I would rate it average, maybe 3/5 stars.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m still new at cigar smoking or just picky, but I would have expected more out of a 90 rated cigar …

And on to the next smoke !