Rocky Patel Renaissance
Monday, December 14th, 2009Up for review today is the Rocky Patel Renaissance. Is it a rebranded RP Edge Sumatra? I don’t know… As many of you know I’m a little Rocky fan boy. Whenever he puts out a new blend, I try to find it. A majority of the time I enjoy his products. I was turned on to this cigar by a couple cigar reviewers, Jerry and Barry. Make sure you see what they have to say about it. In the mean time, here are my thoughts. As always, I paired up with fine Florida tap water.
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Jalapa Valley Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Size: 5 x 50
Price: $7.50
Pre-Smoke & Construction:
Giving the cigar my usual pre-smoke inspection, I found that overall it looked nice. The wrapper was smooth, a little shiny, and had small to medium veins. The cigar was consistently packed and felt a little stiff when pinching. The odor of soil and a touch of poo were noticed when sniffing the wrapper. Sniffing the foot revealed a simple earthy sweet odor. The pre-light draw had a slight resistance, and had a sweet earthy tobacco taste.
The burn required a few touch up’s, and the ash held for well over an inch.
Flavor:
The first third started out easy and smooth with earthy notes. A dry woody flavor was up next, along with a sweet and mild peppery spice. As the first third came to a close, the sweetness increased in strength.
As I dug into the second third, the earthiness decreased a little in strength. The woody, peppery, and sweet spicy flavors were pretty much equal and mixed together well. The overall flavor profile came together in this third and I found it to be enjoyable.
The last third went well and increased in strength a bit. The woody notes seemed to dominate. The sweet pepper remained and lingered after retro-haling. The sweetness evolved into a dry mocha-ish flavor, while the finish was dry and somewhat toasty. The smoke had a thick feel. Overall this third was very satisfying.
Conclusion:
This was a good medium to upper medium bodied cigar. I seem to recall liking the Edge Sumatra a bit more though. All in all, I think the Renaissance is definitely worth trying. Get a few and see what you think.
