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Stogie Reviews: Rocky Patel Vintage 1992 Petit Corona

6 Nov 2008

Nearly two years ago my colleague gave the Rocky Patel Vintage 1992 Torpedo a stellar five stogie rating. Since I’ve smoked and enjoyed many Vintage 1992s over the years, this rating came as no surprise.

But among the many Vintage ’92 cigars I’ve enjoyed, I can’t recall smoking any Petit Coronas until the three I had for this review. At 4.5 inches with a 44 ring gauge, it’s a great vitola for cold weather, which just happens to be hitting the Washington, DC area.

The dark, oily, and slightly splotchy ten-year-old Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper surrounds a Honduran broadleaf binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan filler that, according to Rocky Patel, has been accumulating flavor and character for seven years.

Just a note on the wrapper: The “1992” on the band seems to confuse many people. It’s a reference to the year the wrapper was first produced in 2002, at which time the wrapper was ten years old. Since then, the wrappers have continued to be 10 years old, meaning not from a crop of wrapper tobacco from 1992. This has led critics,  including JR Cigar’s Lew Rothman, to criticize Rocky Patel’s Vintage lines as misleading marketing.

The sharply box-pressed cigar is extra firm to the touch, but the draw is perfect. The one construction problem is that even when I use the sharpest Xikar cutter, one of the three petit coronas had some slight cracking near the head.

As for flavor, I noticed the same rich, dark coffee taste with hints of chocolate, roasted almond, and subtle pepper that I’ve noticed in larger formats of the Vintage 1992. What I didn’t find was variation or evolution of the flavors from the first puff to the last. That’s a common feature for cigars as small as this, as the size makes complexity even more challenging.

As noted above, the draw is particularly impressive given how tightly packed this little cigar is. The burn is a bit uneven at times, but never requiring step two of our fix that uneven burn tip. The ash was study, even if it didn’t hold all that long.

The Petit Corona runs around $6 apiece, or even less online or by the box. You might not call is a great bargain, but it is a fair price for a little stick that packs a big flavor punch and will last 30-40 minutes.

All told, this is a very impressive cigar. Compared to the five stogie-rated Torpedo, it may lose a little for lack of complexity and slight construction flaws, but that still leaves it with a solid rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

10 Responses to “Stogie Reviews: Rocky Patel Vintage 1992 Petit Corona”

  1. CWS Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 7:56 am #

    Now that winter is approaching, maybe you can do a feature on petit coronas – a top five list or something like that.

    I live in Philadelphia and smoking in the cold isn't fun – I have the H. Upman petit corona and the some of the 5 Vegas (various blends) nuggets.

  2. prophet Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 9:58 am #

    This is my favorite petit corona.

  3. Patrick A Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 10:07 am #

    CWS — I wrote a feature on short cigars in general last December. Check it out here. The idea was to provide a list of my favorite little cigars that won't keep you out in the cold too long.

    Maybe I should update that list this winter…

  4. CWS Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 11:33 am #

    Patrick A – many thanks for the link on the short cigars. Feel free to update. I'm a big fan of the 5 Vegas Serie A nugget.

  5. GeorgeH Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 12:26 pm #

    Patrick – Try the Davidoff Entreacto – It is my current favorite short smoke and would like to know what you think.
    http://www.davidoff.com/davidoff/en/pub/goodsmoke

  6. oran Friday, September 17, 2010 at 2:55 pm #

    I'm just finishing my first one of these right now. This is a great smoke that I hope to buy often. I like small cigars due to constant time constraints, but of course would prefer a bit more complexity. Regardless of little flavor evolution, the flavor was strong and delicious. I'll leave the flavor description to the pros, though. The ash fell half way through, then held to the end – nice and tight. The burn was a little wavy, but not a problem. The cap was loose, and just flaked off when cutting. The wrapper looked like it may unravel, too, but proved to be fine when smoking. Lots of flavor but not too strong. Left me longin for more…

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