Stogie Reviews: Rocky Patel Puro Cubano Robusto
2 Mar 2010
One thing’s for certain about Rocky Patel: He makes a heck of a lot of cigars. Rocky’s flashy website doesn’t even bother to mention many of his blends, be they seasonal, limited editions, retailer exclusives, or what have you.
Still, for many cigar enthusiasts, any stick with Rocky’s name on the label is worth trying. Such trust is rooted not only in the blends that rocketed Rocky to success—like the Vintage ’90 and ’92 lines—but also in more recent winners, such as the popular and highly acclaimed Decade.
Among his lesser-known creations is the four-vitola Puro Cubano blend. The story here is that Rocky wanted to introduce a new full-bodied cigar before the SCHIP tax hike went into effect last April. To his dismay, however, the blend of Cuban-seed filler from EstelÃ, Nicaragua, and the Cibao Valley of the Dominican turned out milder than anticipated.
Rocky evidently thought the cigar was still worthy of his name. So today Puro Cubanos are readily available from online retailers at a relatively inexpensive price point.
The Robusto (5.5 x 50) sells for approximately $3.50-5 apiece when bought by of the box of 20. It isn’t the most attractive cigar on the planet. I examined two Robustos for this review, both of which included a Habano wrapper with large veins, small tears, and some discolored splotches.
The initial flavor, not unlike many cigars these days, starts with a hearty dose of black pepper spice. Powerful yet without harshness. This must have been what Rocky had in mind when he set out to make the Puro Cubano.
After a half inch, the profile mellows into a core of creamy oak. The taste is drier and more resinous than it is balanced or complex. It isn’t without charm, though, and I suspect many Rocky fans will be pleased with the Robusto’s medium-bodied bang for the buck.
That suspicion is reinforced by the Puro Cubano’s outstanding construction. Sure, this cigar may look like it’s going to have combustion deficiencies, but it smokes very well. Expect a sturdy white ash, an effortless draw, and a straight burn.
Seasoned cigar veterans still shouldn’t expect to be wowed. The flavor is too monotonous to merit 100% of your attention. So I’d save the Puro Cubano Robusto for occasions where the cigar will be a background complement instead of the main event. That’s why this Rocky Patel earns three stogies out of five.
[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here. Cigars for this review were provided by Cigars Direct.]
photo credit: Stogie Guys
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Another from Rocky, eh? Geez, you'd think he made some kind of bet with K. Hansotia from Gurkha to see who could put out the most different cigar lines. They both have a few gems, but I wish they would focus on quality over quantity.
The only Puro Cubano I've smoked had serious draw issues, but in general I find RP to offer a lot of great cigars. In fact, their Vintage series remain some of my favorite cigars.
I haven't been able to find these anywhere but I'd like to give one a try -looks great!
Just my opinion, but I just haven't had that many RP's that I really liked. Don't know why, but usually Im thinking of what I could've spent my money on instead.
Even the Decade cigar got bitter towards the middle to end of the cigar.
Agree with dmjones on, quality over quantity.
I purchased a 15 pk of these from CBid. I smoked about 5 of them within the first 2 weeks. I let the other 10 sit in the humidor for about 4-5 months.
I never understood the cheap price point, bc this is a great stogie! Finely constructed, great RP material.
The flavor is far from the "signature" RP flavor in most of his cigars, but it is nice to have something different once in a blue moon. They taste almost EXACTLY like my 1998 Romeo and Juliet habanos from Cuba though- 🙂
KEEP UP THE AWESOME WORK STOGIE GUYS! You are my default page when I start up my browser 🙂