Rocky Patel Renaissance Churchill

I am usually pretty tense after a long plane ride.  Not because I’m afraid of flying but rather due to all of the tumult involved.  So, it was with anticipation that I unwrapped this offering from Rocky Patel.  Because I live in southwest Florida, I run into Rocky regularly and frequently tell him he makes a good cigar.  This one looked like a beauty.

It had a nice medium brown wrapper and two beautiful bands.  The first band was at the foot of the cigar informing the smoker that the tobacco Sumatran.  Unfortunately, as I took that band off the cigar cracked ever so slightly.  I really didn’t think it would be a problem.  The band at the other end of the cigar is an interesting shape.  It has a diamond point top and bottom adn tabs on each end.  Under one of the tabs are the initials MZ.

Upon lighting, which was easy, I got an even flavor that was cool and spicy.  The overall flavor was of cilantro or another peppery herb.  After about 15 minutes the ash required attention.  I was surprised.  I usually keep a rather long ash and didn’t really expect to be needing an ashtray so soon.  Perhaps it was that small tear in the wrapper when removing the foot band.  When I gently tapped the ash, it seemed as though the end of the cigar had a canyon in the middle.  After another 20 minutes this went away when I flicked the 3rd ash.  Despite these problems, the cigar tastes just fine.  I developed a slightly creamy taste about halfway through that lasted for most of the rest of the cigar.  The aroma was sweet for the entire smoke which lasted about 50 minutes.