Rocky Patel Vintage 1999 Connecticut

Smoked: Rocky Patel Vintage 1999 Connecticut

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Rocky Patel Vintage 1999 Connecticut includes filler from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, a Nicaraguan binder and a slightly oily toothy Connecticut wrapper with visible seams and plenty of veins. Now I’m not much of a Rocky Patel fan, although I do like the Decade and Sun Grown Maduro Lancero. But 8 years of aging on the tobacco has me intrigued, especially with a Connecticut wrapper. We’ll give it a look-see….or puff-taste.

The cigar opens with a shot of pepper followed by kitchen cabinet spices, oak & charred cedar, almonds, espresso, cream, some butter, toast and hints of cocoa, leather, slate, dried fruit and licorice at times. No real transitions. It’s not that there are not enough flavor notes. The flavors simply did not work together well for me. It was consistently creamy, but also consistently peppery. Too much pepper, some bitterness, too abrasive – not what I expect from a Connecticut Shade -Is it the aging of the wrapper not playing well with the rest of the tobacco?

Good open draw, an initially even burn line that meandered midway, dense smoke production, and white ash that held on to almost 2 inches but tapped off cleanly on command.

Rocky Patel Vintage 1999 Connecticut is a mild to mild-medium bodied, medium strength stick. But it’s unlike any Connecticut Shade I have ever smoked - harsh, bitter, too peppery for my taste.