The Pastor and the Shrink - Cigar reviews for your Mind and Spirit - Rocky Patel Decade

It is a crisp Autumn afternoon when Randy and I decide to venture to the Man Shed and smoke one of our favorite cigars - the Rocky Patel decade. Randy and I have both smoked these in the past - several times. Although this is one of our favorite cigars we decided to go ahead and do a review of it.

As you may remember Randy and I split an order of cigars in which we received two each of five different cigars all of which had been rated 90+ by Cigar Aficionado. We did not like most of them as much as the folks at Cigar Aficionado, but we do think they got it right with the Decade.

On the Rocky Patel website they list the tobacco that makes this cigar up as follows: Wrapper: Sumatra; Binder: Secret; Filler: Secret. It is the first time I can remember that a manufacturer did not list the types of tobacco used to make a particular cigar. We smoked the Torpedo size 6 1/2 x 52. Today we are pairing the cigar with one of our favorite single malt scotches - Macallam 12.

This is a lovely cigar, covered in a dark brown Sumatran wrapper and complimented by a simple, yet elegant double band. The construction is flawless and the cigar is firmly packed but not overly tight, leading to an Excellent draw. Although the manufacturer describes this as a meduim to full body cigar we tend to think that it is much closer to meduim than full. This cigar produces a lot of smoke and has a nice secondary aroma. It is the kind of cigar that if you smoked around people they would probably not be put off by it.

The cigar maintains a very consistent meduim body, that is smooth and mellow. It has a dry quality to its finish - like that of dry cocoa or strong coffee. Our cigars did experience some slight burn issues - slight runners and the need for a touch up. We both also experienced the need to re-lite our cigars. This was surprising, because the Decade is a cigar you enjoy smoking and do not want to put down, so it wasn't our neglect that caused the cigars to go out. Also, historically neither of us remember that burn issues were ever an issue with these cigars.

One way you know how much you are enjoying a cigar is determined by when you give up on it. Some cigars get increasingly bitter as you smoke them. You may enjoy the first half but find the longer you smoke it the harsher the taste becomes. These cigars tend to be abandon fairly early. A really good smoke, that is consistent in its taste, tends to be smoked for as long as it can be without burning your fingers or lips. The Decade fits into the latter category, you do not want to put it down. Your last draw is as good as your first.

This cigar was almost as good as we had remembered. We graded it slightly lower because of the burn issues we had. However, since we have smoked a number of these and this is the first time we have had this problem we are not going to allow it to impact the overall score.

Scores:
Randy - 4 this cigar - historically 5
Dave - 4 this cigar - historically 5

This is a great cigar. It is attractive, smokes well, and has a consistent medium bodied flavor. It is an elegant and refined smoke that we would both have as one of our favorite smokes of all time. Our experience of this cigar was enhanced by the MaCallan 12 Single Malt Scotch. They were an excellent pairing.