Rocky Patel SunGrown Torpedo

Last week was a busy week for us with something on the plate almost everyday and evening so as Friday day drew to a close the discussion of what to do and what to eat for dinner began. I had been craving a rack of spare ribs from our local BBQ restaurant Martin's BBQ Joint all day so that suggestion was offered up. Additionally the proposal of coming home, letting the kids run around and perhaps starting a fire in our fire pit was discussed as it would allow for some time for the kids to burn some energy while we simply relaxed and enjoyed time together.

We packed up the family and headed for dinner, and it was delicious as usual. Ribs that fall of the bone and meat that is still pink even though it is fully cooked is a sign of a good, "low and slow" cooking process and Martin's does do a fantastic job. Upon completion of dinner we headed back home and I headed to the humidor to select a stick to smoke and begin our evening outside.

My humidor is pretty well stocked right now so I have a large selection, however I was drawn to the Rocky Patel SunGrown Torpedo that has been hiding near the bottom. I grabbed my cutter and lighter, whipped up some Strawberry Margaritas using fresh strawberry's and headed outside to join my wife and kids.

Prior to cutting the head off the cigar, I took a moment to look at the construction of the cigar. If you haven't stopped and just looked at a cigar and the way it is put together, this is something I encourage you to do. Rocky Patel really puts together a well constructed cigar, the techniques used to make the wrapper leaf fit so flawlessly is truly an art form, and to think the best cigar rollers are whipping out multiple cigars a minute still amazes me.

I cut the head off the cigar and slowly toasted the foot. I let it go for a good minute or so before taking the first draw on the cigar. The first draw off the cigar offered up a strong spicy note that finished with a complex, velvety currant overtone. After a few more quick draws I allowed the cigar to cool slightly and settle into a great evening of family and cigars.

The cigar is on the higher side of medium bodied, and the spicy notes seem to resolve themselves nicely as the cigar gets into its sweet spot. The dark currant overtones mesh perfectly with the spicy draw offering the smoker a perfectly balanced smoke that seems to mellow as the cigar burns. Now don't misunderstand when I state that the cigar mellows as in reading that you could assume harshness, but that is not the case rather by mellowing I am referring to the way in which the cigar basically settles into its groove as you smoke it.

As the kids continued to run around, and the evening sun faded into the horizon sadly the cigars' end was reached forcing me to extinguish it. Perhaps there is some irony in having a sun grown cigar fade into existence as the very sun that grew it settled into its night slumber.

A perfect cigar for a perfect evening. I actually contemplated a second cigar while we sat around the back yard fire pit, but elected not to leaving the Rocky Patel SunGrown Torpedo to stand alone on its own merits, and excellent cigar for an excellent evening.

Until we smoke again.