Quarter Century - 25 Years of Cigar Dedication

The year was 1995 and his name is Rakesh, a Los Angeles attorney who started representing those in the film industry, always being around people enjoying the good life with a great cigar.  Deciding he was done with being an attorney, Rakesh first teamed up with Phil Zanghi to start the Indian Taba Cigar Comany. Rakesh “Rocky” Patel broke out and became a name of his own, deciding to free himself of a partnership that was limiting his ability to produce the cigars he envisioned and claim his share of an ever growing cigar world.  The industry was dominated by Cubans, and Rocky was an Indian businessman with BIG ideas.  Deciding to rebrand and name a company after himself was a giant leap, but over time paid off big and today Rocky Patel Cigars is a giant in the cigar industry rocking out exciting new and delicious blends. After creating award winners such as the Decade, Fifteenth Anniversary and Edge Series, time had come to celebrate 25 years in the business.  What better way to do it then with a cigar!

It’s called the Quarter Century. A cigar that Uses a Mexican San Andreas wrapper overtop a bunch of Honduran binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. It wouldn’t be special if there wasn’t a little bit of a secret to the cigar celebrating 25 years, so there is additionally other filler tobaccos used in this blend that are not disclosed. These tobaccos aged for 10 years pre-roll and after being rolled these cigars are locked away for 2 more years, allowing the sticks to age to perfection so they are ready for your smoking pleasure once opened up to the outside world. After aging these cigars take on a minimalistic 2 band design, the upper band with the simple “RP” letters surrounded by the words “Quarter Century” and the lower band again with a simple “Rocky Patel” and “25th Anniversary”. 

Cut & Light:

Using our favorite cut we shave off just a sliver off the cap, the thickness of a sheet of paper.  If your’e cutting anymore than that, you are taking off too much.  The cold draw is a nice mixture of tobacco, wood, leather. Smooth, easy draw. This cigar looks a bit more on the rustic side, but the final product after having smoke many is nothing short of delicious. 

Light It Up:

The Quarter Century starts with a nice creaminess and mixed notes a nuts, light leather and a slight mix a general spices. The flavor and body are both a solid medium, not overpowering for those stepping up their game from beginner entry level. Beautiful burn line when you light your cigar properly and great construction from each one we’ve had since bringing them in. During our smoke a little more white pepper mingles its way in with the creaminess, wood and leather notes as previous mentioned, Retrohales of this cigar are easy and wont make your eyes water up. A little bit of plain mushroom is detected, coming from the creaminess of this stick. Not a musty taste, but vibrant and delightful.  The final bit of each cigar leaves you palate lingering with notes of wood and nuts. Not heavy at all nor leaving a charred taste in your mouth.

Impression:

Crisp flavors and a very enjoyable smoke. This not being our first one of course. It’s only Wednesday and currently on my third as I type this to you. A total smoking time for the toro is just shy of an hour. Fans of wood notes, nut notes and clean flavors are sure to enjoy this cigar. Looking to dial it back from your maduro collection up kick it up just a little from your beginner level, then this is a cigar you should easily be able to enjoy, 

Be sure to include the Rocky Patel Quarter Century to you cigar rotation, and check out all the other delicious Rocky Patel blends in our humidor.