Rocky Patel Turns To Unusual Source For Dark Star Cigar
Rocky Patel is a cigarmaker who isn’t afraid to take chances, and he’s moving into non-traditional territory with the release of Rocky Patel Dark Star, a Honduran-rolled cigar that contains a small amount of tobacco with origins in Paraguay.
The unusual tobacco—a part of Dark Star’s filler blend—is a seed from Paraguay that’s being grown in Honduras. “It’s the opposite of Estelí,” says Patel, referring to a region of Nicaragua known for spicy strength. “It’s got more of a nutty characteristic, very close to Costa Rican, a lot of almond. It’s not sweet-sweet.”
There’s just one leaf of this varietal in the filler blend, which also has tobacco from the Jamastran Valley of Honduras and the Jalapa region of Nicaragua. The binder is Mexican San Andrés, the wrapper Corojo-seed grown in Honduras.
Dark Star is meant to smoke somewhat like a Cuban cigar, but it’s not strong. “I was really trying to make a cigar that’s Cubanesque, but mild to medium-bodied,” says Patel. “I’ve realized most Cubans are mild to medium-bodied in flavor.”
Like so many of his cigars, this one was created after heavy testing—63 blends. “It came down to two or three,” he says. The one that was coded RP23-17A was the winning blend.
The new brand comes in four sizes, three of them traditional and one that’s fairly unusual. There’s a Robusto (5 1/2 inches long by 50 ring gauge, with a suggested retail price of $10.50); a Toro (6 by 52, $11.50); Sixty (6 by 60, $12.50) and the extra pudgy Short Star, which is a mere four inches long but 60 ring gauge. That one will sell for $11.25.
Previewed at the PCA trade show earlier this month, Dark Star is slated to be a regular addition to the Rocky Patel portfolio when it ships out to cigar shops in September. They are rolled in Honduras, at the El Paraiso factory owned by the Plasencias.
Patel has used unusual tobaccos before, turning to Panamanian for The Edge, which has gone on to become one of his mainstays and a considerable consumer success.
For a vertical brand tasting of Rocky Patel’s Dark Star, see a future issue of Cigar Insider.
