Each year, our tasting panel members smoke hundreds of cigars in order to give you the results of these blind tastings with the most objective impressions possible through our ratings. At the end of the year, we traditionally use the occasion to select those cigars that have remained in our memory.
As in the previous year, we asked our panelists to name their personal favorites from the year’s tastings. Only the cigars that received a combined score of 90 points or more and those that were initially released less than two years ago were eligible for selection.
#1 | Rocky Patel Grand Reserve Toro
The Grand Reserve was first presented in April 2018 as part of the Mountain on Fire event in the Austrian Alps and is (currently) exclusively available in Europe. Cigar lovers in the United States should keep a lookout for this cigar on their next trip to Europe. Distribution of the Grand Reserve series only started in October 2018. For the blend, which is kept secret, Rocky Patel dug deep into his treasure chest and used some of his oldest tobaccos. After production, the cigars matured in the aging room for a further two years. As well as the Toro, the Grand Reserve series also comprises a Robusto (5 1/2 x 50 | 140 x 19,8 mm) and a Sixty (6 x 60 | 152 x 23,8 mm). The cigars come in elegant ten-count boxes.
Tasting notes: This super creamy cigar offers the delicate sweetness of dried fruit and chocolate, the delicate bitter tones of tea, as well as woody, leathery, and nutty aromas. Caffè latte and herbal spice are “just” the encore.
Owner: Rocky Patel Premium Cigars
Factory: Tabacalera Tavicusa
Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Undisclosed
Binder: Undisclosed
Filler: Undisclosed
Size: 6 x 52 | 152 x 20,6 mm
Released: 2018
