Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Rocky Patel White Label Toro is a matte dark tan and has a couple of decently raised veins that carry a tinge of green. The seams are smooth and the caps well applied. There are two bands, with the primary being white and rose gold and carries the company logo, line name, country of origin and wrapper type. The foot band is a white ribbon. The aroma from the wrapper is wood, hay, earth and mustiness. The foot brings lightly damp wood and bread. The pre-light draw brings lightly musty cedar and floral notes.
Seth: The Rocky Patel White Label Toro is finished with a lovely Connecticut wrapper that is silky in texture with a Claro to Natural wrapper. It has this hay color, without the golden quality. Small veins present throughout with a lovely cap. Aromas of cedar, hay and tobacco on the foot with hay and grass qualities on the wrapper.
John: The Rocky Patel White Label Toro comes in cellophane, and has a UPC sticker with an integrated tear tab. The cigar has a primary large, central band, along with a foot band of white ribbon. Aromas form the wrapper included sweet bread, mild raisin and mild wood. From the foot, I could pick up on sweet tobacco and hay.
Jiunn: The Rocky Patel White Label Toro has a golden light caramel wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and head well wrapped. Aromas from the wrapper give hay and abundant sweet and creamy roasted nuts. Aromas from the foot tell of the same, plus a subtle white pepper spice. Cold draw tells hay, cedar and roasted nuts.

Team Cigar Review: Rocky Patel White Label Toro

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with dry cedar and a mild black pepper. At a quarter inch in, the cedar becomes less dry as a mild creaminess joins the profile. At three quarters of an inch in, some dry earth joins the profile. The retrohale has cedar and dry earth up front with light amounts of black pepper and creaminess in the background. At an inch and a quarter, the cedar gains a light toast note. As the third comes to a close, mustiness joins the profile and is up front with the toasted cedar and dry earth while the black pepper is now in the background and the cream has departed. The strength in this third was slightly below medium.
Seth: The first third opens with lovely cream and hay notes. I am picking up some cedar and pepper qualities as well, but it is balanced and paired with this natural almond sweetness. Tobacco notes on the finish. Beautiful burn and construction. Medium in strength and body.
John: Sweetness and mild wood opens the first third. There is a mild, dry wood and nuts combination into the post draw. Some creamy baking spices developing through the retrohale at light-plus strength. As it continues, chocolate comes through the retrohale at light strength level. Approaching the halfway mark, some hay is present on the post draw at light-plus strength.
Jiunn: The first third is well balanced. Plethora of soft notes, consisting of bread, hay, cedar, a hint of baking spices and sugared cream. Retrohaling deepens the baking spices but it is wonderfully accented. The finish shows soft bread and sugared cream. Strength and body is medium.

Team Cigar Review: Rocky Patel White Label Toro

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, some creaminess rejoins and mixes in with the mustiness. At a half inch in, the profile is toasted cedar that has a bit of dryness up front with a mix of mustiness and creaminess a bit behind. Some dry earth is a bit behind that, and the black pepper remains in the background. Overall, the profile is now a bit dry with this combination. The retrohale is now dry, toasted cedar, with light mustiness and dry earth. At an inch and a half in, a light bitterness joins the profile. As the third comes to a close, the profile is dry, toasted cedar up front with mustiness and creaminess a bit behind, dry earth in the middle and black pepper and bitterness in the background. The strength bumped up to medium.
Seth: The cigar has gone downhill in the second third. It still has some flavors, but the balance and complexity from the first third have faded. Lack of finesse. I am picking up soft cream notes that are paired with pepper and it has this hay and cedar quality as well. Bits of grass, popcorn kernels, and herbs on the finish. Medium in strength and body.
John: Mild cocoa and wood start the second third as mild hay and wood combine to finish into the post draw. Some dryness accents the wood almost immediately. As the second third progresses, baking spices join the main wood profile. Some time later, approaching the halfway point, dry hay joins the post draw as well.
Jiunn: The second third moves the baking spices towards the front. But there are still abundant soft notes from the same bread, cedar, sugared cream and hay. Strength and body remains medium.

Team Cigar Review: Rocky Patel White Label Toro

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the bitterness picks up while the black pepper departs. The retrohale remains dry, toasted cedar, with light mustiness and dry earth. At an inch in, the toast level increases. At an inch and a quarter, a light vegetal note joins in as the cigar warms up a bit. The cigar wraps up with musty, toasted cedar up front with dry earth a bit behind and some bitterness and a vegetal note in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third was fairly in line with the second third. I am picking up some cedar and hay notes. I am picking up faded grass and herbal notes, and the finish had notes of popcorn kernels. Like before, medium in strength and body.
John: Dry hay takes the cigar into the last third with underlying hints of chocolate. There is no more flavor development through the last third.
Jiunn: The final third creates a back end bitterness and sharpness to the baking spices. This in turn deteriorates the softness of bread and sugared cream. Strength and body finishes the same medium.

Team Cigar Review: Rocky Patel White Label Toro

Burn

Aaron: The burn was straight most of the way, there was just a quarter inch of the wrapper that didn’t want to burn in the second third that required a touch-up. The ash held on in inch and a half increments.
Seth: Amazing burn from beginning to end.
John: The burn was very straight through the review with the ash falling in my lap at the 1-1/2 inch mark. Unfortunately, a significant portion of wrapper pulled away as I removed the band. This can happen when someone uses too much glue on the band, and I have experienced it very rarely with Rocky Patel cigars.
Jiunn: Perfect burn, providing solid ashes, cool burning temperature and great smoke production.

Team Cigar Review: Rocky Patel White Label Toro

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: Nice draw from start to finish.
John: The draw was right in the ideal zone between resistant and open.
Jiunn: The draw was also perfect, giving the best balance between air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with dry cedar and a mild black pepper. Some creaminess and dry earth joined a bit later. The cedar gained a toast note and some mustiness joined in. The second third saw the profile become a bit dry and a light bitterness join in. The final third saw the pepper depart and a vegetal note join in. The Rocky Patel White Label Toro started well, with a number of transitions which kept my attention. By the second third, the profile dropped down a level as the complexity started to wane and combined with the final third to be less pleasant than the first. I was pretty interested in trying this Connecticut shade from the brand. While it started well, it just couldn’t maintain the enjoyment level of the first third and ended up being an average overall cigar. The price point is quite high, and along with the flavor profile, isn’t a Connecticut shade offering that I’d put high on my list to revisit.
Seth: The Rocky Patel White Label Toro started out as a lovely cigar. The flavors were top notch, and the smoking experience was great. It was when I entered the second and final third that the cigar became average. That sweet almond flavor at the beginning faded, and what was left was the core profile of cedar, hay, popcorn kernels and herbs. The burn and draw were great throughout, nice medium strength and body level as well, but the cigar needed more in the second and final third to reach that higher scoring level.
John: The first third of the Rocky Patel White Label Toro struck the right balance of delivering a Connecticut Shade type profile but with other flavors like creaminess, nuts, chocolate and baking spice in balanced intensity levels. Unfortunately, the second and last third encapsulated everything I don’t enjoy about older style Connecticut Shade wrappers. The profile was largely focused on hay, wood and a significant amount of dryness on the main profile and post draw that distracted me from the experience. Burn and construction were perfect, which I’ve come to expect from Rocky Patel cigars. This one is a pass for me, especially when you factor in the super premium price point. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 9 minutes.
Jiunn: This is the ideal Connecticut shade flavor profile I look for. Soft notes galore, with sweetness and creaminess upfront, and accented wood and spice notes. But I have a major gripe about this Rocky Patel White Label Toro. The price tag of $20 for a Connecticut shade is a bit ridiculous. There are many you can find that are readily available for at half or less that cost. But I’ll push that aside and will weigh more on the actual (more important) flavor experience.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.00

Cost/Point

$3.33

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

6.30

Cost/Point

$3.17

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$3.28

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.82

Cost/Point

$2.93

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Rocky Patel White Label Toro