Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: U.S. Connecticut Broadleaf, Undisclosed
Filler: Nicaraguan Condega, Estelí, Jalapa, Honduran Jamastran Valley
Size: 6.5 x 52 Toro
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $35.00
Date Released: April 2024
Quantity Released: 6,000 Boxes of 10
Factory: Tabacalera Villa Cuba S.A.

THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
A $35 Patel. Ouch. Every time I see a Rocky cigar, I think how the man was originally an entertainment lawyer in L.A. I had a few of these guys in my employ back in the day. None of the experiences were good. They all looked out for themselves first and their clients second. They give sharks a bad name.

The cigar is very ordinary in appearance. Nothing stands out that signals luxury. As far as the construction, it’s as solid as a log. There is no background information about this cigar which I find odd for a special release. It’s pretty cocky to sell an expensive cigar on just your good name. Fuente and others get away with this, but Rocky ain’t no Jack Kennedy.

Aromas are faint. But shoving it as far up my schnoz as possible, I get dark chocolate, almonds, espresso, dried cranberries, and black pepper.

I can barely pierce the toast with my PerfecPunch. The cap fights back. I go in for a second time. It doesn’t work. This has never happened. The circular blade is as sharp as a Richard Pryor punchline, but I give up and use a guillotine cutter.

The cold draw is spicy with added notations of black cherries, black pepper, oak, and mocha java.

Tasty start. Chocolate covered cherries. A combo of spicy red and black pepper. In sub layers are cinnamon, oak, dried peaches, cocoa, strong black coffee, and toasted sourdough bread.

I love a cigar that shows no haste and gets interesting in its early stages. The trick is to keep it up…much like your boner on the white death.

Strength doesn’t do the mess around and hits early with medium/full which is why I chose to forgo the pre-breakfast smoke. I have a hearty meal of gruel and basted ferret wings under my belt. The burn is fine, which was a worry based on its refusal to be penetrated by Dr. Rod’s tool.

My first bass lesson with Carol Kaye instilled the fear of God in my young soul. My cousin Fred Selden was a big deal in the world of L.A. session players, and unbeknownst to me, he made the call to Carol. I drove to Carol’s house in the Hollywood Hills. Each minute had me talking to myself on how I’d introduce myself. She had a cozy home. No crazy Elvis adornments. We sat in her dining room in chairs facing each other. She began by telling me that we would use her music books filled with charts. And then she laid down the law. She asked if I played using a pick or my fingers. I was a pick player back then. She nodded her approval. And then she thumbed through the books with all the famous songs she played on. It did the deed to scare the shit out of me even more.

During the life of the first inch, the blend reminds me of the Stulac/Katman Blue Lightning Sky. And then a burn issue begins. Rat bastard. The art of the burning bush suddenly hurries.

As the second inch begins, it creates a slightly sour mash taste. A little musty. It’s almost as if the cigar was aged improperly. I scroll up to look at the leaf stats again. Nothing stands out as interesting other than it has a double binder. The wrapper tastes more like an Ecuadorian Sumatra rather than your typical Mexican leaf. And the guts taste like AJ. But for $25 less.

“Why don’t you play me something?” I gulped hard. I did my best. I didn’t embarrass myself. She nodded again with her approval. “Now, watch this.” Thor the god of thunder began. I felt two inches tall.

We began the lesson. It was imperative that I knew how to read music. But only the bass clef was required. There was no bass tablature to make it easy. Fortunately, I knew how to read because I began playing accordion at age 10. Above every note was a symbol that showed the direction the pick must be used. One symbol showed the up motion and the other the down motion.

There is very little complexity. And I don’t sense much depth. The BLS was better at this point in the cigar. I keep thinking about the price. I’ve blown through $6 worth of cigar.

I read a review of this cigar that occurred 3 months after it was released. It was mostly gobbledygook without nailing down specifics. The reviewer gave the cigar praise and rated it 89. Using the Cigar Aficionado playbook, it’s sort of a thumbs up. I just don’t get why almost no one ventures into the 90 range. Stunning cigars get 92. What are the other 8 digits saved for? And then there is a site where a group of guys hate everything they critique. Nothing gets an above average score. You know going into their reviews, that they don’t like cigars.

The burn issue continues with it now needing a quick fix. Damn. I’m now $9 into the cigar with $26 left. This brings me back to the aging. My cigars have two years of box aging. Maybe the blend aged out? Rocky is laughing while sitting atop his fortune.

I struggled. I’d play the notations correctly but if I flipped the pick in the wrong direction, she’d stop me. I’d have to play it again. It didn’t matter if what I played was correct, I had to do it her way. I’d get a ton of homework. My lessons were weekly and they cost $25 which was a huge amount in 1969. It was the equivalent of $200 in 2026 dollars.

I was going to college during the year I took lessons from Carol. I was carrying 18 units or 6 classes and the homework was overwhelming. I also worked part time as the steamboat captain at Knott’s Berry Farm. I got really good at making excuses to Carol for not knowing the homework backwards and forward. But she knew my schedule and hid her frustration. I wasn’t lazy, just busy and I tried my best. And I didn’t want to stop taking lessons. I knew that in the chair across from me was a legend.

I’m waiting for the cigar to impress. I prefer the BLS. By now the Stulac cigar had me reelin’ in the years. It has depth and complexity. This blend is going nowhere fast. And the strength is kicking my ass. This is wrong and then something changes.

As inch two decries the loss of its early stage, the blend gets better. A subtle richness appears. There is a light depth. Hope is renewed. The cherry factor is upfront. Behind it is the dark chocolate and espresso. Then followed by cinnamon and spicy black pepper. But the burn issue continues. The stubborn cap penetration was a premonition.

At around 6 months, I got on her list of bass players she would give recommendations for sessions she couldn’t do because of her incredible work schedule. It got me work with some of the biggest sessions of the time. The music director for each session always asked me the same thing, play like Carol. I became Carol Kaye Lite. I look fondly at those days. My mother had died a few months before I began lessons, and she would have been very proud as she was my biggest supporter. Carol is now 90 years old, and she has her own website. But a couple years ago, she stopped posting. Now and again, I’d get a reply from one of my posts but while she said she remembered me, she was just being polite. You can watch a great documentary about her called “Carol Kaye: Session Legend Interview.” She told me that Paul McCartney’s bass playing on the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was inspired by her work on The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds.” In the last 20 years she has began playing an Ibanez bass guitar. It’s the same model I now play except Carol plays the fretted model. I never took my experience for granted. I was incredibly lucky. As I look back, I made the decision to stay in college rather than pursuing session work. Could it have changed my life? Maybe, but after school I continued the pursuit which led me to play in a British band, so I have no regrets.

The second half continues the meh approach. I can’t believe I bought a fiver. What was I thinking?

I get one inch into the second half and I’m calling it. I am pissed that I paid for a fiver.

There are still a few ten packs of the Katman/Stulac Blue Lightning Sky left at Small Batch Cigar. And they are cheaper than the main release. This Stulac blend is what the Year of the Dragon tried to accomplish.

RATING: 72

If you’ve ever wondered why cigars I recommend might sell out quickly…this is a partial screenshot of the 83 countries that read my blog. These numbers represent 14 days. Freaks me out a little that I’ve got peeps in Russia. This might be a main reason that other bloggers and the cigar industry hate me…my popularity makes no sense to them.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: cigar reviews, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, katman, phil kohn, rocky patel, Rocky Patel Year of the Dragon 2024 | Cigar Reviews by the Katman, year of the dragon