Rocky Patel Sun Grown Torpedo

For fans of Rocky Patel's Vintage lines, the Sun Grown is its fuller-bodied big brother sure to be appreciated by established and budding cigar aficionados alike. Introduced in 2004, a follow up to the Vintage, this medium-to-full-bodied spicy cigar has some kick to get you through some cold winter nights. A top-notch premium, the Sun Grown sports a dark, sultry Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper no less than five years old. The wrapper delivers a sweet element you'll savor to the last puff. Expect a smoke that starts with a bang and has a long, full-bodied finish. Our panel found the Sun Grown to be a complex cigar, clean on the palate with a nice spicy flavor to it and a long-lasting earthy, full-bodied finish. We smoked it 'till we felt the burn on our lips and there were no harsh or sour notes, reminding us of the elegance found in the old Cubans. This stogie earned a solid "91" rating from Cigar Aficionado and has been named one of the top 50 cigars in the world. A cigar this serious calls for a full tawny port or full bodied cabernet to match its prowess.

Honduras has been a tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing area for hundreds of years, but it was the Communist revolution in Cuba that really put Honduras on the map. In the 1960s, many Cuban cigar makers fled their homeland and arrived in Honduras to re-establish their way of life. The immigrants took advantage of the climate, soil, and geography, which were well-suited to tobacco growing, and began producing high quality cigars. The center of the Honduran cigar industry is the city of Danli and the nearby Jamastran Valley. The majority of the world’s pure Corojo tobacco is grown here, now that Cuba has stopped production of this iconic, spicy, and rich variety in favor of Corojo hybrids. Other important areas of Honduran cigar production include the Talanga Valley, Copan, and Trojes.