Rocky Patel Black Swan

A Black Swan event is an extreme rarity, and the Black Swan series of cigars is designed to take advantage of unique tobaccos at a given factory. It's the fruit of our team on the ground in Nicaragua. We're always seeking out unique tobaccos in bodegas that have yet to find their way into a cigar. In its simplest form, tobacco is a commodity and factories either grow and/or purchase materials in large lots to get what they need to maintain consistency in their iconic blends and brands. The result of this pattern means there are inevitably unique, small batch tobaccos lumped in that are too small to make a full-time production blend, and such tobaccos are typically stored away for aging. They may emerge for special limited edition projects or they may accumulate, depending on the factory. Black Swan is so named to take advantage of these exceptional but limited tobacco lots.

Finally landed here at Cigar Page HQ is the newest Black Swan - this one from Rocky Patel - building on the success of the Oliva Black Swan. Rocky enters the ring with a notable offering and what makes it special, as if often the case, is the wrapper. This is a coffee bean-brown Corojo leaf that's oozing with oils and tooth galore. It's Honduran Corojo from the Jamastran Valley and it is the highest-grade shade grown wrapper in Honduras. This leaf secures an aged mixture of Nicaraguan and Honduran long-fillers, and all told the recipe brings in a medium-strength smoke that saturates the palate with bright but smooth flavors. A veritable Neapolitan combo of vanilla, chocolate, and fruit undergirds the smoke throughout the burn, with a flavor profile that's as complex as it gets. Layer after layer of flavors, including notes of honey, bread, nuts, and pepper with a nuanced finish, lending exceptional balance to the blend. I think you'll like this.

More from Rock Patel: Rocky Patel Shade Connecticut, Rocky Patel Twentieth Cigars, Rocky Patel Winter Collection, Rocky Patel Decade, Rocky Patel Sun Grown