Rocky Patel Emerald Toro 6 1/2″ x 54

Emerald is the easygoing end of the Rocky Patel range, built for flavor rather than force. The robusto in this line was Cigar Aficionado’s No. 6 cigar of 2025 at 95 points. Patel practiced law in Los Angeles before he made cigars and spent his early years buying production from other people’s factories. These are rolled at his own, TAVICUSA in Estelí.

An Ecuadorian Habano wrapper covers a dual binder of Mexican and Nicaraguan leaf over mostly Nicaraguan filler, with one leaf from the Jamastran valley in Honduras. Medium in body: it opens on baking spice and a light sweetness, then turns to ground coffee, leather and hickory, and closes with black pepper. At six and a half inches the box press gives it flat edges and a slow, even burn, with room to develop through the middle.

The dual binder is the unusual part. Almost every cigar uses one, because the binder’s job is structural as much as anything else, holding the filler in shape and governing how evenly it burns. Running two different leaves in that role is a blender filling a gap one leaf leaves open, and it is a good part of why this drinks as smoothly as it does.

Pairs well with coffee, bourbon, or amber ale.