When I first started writing about cigars, the state of New York’s cigar tax was a big deal. It was 2010 and New York, the state, was in the process of trying to close a budget shortfall in part by increasing its tax rates on tobacco, including creating the highest cigarette tax in the country. Because it’s New York—more because New York City was involved—the issue got outsized attention in the cigar industry.

Cigar retailers in New York eventually got some relief in the form of something known as industry standard which allowed retailers to lower the taxes paid on cigars until the state removed that provision in 2020.

Since then, New York has returned to a state with some of the highest cigar taxes in the country—75 percent of the wholesale price—and there are constant threats that it could increase.

There have been numerous efforts to help reign in the taxes and allow New York retailers to compete, competition that is particularly difficult given that its southern neighbor, Pennsylvania, has no tax on cigars. The New York Tobacconist Association is trying to get two bills signed into law: the first is S.B. 6741, which would establish a 50-cent cigar tax cap in New York State; the second is S.B. 6742, which would create a special liquor license to make it easier for cigar stores to serve alcohol in their stores. While there has been no update on S.B. 6741 since March, 6742 was approved by the Senate in early June and now needs to work its way through the New York State Assembly before heading to the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Towards the end of 2021, in order to help fund these efforts, the group launched the NYTA Rocky Patel Empire, a 6 x 52 toro made entirely of Honduran tobacco including a habano wrapper and fillers from the Jamastran Valley. Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Inc. says it is donating the proceeds from the sales of the cigars to the NYTA.

  • Cigar Reviewed: NYTA Rocky Patel Empire
  • Country of Origin: Honduras
  • Factory: El Paraiso
  • Wrapper: Honduras (Habano)
  • Binder: Honduras
  • Filler: Honduras (Jamastran Valley)
  • Length: 6 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 52
  • Vitola: Toro
  • MSRP: $11.99 (Box of 10, $119.90)
  • Release Date: December 2021
  • Number of Cigars Released: 1,000 Boxes of 10 Cigars (10,000 Total Cigars)
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

If you aren’t familiar with the flag of the state of New York, you might confuse this color scheme with being a University of Michigan cigar. As for the cigar itself, the wrapper is a muted brown color with some red tones and very little oil. While the veins are pretty light, I can see some wrinkles where the wrapper was stretched. The aroma from the wrapper is medium-plus or medium-full depending on the cigar, with peanut shells, some acidity, leather, and a bread scent. The foot is much more intense with cocoa, leather, cinnamon, coffee and bark. It reminds me a bit of a spiced rum and coffee cocktail, though I’m not sure where exactly I’ve had this particular cocktail.

The NYTA Rocky Patel Empire begins with dry nuttiness, then earthiness and bark, then some saltine crackers and dry pepper that dries out my palate. It’s very sequential and medium-plus in its intensity. Flavor progression takes a little while, but popcorn is eventually the thing I most associate with the profile, which has a mixture of some carbohydrate-laden snacks and saltiness. There’s also watered-down coffee, earthiness, black pepper and a sharp sweetness. The finish has nuttiness, unsalted popcorn, black pepper, earthiness and a mild strawberry flavor. When I push the smoke through my nose, I find more earthiness, toastiness, sunflower seeds, leather and a generic pepper mixture. The finish has chili pepper, earthiness and some bread-like flavors. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-full and strength is medium. While smoke production is impressive, every 15-20 it seems like I need to touch up the cigars in order to keep them lit.

I had a strong feeling that this was a slow-burning cigar, and during the second cigar the suspicion is confirmed when I take a look up at the clock and realize it’s been an hour before I’m into the second third. Flavor-wise, the NYTA Rocky Patel Empire has earthiness and black pepper as the main flavors, then there’s a sharp white pepper on the center of my tongue, and a toasty amaro-like flavor that provides a nice accent. The finish has leather, sunflower seeds, white pepper, some straw and a muted mint flavor. Continuing the trend of interesting flavors, retrohales now feature more herbal flavors with lemon rind, sawdust and some fresh breadcrumbs, i.e. the dried crust of a French loaf. The finish isn’t as exciting, with toastiness and white pepper leading creaminess and a generic white bread flavor. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-full and seems to be building. Like before, the cigar struggles to stay lit and while none of them go out, all of them need multiple touch-ups.

Whether it’s the burn issues or the blend itself, the final third lacks the unique flavors I found in the middle parts. Earthiness and sunflower seeds lead leather, black pepper and some sugar sweetness underneath. The finish has creaminess, a building herbal flavor, sunflower seeds and white pepper. At times, I find the finish to be very bitter, though that only seems to happen on a minority of puffs and rarely lasts more than a few consecutive puffs. Retrohales add more earthiness and herbal flavors to the fray, though there’s lots of red and black pepper. At times, a creaminess helps to balance out the pepper, but even when it’s present, the peppers are much more intense. The creaminess picks up on the finish, but it’s still not enough and leather and white pepper are the two strongest flavors. Flavor, body and strength are all now full, the latter of which has been telegraphed since the middle part of the cigar where the strength began noticeably increasing in intensity. Construction improves a bit, I find only one touch-up is needed to get through the final two inches.

Final Notes

  • Note: The cigars for this review were smoked in late May. Due to a variety of reasons, this review wasn’t published until late July.
  • Design-wise, I think this band is great and the printing is good. However, this is a great example of all those little details mattering. The lack of embossing, foil and other techniques seen on many cigars ends up being apparent here. It feels like the band is missing something because it looks like a bit flat.
  • While a singular check would probably be a larger monetary impact, I think cigars like this are great at building awareness. If just 10 percent of the people who buy these cigars learn about the issues facing New York cigar shops, that’s a major win. I wish more companies and more retailer organizations would create releases like this.
  • As important as the tax cap is, I think the liquor license bill might be more important. I live in Dallas, Texas, and most cigar shops are unable to serve liquor because of the city’s smoking laws. However, some of the surrounding towns and cities allow for liquor service and it certainly makes a big difference. I’m no retail guru, but the economics of a customer buying a cigar for say $12 and then sitting in the lounge for two hours is not the most profitable business model. In a world where that same customer purchases that cigar and two cocktails, the economics change dramatically. On the consumer side, one thing I see is that stores with the ability to serve liquor tend to have much nicer build-outs than the new stores that open without them.
  • Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Inc. advertises on halfwheel.
  • Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
  • The first third of this cigar burned quite slowly. The burn rate picked up a bit, but in the end it still took me between two hours and 30 minutes and two hours and 45 minutes.
83 Overall Score

My issues with the NYTA Rocky Patel Empire start and end with the constant threat that the cigar might not stay lit. While the cigar was very consistent, it was still quite annoying given how frequently I needed to use my lighter. Flavor-wise, the profile was exciting and interesting, but I felt like it got too sharp at times, particularly with some of the non-pepper characteristics. By the final third, it seems like the cigar has given up just a bit, perhaps due to the touch-ups, and lost its desire to continue to be as interesting. Whatever the case, the thing I’ll remember most about this cigar has nothing to do with how it smoked. It’s a good idea for a good cause and while I’d prefer a better burning cigar, it’s more than adequate to make me feel like the entire package purchased is justified.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.