Sixty by Rocky Patel Bala

While I wouldn’t say the majority of cigar companies fall into this category, there are some companies that have specific sizes that they use for special releases. The most notable example of this to me is the 6 1/2 x 52 toro extra that My Father Cigars, Inc. has used on various limited edition cigars over the year. Not every limited edition My Father product is released in that size, but seemingly more often than not, when the company has a higher-priced limited edition release, it’s using that particular vitola.

Other companies like Drew Estate (Flying Pig), Arturo Fuente (BBMF) and Camacho/CLE (11/18) have special shapes that are more or less exclusive to those companies. In that same vein, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Inc. has the Bala.

The Bala has been around since at least 2016, a unique 5 3/4 x 50/58 perfecto that is double capped. This means that the top part—the one you cut and smoke from—is fully wrapped, as is the foot, the part you will light. That bottom part has a small punch cut, which allows for humidity to escape and should make lighting a bit easier. Rocky Patel has released the Bala size in various blends—ALR Second Edition, Disciple, and Tabaquero by Hamlet Paredes—with the latest blend to get the size being the Sixty by Rocky Patel.

Sixty by Rocky Patel uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It launched in 2021 to celebrate the 60th birthday of Rocky Patel, the company’s founder. This is the fourth size for the line, the first that isn’t box-pressed.

It’s also the first limited edition for the line. This particular cigar is exclusive to retailers that are part of the Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA), a trade group that contains around 80 retailers and 40 manufacturers that gather once per year for an in-person meeting.

During the annual event, the group discusses issues facing the industry, catches up with one another, and sells some cigars. There are two different selling events: one known as the Dream Machine, where the retailers collectively order to secure larger discounts, while the other is a more traditional trade show. This year there were around 20 cigars introduced as TAA exclusives.

Those included cigars from CLE, Crowned Heads, E.P. Carrillo, Espinosa Premium Cigars, Ferio Tego, Forged Cigar Co., General Cigar Co., Gurkha, J.C. Newman, Joya de Nicaragua, Kristoff, La Palina, Miami Cigar & Co., My Father, Plasencia, Quesada and Rocky Patel, Tatuaje and, apparently, Alec Bradley.

• Cigar Reviewed: Sixty by Rocky Patel Bala
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Tabacalera Villa Cuba S.A.
• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 5 3/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 58/50
• Vitola: Bala
• MSRP: $19 (Box of 20, $180)
• Release Date: August 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: 1,500 Boxes of 20 Cigars (30,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

I haven’t smoked that many Balas over the year, so I am surprised to see that the foot of the cigar is prepunched. As you can see in a picture below, the executions of the punches are not consistent, but like I said in my recent review of the Viaje C-4, this is going to get lit, so I’m not concerned with how it looks. It’s a dark Mexican San Andrés wrapper with some nice reds joining the browns and lots of visible texture to the wrapper. The aroma is medium-plus or medium-full with scents that remind me of Liquid Smoke joined by woodiness and some dry nuttiness. The aroma from the bottom of the cigars tends to be similar, but sweet earth or chocolate brownie makes its way into the mixture. Immediately upon taking a cold draw, I notice the draw is very tight, something I initially chalked up to the bottom of the cigar being mostly covered. Flavor is medium-full with milk chocolate, a woodiness that reminds me of a local barbecue joint, raisin sweetness, cinnamon and acidic barnyard. All three cigars have a tight draw.

I take more time lighting the feet of these cigars, making sure that the bottom is evenly and fully lit, but trying to avoid charring the sides of the cigar. The first puff of each Sixty by Rocky Patel Bala begins the same way: with not much smoke. The draw on each cigar is very tight, tight enough to impact the volume of smoke. Toastiness, meatiness, charred earthier, leather, pear sweetness, pretzels—I can taste hints of those flavors across the three cigars, but they are all pretty muted. Each cigar gets a second, more aggressive cut pretty early on, but it would appear that the cigars have been bunched too tight. Even a third cut doesn’t really make much of a difference. Yes, the draw slightly loosens, but it’s still overly tight, restricting airflow and screwing with the flavor. Earthiness—sometimes with a charred flavor and other times without it—leads tart, woody flavors and some mild touches of sweetness. At times, there are interesting flavors like dry bread, pretzels or even beef broth, but the cigar is oftentimes bitter earthiness. Some puffs have pepper, others don’t, but nearly every flavor is accented by a metallic or sour taste that oftentimes shows up when the draw is this poor. Flavor tends to be medium-full, body is full and strength is medium. While the draw is quite bad, the burn is excellent, incredibly even.

Earthiness and oats are the main flavors of the second third, a bit more robust but still as bitter as the first third. It’s joined by soft white bread, muted mineral flavors, dry rice and a touch more sourness. If I try to increase smoke production by puffing more quickly, it leads to a bitter rosemary-like addition to the finish. On the first cigar, I can taste something that makes me think of the flavor of a cigar with tar, but I don’t see any signs of tar building around the cap. Retroahles have nuttiness and leather with peanuts, herbs and mild touches of sweetness underneath. The flavor profile is “off,” but rarely delivers flavors that I would describe as “off-putting,” except for the finish of the retrohale. It really amps up the metallic taste to the point where I begin to ration the number of puffs I retrohale. Flavor, body and strength are each at medium-full during the second third. Construction is more or less the same, though the draw seems tighter than before, especially as the final third nears.

The Sixty by Rocky Patel Bala is still led by an earthy flavor for most of the final third, but it has some harsher herbal accents and soft creaminess. One cigar has pasta water as the main flavor, which is a welcome change to break up the monotony, though its emergence also comes as the profile gets grittier. Secondary flavors include minerals and white pepper. The finish seems the minerals come more into play with paprika building towards the throat. Another cigar reminds me a bit of the aftertaste of kettle chips. In a way, this shows the depth of the flavor profile that could be here, but it’s all hampered by the draw. Retrohales are better with orange peel showing itself before a sharp earthiness takes over. As the finish develops, harshness adds itself, mixing with either the earthiness or pasta water. Unlike before, I find the retrohale’s finish to be a lot more palatable. Flavor bumps up to full, body gets closer to full and strength remains at medium-full. The draw continues to be an issue and unlike the previous parts of the cigar, touch-ups are needed during each cigar’s final third.

Final Notes

• Beyond the annoyance of a very tight draw, I’m a firm believer that serious construction issues affect flavor. There’s an ideal temperature, or at least range of temperatures, for the tobacco to burn to produce the intended flavors. Constricting the airflow will affect those temperatures, etc.
• I’d love for someone with a scientific background to explore the engineering of cigars and the process that goes into producing flavors more. If you know of any studies, please leave a comment below.

• Here’s a picture of what the cigars looked like. The cigar on the left had two cuts, the other two got three cuts. There are some cigars that can look like this and draw fine, so I wouldn’t assume that every cigar that looks like this will have draw issues. That said, most the cigars I smoke these days do not look like that.
• It’s been a while since I’ve smoked three cigars that had consistently tight draws, ones that get very close to the point where I’d call it plugged. To me, this still had more airflow than a plugged cigar, one that more or less cannot be smoked because of the draw.
• I’d describe this more like trying to drink liquid out of a straw that you’ve chewed on versus a plugged cigar would be like trying to drink a milkshake after you’ve chewed on the straw.
• For as bad as the draws were, the burn line was very pretty and none of the cigars needed further assistance from the lighter until the final third.

• Here’s a picture of what the feet of each cigar looked like before they were lit. I don’t particularly care about the appearance, but I wonder if any retailers have had customers complain about this, thinking that their cigars were damaged.
• While there aren’t that many double-capped cigars, the limited experience seems to suggest that the cigars need to be punctured somewhere. If you don’t do this, it’s much more difficult for the excess moisture to escape after the cigars are rolled. The tobacco must be pliable enough that it can be rolled, so cigar factories wet the tobacco to varying degrees. When the cigars go into aging rooms, one of the primary transitions the cigars go through is having the moisture escape the cigars.
• I suspect it’s not just moisture; I think a lot of the gasses that are created also need to leave the cigar, most notably ammonia.

• Interestingly, the bottom covering of the cigar is a single piece of paper. I would have guessed this would have been four separate sheets of paper, from top to bottom: top band, middle band, paper, lower band. Instead, those last two are one piece.
• Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Inc. advertises on halfwheel.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was around one hour and 45 minutes.