The Good Stuff: The press release pretty much sums up this blend:

April 10, 2012 (Bonita Springs, Florida) The Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Company announced today the release of The Edge Candela.

The Edge Candela is a medium bodied cigar and the latest addition to The Edge line. The candela wrapper gives the blend a truly unique flavor, consisting of sweet spice and floral tea, ultimately lending a creamy finish.

The wrapper is a Habano Seed Candela, and the binder and fillers are a secret.

Says Rocky Patel of the new Edge Candela, “I blended the Limited Edition Edge Candela for The Edge fans – it still holds the flavor profile that is so beloved by Edge lovers every where, and the wrapper just gives it a distinctively spicy and creamy twist”.

The Edge Candela is available in Toro size (6 x 52) and is sold in boxes of 20. It is a limited edition product with only 1,000 boxes made by the El Paraiso factory in Honduras. The cigar retails for $6.40. Just released, it is now available at all fine retailers.

Located in Bonita Springs, Florida, the Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Company began producing high quality premium cigars in 1995, based on Rocky’s passion for cigars, and his desire to share his unique cigar blends with cigar connoisseurs around the world. Rocky is also very active in raising money for underprivileged children in Honduras, with his RP Foundation. Current Rocky Patel cigar brands include: Decade, Olde World Reserve, Edge, 15th Anniversary, the Vintage Series, Thunder, Xen and “50”. For more information visit their Website at www.RockyPatel.com.

And there you have it! Now let’s get onto the review.

Size: 6×52  –  Wrapper: Habano Seed Candela  –  Binder/Filler: “Secret”

Prelight: The Rocky Patel Edge Candela isn’t a pretty looking cigar, then again, in my opinion Candela seldom is. It looks like a standard  Connecticut cigar had a bad dinner and got sick. Anyways, as far as the construction goes these sticks are spot on. The wrapper starts off with its strange, pea green color. The wrapper is really firm, very toothy, and semi-dry. There really aren’t a lot of oils spread across this thing. Where the Edge Candela lacks in oils it makes up for in veins. They aren’t large at all, and more than likely won’t affect the experience, but there sure are a lot of the them spanning the length of this cigar all the way up to the double cap. The Edge Candela carries the same band as the edge series, manila in color, and draped around the foot of the cigar.

The wrapper, much like you would expect by looking at it, gives off a very natural, very young tobacco scent while the foot pumps out a whole ton of spicy, peppery, strong tobacco aromas. The Edge Candela cut clean and very easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. As expected, the first few puffs off the cold draw are smooth, plentiful, and filled with young and natural tobacco flavors.

First Smoke: Wow, this draw is loose. Hopefully it tightens up a bit as I get further into the cigar. Rocky Patel’s Edge Candela starts out with some very smooth, mild flavors such as sweet tobacco, natural and earth flavors, along side some very mild pepper and spice. Ok, now that I have smoked this thing just a bit more in I need to amend two things that have already changed up. 1) the draw is now pumping out smoke furiously, it’s tightened up and dead on and 2) the pepper started out really mild but really turned it up a bit after getting towards the 1 inch mark. That being said, the burnline is slightly wavy and rather thick while it produces a flaky white, and black ash. The cigar really doesn’t give off much, if any stationary smoke. The ash held on for about in inch before giving way.

Halfway There: Maybe it’s just me, but has anyone else pulled a spearmintyness from this cigar? I seem to get it off and on in the second third of this Edge Candela. Alongside that mint I am still experiences lots of earthy, natural tobacco, lots of sweetness, a bit of gingerbread, and some slight spice as the pepper has complete faded away. The retrohale on this cigar is very interesting, coating my nasal passage with a really sweet spice and citrus. I totally dig it. The burnline is still pretty squirrely, but I haven’t had to touch up, or relight this cigar so I am ok with that. I am not feeling any nicotine at all as I finish off the second third of this cigar.

Finish: Along with a powerful and triumphant return of the pepper, the body in this Rocky Patel Edge Candela is really starting to ramp up as well. Usually when I think Candela, I think boring, and mild. The spice flavors are still lingering while natural tobacco, sweetness, and even some mixed in pine has taken over. All in all this cigar took about 1.5 hours to smoke and I am feeling a mild nicotine kick while the cigar burned a bit wildly but required no touch ups, no relights, and experience no harshness even down to the nub.

Overview: While somewhat mild until the end, much like Illusione and Viaje’s Candela releases the Rocky Patel Edge brings Candela wrapped cigars to a whole new level. While it’s probably not something that I would smoke everyday, for what you get for the price the Rocky Patel Candela is a solid stick. When compared to other Candela wrapped cigars this one is right up there with the big boys. Decently complex, smooth, and flavorful this cigar is perfect for the novice and the seasoned smoker looking for a different type of experience. Let’s not forget the price. The Edge series has always given great bang for the buck and the Candela is just another notch in the series’ belt.

Pairing: Yes, another New Belgium Lips of Faith series. This one is on my “buy a ton” list whenever it gets released every year. It’s their seasonal release of Biere De Mars. Biere De Mars is an almost-farmhouse ale, brewed in March (Mars) each year. It boasts some crazy strong orange, and lemon citrus flavors with modest hops, malt and caramel and some awesome cinnamon aftertastes. At 6.2% ABV this beer is perfect for a spring or summer afternoon. I knew this beer would pair perfectly with the Edge Candela’s already heightened citrus flavors, spice, and mild composure. This cigar would also go great with an IPA, an ale, or a saison.

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The Good Stuff: The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial is the second cigar blended by the legendary Don Pepin Garcia’s son, Jaime Garcia (My Father being the first). The Reserva Especial is a blend consisting of two different Nicaraguan tobaccos. One grown by the Pepin family, the other grown by the well known Oliva Tobacco Company wrapped in my personal favorite wrapper, the Connecticut broadleaf.

The size I am doing a review of is the toro. You can easily order these from the great team over at Bonita Smokeshop, along with just about any other Pepin product.

Size: 6 x 54 – Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf – Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan – Body: Medium/Full

Prelight: The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial is a toothy little beast. The cigar is wrapped with a beautifully, very dark chocalatey brown. The wrapper gleams from the massive amount of oils from the foot, all the way to the rounded off, triple wrapped cap. The Reserva Especial is firm to the touch near the head of the cigar, but quite softer then most cigars movie down to the foot. There aren’t any real soft spots, but the softness of this cigar almost worries me. It does have a good weight to it though. There is only one, very small vein on the underside of the cigar. The band stays true to form with most of the my father cigars we see coming out of that factory. Its an off-white with a full brown, gold, and blue crest stating “Jaime Garcia” and “Reserva Especial”. The underside of the band simply states “My Father Cigars”. The wrapper gives off a very sweet, chocolate and mocha type aroma where as the foot of this cigar has a more pronounced oat and tobacco scent with cocoa undertones. The cigar was clipped with ease by my Cuban Crafters Perfecto double blade cutter. The cold draw was very firm with rich tobacco, cocoa, and lots spice.

First Smoke: As I have come to expect from most cigars produced in the My Father factory the Reserva Especial starts off with a boom of spice and pepper. This initial hit pairs seamlessly with the sharp spice of the New Belgium Biere De Mars that I have decided to pair this cigar with. Once the pepper begins to wear off, subtle notes of cocoa and coffee become present over stronger notes of sweet tobacco, leather, and wood. The burnline is razor sharp but has developed a bit of a wave pattern early into the cigar. The draw is very loose, and produces a very thick, cedar scented cloud of smoke. The Reserva Especial gives off little to no stationary smoke, and what little bit of smoke that does is escape is pleasantly scented with a strong cedar aroma as well. The ash is a very light grey and very tightly packed in most places. The ash held tight for about an inch and a half before falling.

Halfway There: The pepper introduction to this cigar was just that, and is not longer present. The dominating flavor is by far the woodsy, grassy flavor that began as just an afterthought in the first third backed by the sweet tobacco, and a strong, almost espresso coffee. There retrohale on this cigar is to die for. Almost pure cedar, and in credibly smooth. I’m impressed thus far with how just perfectly smooth this cigar is. The burnline did a heck of a job fixing itself, and has burned perfectly and still razor sharp all the way through the second third. Up until this point I still have yet to feel any signs of nicotine.

Finish: What a smooth finish, and I can’t stress that enough. This cigar is definitely @KightRid acceptable with no signs what so ever of nicotine. The Reserva Especial finished off very clean and smooth with the dominant flavor still being wood and grass, backed up by cocoa and lots of strong coffee notes. The burn went a little wavy into the final third, but cleaned itself up and there was no need for any types of relights or touch ups. The pepper did make a slight come back deep within the last inch or so, but it was more of just a reminder of how this cigar started out. All in all it took only about an hour and a half to take down this Toro sized cigar.

Overview: Overall I was VERY impressed with this cigar. I am a Pepin love through and through and this cigar didn’t fail in any way shape or form. The woodsy, sweet, soft cocoa and coffee flavors preformed brilliantly with one another. Near perfect burn, medium body, and great aftertaste. And with the affordable price point? You really couldn’t ask for me. Perfect for a beginner cigar smoker, and everyday cigar for the aficionado, This cigar will be in my regular rotation from this point forward. Box worth by far.

Pairing: The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial was paired with one of my favorites, New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Series Biere De Mars. New Belgium has a knack for coming up with some of the best traditional brews, and as of late some of the better non traditional. They save these brews for the Lips of Faith collection. Very sought after, and VERY hard to come by these brews are more expensive to produce, and require a more skillful team making them so rare. The Biere de Mars I drank was picked up on my latest trip to Denver Colorado. I ventured north to the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins and picked up a few beers to take back with me.

Biere De Mars is a Celestial collision of orange – hued ale, citrusy lemon verbena, and unidentified flying brettanomyces.

I don’t know exactly what that means, but its good stuff. 6.2% citrus, bready, spicy beer. It was just an absolute perfect match for this cigar. I would recommend something of the sort for pairing, or even a hefty stout, iced tea or apple juice. Something citrusy, and sweet.

New Belgium - Lips of Faith - Biere De Mars - Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial

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