Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 Broadleaf

The 1990 uses an aged Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, and age is what you taste — the usual broadleaf roughness is gone, leaving cocoa, cedar and a nutty sweetness over a Honduran-made Nicaraguan-Dominican core. It is medium in strength and body, which makes it a maduro for people who find most maduros heavy. The 1999 Connecticut is its milder sibling; the 1992 (Sumatra) is the spicier one. Like everything in the Vintage series it is discounted constantly, and boxes under $8 a stick are the norm. Construction is good and the burn is even. It is not a cigar that will surprise you, and that is rather the point.

A mellow maduro for a weekday evening, or a gentler introduction to broadleaf than Padrón.