Here’s a quick review posted via iPhone of the Rocky Patel 15th Anniversary Torpedo. This 2010 release landed at #6 in CA’s most recent Top 25 list making it the highest appearing RP stick ever.

The end of the year is a very special time for cigar enthusiasts. This is when our favorite cigar publishers name their best cigars of 2011. The information provides us the impetus to begin depleting our refreshed cigar budgets and generally act against those half-hearted resolutions. Of course will try to drink less and eat healthier in 2012. However, if we’re going to buy those fabulous smokes gushed about in the annual “best of” lists, then we need some spirits to pair with the sticks, don’t we? We will also need to plan a few decadent meals (preferably with a few BOTLs). When else would it be appropriate to pull out that $50 extra limited edition hyper-premium that our favorite blogger claims will give our lives new meaning? Isn’t nicotine, alcohol and animal fat addiction a meager price to pay for entrance to nirvana?

Friends, there is no way around it, we are an indulgent breed participating actively in the punishment of our earthly vessels. While the phrase “dying breed” could be a little dramatic, it seems to apply on several levels. But if we are going down, then we’re doing it in style dammit!

So in keeping with cigar-blogger tradition, we would like to present you with another excuse to kill some time (among other things) and beef up your stogie wish list. Highlight Cigars proudly presents our first annual COTY awards to honor our 2011 selections for Cigars of the Year!

With a stack of new offerings from Tat, Drew Estate, Pepin, Alec Bradley and others accumulating in the HLC cabinet, we’re beginning to wonder if another humidor needs to be on our holiday wish list. We prefer to let purchases rest in the humi for a couple weeks and resisting the desire to indulge in this new crop of post-IPCPR releases is hard to say the least. Hopefully, reviews of the aforementioned sticks will go up soon, or at least some consideration of these releases can be included in the HLC “best of” lists now that 2011 has just about blown by. So as the new-release tastings are beginning, an extra-large One Timers post seemed to be in order.

The number eight figures prominently in this second edition of our One Timer quick reviews. Eight cigars are covered in the post with five earning an HLC rating between 88.0 and 88.9. That’s a lot of eights! Two sticks managed to break the oh-so-important, 90-pt. barrier. One of these highlights is nearing iconic status (in our opinion) and another surprised us with an intense, but pleasant sweetness.

As a reminder, the One Timers format is reserved for recent smokes that we weren’t compelled or able to create full-length reviews for. Some One Timer sticks have only been tried once, some are go-to sticks we’ve been enjoying for years and others weren’t considered noteworthy enough to warrant a full analysis.