Rocky Patel Premium Cigars

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The Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Company is a manufacturer of cigars, founded by Rakesh "Rocky" Patel and based in Bonita Springs, Florida.

Contents

History

The company was founded in 1995 as Indian Tabac Cigar Co. by Hollywood attorney Rakesh "Rocky" Patel, who became interested in cigars when spending time with actors between takes, and sold his legal practice to start the business. [1] [2] [3] It was named under license for the Indian Motorcycle [4] and began in California in partnership with Phillip Zanghi III, who ran the company's growing and manufacturing operations in Honduras. The company later moved to Naples, Florida, [5] and was renamed to Rocky Patel Premium Cigars in 2006. The Indian Tabac brand was discontinued in 2014. [2]

Initially run entirely by Rocky Patel, since 2013 the company has been co-managed by his brother Nish Patel, who heads sales and major client relations, and his cousin Nimish Desai, who is head of production. [1] As of 2015, it was based in Bonita Springs. [6]

In the early 2000s, the Indian Tabac Cameroon Legend Gorilla was one of the largest cigars available, and its size was emulated by other producers. [2] In 2008 the Rocky Patel Decade cigar, produced to mark the tenth year of the business, achieved a classic 95 rating in Cigar Aficionado. [1]

In 2010, Patel opened a cigar and drinking lounge in Naples called Burn by Rocky Patel; in 2018 and 2019, other lounges opened in Pittsburgh, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, and Atlanta. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] In 2020 the Naples lounge hosted one of the preliminaries for the Cigar Smoking World Championships. [13]

From 2020 to 2024 Rocky Patel was the official cigar of the Cigar Smoking World Championships.

Production

The cigars were initially all produced from tobacco grown in El Paraíso, Honduras, leased from Nestor Plasencia; [1] [4] Patel later expanded production to Nicaragua, where he began growing in Estelí with Amilcar Perez Castro and the company built a factory. [1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ganley, Colin C. (April 15, 2014). "It's A Lifestyle: Rocky Patel Premium Cigars". Cigar Journal. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Lagreid, Patrick (January 23, 2015). "Rocky Patel Discontinues Indian Tabac". Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Rocky Patel Premium Cigars: Rocky Patel, Nish Patel, Nimish Desai". Bash and Burn. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  4. 1 2 Savona, David (May 1, 2005). "Rocky II". Cigar Aficionado. Archived from the original on May 28, 2005.
  5. ↑ Benda, Isabella. "Goodbye Hollywood". Aon.at. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011.
  6. ↑ Neibauer, Michael (August 13, 2015). "Return of the smoke-filled room? Massive cigar lounge pitched for Chinatown". Washington Business Journal. Archived from the original on August 16, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  7. ↑ "An Evolution In Lounges". Burn. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  8. ↑ Mottola, Gregory (September 8, 2016). "Burn By Rocky Patel is Coming to Steel City". Cigar Aficionado. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  9. ↑ Culgan, Rossilynne (April 12, 2018). "There's no smoking inside Burn by Rocky Patel until its HVAC is fixed". The Incline. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  10. ↑ Minato, Charlie (June 18, 2018). "BURN by Rocky Patel Oklahoma City Opening Thursday". Halfwheel. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Opulent cigar bar Burn by Rocky Patel opens Downtown in part of former Nordstrom". Indianapolis Star. December 11, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  12. ↑ Zusel, Yvonne (May 8, 2019). "Cigar bar Burn by Rocky Patel opening this weekend at The Battery". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Cigar Smoking World Championship at Burn". Gulfshore Life. March 2020. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved November 14, 2020.

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