Rocky Petal Decade Toro
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Cigar lovers all over the place love to meet Rocky Patel in person. His charisma, enthusiasm, and passion for his cigars draw others to him like a magnet. He is among the most active marketers in the entire industry and adheres to a rigorous schedule of events across the country where he takes the time to meet his consumers in person. Today, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars is a leading brand thanks to Rocky’s relentless promotion.
Rakesh “Rocky” Patel entered the cigar business through a less conventional path than many of today’s prominent cigar-makers who are often continuing a family tradition that’s been in place for generations. In the early 1990s, Rocky was working as an entertainment and product liability lawyer in Los Angeles. A cigar-smoking girlfriend introduced Rocky to premium cigars and convinced him to join the Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills. He became enamored with cigars and decided to get into the business at the urging of some friends.
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The Indian Tabac Years
In 1996, Patel attended his first industry trade show where he debuted Indian Tabac, his first brand. Although Patel is Indian, the company was named in reference to the Indian Motorcycle brand to whom he paid a royalty for use of the name. The cigars were an instant hit with retailers who clamored for all the product they could get their hands on in the midst of the Cigar Boom.
Patel was successful in establishing Indian Tabac as a premium brand by pumping his product into the marketplace and making nonstop visits to retailers. By 2003, after years of steady growth, Rocky made a deliberate decision to shift his focus away from Indian Tabac to a new line of cigars – his eponymous Rocky Patel Vintage Series – a sizeable risk at the time. Rocky wanted to leverage Indian Tabac exclusively as a “catalog” or online brand – one that could be sold over the internet at a significant discount – and introduce a fresh line of premium cigars for the retail channel. Although Indian Tabac was officially discontinued in 2015, building the brand into a success was a learning experience for Rocky.
True premium cigars can never be rushed into production. Rocky discovered the best cigar manufacturers had the best tobacco – and they represented an exclusive group. Because the highest quality tobacco is aged for very long periods of time, it is not easy to come by. He had to form relationships with a select group of tobacco brokers and growers and cigar factories to access the highest quality tobaccos. Secondly, Rocky learned to cut production quotas for his cigar rollers down to 250 cigars per roller per day to insure better and more consistent construction. Some rollers would notoriously crank out 400 or 500 cigars per day, but of widely varying quality and consistency.
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Rocky Patel Premium Cigars
Rocky Patel cigars are handcrafted in Nicaragua and Honduras. Patel branched out and partnered with other factories and cigar-makers to produce his new brand. In less than a year, Rocky Patel-branded cigars racked up more top ratings than Indian Tabac did in nearly a decade. By 2006, Rocky officially changed the name of the company from Indian Tabac Cigar Co. to Rocky Patel Premium Cigars. Among the first releases to create a substantial buzz were Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 and Rocky Patel Vintage 1992. They remain major staples in the company’s portfolio today. The 92-rated ‘RP’ Vintage 1990 delivers a little more sweetness with its Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. ‘RP’ Vintage 1992 also scored 92 points from Cigar Aficionado with a medium-bodied blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan long-fillers beneath a dark brown Ecuador Sumatra wrapper.
In the Vintage series, Rocky Patel Vintage 2003 is the highest rated blend at 93 points. A Cameroon wrapper embraces a medium to full-bodied recipe of Dominican and Nicaraguan long-fillers. An ‘RP’ Vintage 1999 has since been added with a milder Connecticut Shade wrapper, and ‘RP’ Vintage 2006 targets fans of the popular San Andrés wrapper leaf.
