The Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Company is a manufacturer of
cigar
A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...
s, founded by Rakesh "Rocky" Patel and based in
Bonita Springs, Florida
Bonita Springs is a city in Lee County, Florida, United States. The population was 53,644 at the 2020 census, up from 43,914 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, on the state's sou ...
.
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.
It was named under license for the
Indian Motorcycle
Indian Motorcycle (or ''Indian'') is an American brand of motorcycles owned and produced by automotive manufacturer Polaris Inc. and began in California in partnership with Phillip Zanghi III, who ran the company's growing and manufacturing operations in
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
. The company later moved to
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,115, down from 19,539 at the 2010 census. Naples is a principal city of the Collier County, Florida, Naples–Marc ...
,
and was renamed to Rocky Patel Premium Cigars in 2006. The Indian Tabac brand was discontinued in 2014.
[
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.][ , it was based in Bonita Springs.][ In 2008 the Rocky Patel Decade cigar, produced to mark the tenth year of the business, achieved a classic 95 rating in ''Cigar Aficionado''.][
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
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
, Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
, Indianapolis
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
, and Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. In 2020 the Naples lounge hosted one of the preliminaries for the Cigar Smoking World Championships.
Production
The cigars were initially all produced from tobacco grown in El Paraíso, Honduras, leased from Nestor Plasencia
Nestor Plasencia Sr. (born October 8, 1949) is a tobacco grower and cigar maker of Cubans, Cuban descent whose factories in Honduras and Nicaragua produce over 30 million cigars a year. Contracting out the use of his factories to Rocky Patel and o ...
;[ Patel later expanded production to ]Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
, where he began growing in Estelí
Estelí (), officially Villa de San Antonio de Pavia de Estelí is a city and Municipalities of Nicaragua, municipality within the Estelí Department, Estelí department. It is the 8th largest city in Nicaragua due to the high urbanization of its ...
with Amilcar Perez Castro and the company built a factory.[
]
See also
*List of cigar brands
This is an alphabetical list of cigar brands. Included is information about the company owning the brand name as well as a column allowing easy viewing of the source of that information.
If a brand name begins with the English word "The" or its S ...
References
External links
Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Company
interview with Rocky Patel, Fall 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Rocky Premium Cigars
Cigar brands
Companies based in Florida
American companies established in 1995