Also in this issue:

• Drinks
  Armagnac
• Top 25
  The 25 Best Cigars of 2005
• Up Front
  Out of the Humidor
• News & Features
  The NBA's Troubles Exposed
• Gambling
  With a Roll of the Dice
• More from this Issue

Rocky II

Rocky Patel built his Indian Tabac cigar with endless trips to American tobacconists and Honduran cigar factories. Now he launches a self-named brand.

David Savona
From the Print Edition:
Cigar of the Year, Jan/Feb 2005

Patel is just as demanding away from the job. Earlier that day, a mishit drive on the golf course eats at him, and he stands on the tee box long after his shot repeating his swing, looking to fix the error. Later, over lunch at an eclectic Chinese joint in Scottsdale, he calls for trays of condiments from the kitchen and instructs a fellow diner in how to improve the taste of a rice dish by adding copious amounts of vinegar, soy and hot sauce. "I'm a perfectionist," he says with a smile. "This is why I'm still single. I go to win, not just play. The cigar business is the same thing: acquiring the best leaf, creating the best packaging—it's constantly on my mind."

Patel loves the business and can opine at great length about the differences between tobaccos in, say, Nicaragua. "Jalapa ligero has better fragrance than Estelí ligero," he says. His greatest joy is test-smoking blends—he says he went through more than 100 before settling on the final taste of the Vintage.

It's near midnight now in Scottsdale, three hours since Patel's event has concluded. He reflects while smoking a Vintage, overlooking Camelback Mountain. The evening meal is done; half a glass of an Australian Barossa sits beside him.

"The problem with practicing law was it was like taking a final exam all day long. You're always stressed. In this business I'm always thinking about cigars and how to make them better—but I'm excited about it."

Two men from the next table come over to bum a light for their cigars. When they learn that they are talking to the man who makes the very cigar that he is smoking, they smile excitedly and shake his hand. Patel is back into work mode, offering each a smoke and a quick rundown of the blend and the taste they should expect. Patel has reached two more smokers on his never-ending road trip to put one of his cigars into everyone's hand.

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