We won’t hide the ball here. The Rocky Patel Decade pulled in a 95 rating from Cigar Insider (a publication affiliated with Cigar Aficionado), and Rocky himself has said that it’s the “best cigar he ever made.” If you only smoke one Rocky Patel cigar, this should probably be probably it. (And no, he doesn’t say that about every cigar.)
The Decade was originally created to celebrate the company’s tenth anniversary in 2005. Even though Mr. Patel isn’t from one of the ancient cigar families of Latin America, he certainly has one tradition down: launching special blends to commemorate company milestones. He was originally a practicing attorney, not involved in the cigar or tobacco business at all, unless you count breathing in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second hand smoke between takes while on set to give him legal advice. But as with so many of us, once he got a whiff, that smoke settled deep into his soul.
He would eventually pick up the habit of heading to the Grand Havana room from time to time to light up a cigar and relax. There he would make a contact who asked him to fund a new cigar venture. The year was 1995, and the Indian Tabac cigar company was born soon after. Patel would be drawn in to his new business, ultimately visiting factories and fields for long periods of time to learn the business from the ground up.
People told him he probably would have difficulty earning much success in the cigar biz as an Indian outsider, but he brought a lawyer’s diligence to the task. He simply decided to outwork everyone and meet America’s cigar sellers one by one, visiting 600 retailers in 700 days. In the old days we called that “pounding the pavement” – and what do you know? – it still works! You’ll find “against all odds” inside each box, which tells you how Patel viewed his journey to become a respected cigar maker and internationally-recognized brand.
He changed the company name to “Rocky Patel” in 2002 and opened Tabacalera Villa Cuba S.A. (“TaviCusa”) in Estelí, Nicaragua. A few years later, it was time to celebrate. His team tried over 120 different blends to find just the right one for the Decade. The winner featured Honduran tobacco leaf in the filler, and comes in Sumatra and Cameroon-wrapped versions, both of which are fantastic. The Sumatra wrapper has become the favorite, however. It’s a medium to full bodied smoke with irresistible flavors of espresso, dark chocolate, sweet spice, and white pepper.
It’s been over ten years since the Decade was released, but we’re still as excited to smoke it as we were the first time we heard the original accolades.
Please browse our selection of Rocky Patel Decade cigars at your leisure.
