In the year 1961, baby Rakesh Patel was born in India, and not a single person predicted that he would one day rise to become a bona fide cigar magnate in America and around the world.

Not a one.

And also, no one knew he’d go by “Rocky.”

But despite the lack of prediction, that’s just what happened.

To commemorate Rocky’s 55th birthday, he released this cigar, which billows out smoke with the flavors of rich wood, coffee, earth, and baking spice with every puff. It’s got a handsome Nicaraguan wrapper, Costa Rican binder, and a classic RP Nicaraguan filler blend.

It’s a great way to celebrate a man who had to batter down a few doors to make it in the cigar biz. He had advantages, of course. He was a lawyer before getting into the game and so probably had decent resources at his disposal, but they didn’t roll out the red carpet for him, by any means.

He actually started as a simple financing partner for another brand known as Indian Tabac in the mid 90s. It was a somewhat silent partnership, but cigars have a way of pulling people in deeper into the world of tobacco, don’t they?

Anyhow, Rocky got more and more interested in the company’s operations and eventually found himself visiting fields, barns, and rolling floors, learning cigars literally from the ground up. Indian Tabac later was renamed to “Rocky Patel,” as he had put in the sweat equity to head up his own brand. If you don’t believe it, just know that he visited 600 retailers in 700 days to build things up when the company was still getting a foothold in the industry.

We say all that just to show why any of us would bother to celebrate a guy we don’t know. As far as we can tell, he’s a damn hard working dude who loves cigars. If that sounds familiar to you, fire one up for ol’ Rocky and we’ll join you.

Please browse our selection of Rocky Patel Fifty Five cigars at your leisure.

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