TOB Magazine

sports, music, travel, dancing and, of course, fine

cigars. We never forget to enjoy life, especially

with friends and family. We are a very family-

oriented company. We like to enjoy the fine

things in life and we love to share them, while at

the same time, being very driven and dedicated

to our business with a strong work ethic.

RETAIL REVELATIONS

TBI:

What’s your best advice

for tobacco retailers embarking

on 2017?

Patel:

Overall, I think retailers in our industry

need to grow up, and get more sophisticated. The

competition is more severe, and I think they need

to be cognizant of who their long-term partners

will be, and look at the companies that are

working with them by developing good, quality

products, consistent products, by marketing them

with advertising and events and promotions, and

by making sure they will be compliant.

What matters should be the companies who

are fighting for them to stay in business.

It’s amazing how many tobacco stores still have

no idea at all about what is going on with the FDA

and the regulations that could put them out of

business. They don’t participate and they need

to, whether it’s getting the word to consumers,

reaching out to Congress and senators or getting

involved in local city council meetings. We can’t

even get many of them to join associations. It’s

imperative that retailers get involved in their

local and state legislation. They need to realize

that this is the cost of doing business now. They

have to add this to their bottom line just like

manufacturers have had to do.

TBI:

Since retailers can’t emphasize

cigar innovation moving forward,

what will they emphasize in 2017?

Patel:

They should focus on core brands and

emphasize core brands. Companies like ours

previously introduced three new brands a year.

Now, of course, we plan to be compliant and

play by the rules, but we were able to release a

number of brands before the August 8 deadline,

so there will be some newness to highlight.

The year 2017will not be a year of newproducts

across the board, but companies like ours that had

new products out before the August 8 deadline still

have some innovation to offer.

I’m excited about our new lines, the Rocky

Patel Special Edition, the Rocky Patel 55, and

we released our first Dominican cigar called the

Dark Dominican. These were all released prior

to August 8.

We actually managed to release 1,470

SKUs prior to the deadline, and we helped out

quite a few companies. We probably helped

another five or six cigar companies and several

retailers on their private labels—we gave them

grandfathered blends or we made them blends

using our grandfathered product.

TBI:

Are retail cigar events

still relevant to the industry?

Patel:

Cigar events are relevant, but overplayed.

Too many people are doing events every week;

you can’t do that. That needs changing. We need

to get more creative on how we do events. Maybe

do something off-premises on a boat or yacht or

take people out hunting, golfing or to a baseball

game. There are other ways besides [in-store

manufacturer events] to keep customers engaged

and involved in premium cigars.

CIGAR HEAVEN

REVELATION

TBI:

What does cigar utopia look like

to you? Where is your favorite place to

smoke and puffing on which cigar?

Patel:

Ah, there are several. The first one that

comes to mind is sitting on the patio of a house

I rent in the Bahamas overlooking the ocean.

I can also see myself sitting on a mountaintop

with a great view and just relaxing and looking

out over the world daydreaming and getting

away from the hoopla and bustle and the phone

and people.

Five years ago, I was in Africa in Serengeti, I love

to smoke cigars in exotic places like this with no

humans around. I was also on top of the foothills

of Mt. Everest in India a couple of years ago.

During the decade I was in Africa and India,

the Rocky Patel Fifteenth Anniversary was my

favorite cigar. I will be in the Bahamas in two

weeks and right now my favorite is the Rocky

Patel Twentieth Anniversary.

Ours are my favorite because we are dedicated

to making great quality cigars with some of the

best craftsmanship in the world. We strive for

consistency cigar box to box. It’s what we built our

reputation on, having consistency of taste for a

pretty vast variety of cigars.

TBI

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