Cigar icon Rocky Patel puffs a few in Baton Rouge

Rocky Patel is a man at ease in a room packed with strangers.

On a cool evening in late October, Patel stood in the middle of the Don Juan Cigar Co. with a small cigar in his hand. A spectrum of men (with few exceptions, they were all men) in suits and ties, polos, t-shirts, even scrubs milled about chatting, shopping and smoking.

Everyone smoked Patels. A haze hovered over the crowd. A couple of hours into this special in-store event for Patel, and Don Juan’s special vents were losing. The premium cigars—$10 and up—headed steadily from the display to the register and out the door.

No worries about the economy here. Financial news pouring out of the widescreen in the back was all bad, but up front, the registers were busy.

Patel’s success depends on men shelling out big bucks to puff his high-end, hand-rolled Honduran works of art.

He’s a relative latecomer to the cigar business. An immigrant from India as a child, Patel found success as a Hollywood attorney before entering the Latin-dominated world of cigar-making. He’s also a Green Bay Packers fan. Only in America.

He founded Indian Tabac, and since then his factories have produced some of the highest-rated cigars outside of Cuba.

Sure he sells a luxury item, the 47-year-old Patel concedes, but a quality cigar stands up to tough times. “These guys understand a good cigar. We educate them, and they have a passion for the art,” he says.

Patel has passion to share. He does so many of these tour stops that he’s home only three or four days a month. At Don Juan Cigar, Patel was in his element. “I enjoy this,” he said. “The only other job I’d take is head coach of the Green Bay Packers.” rockypatel.com, donjuancigars.com