Rocky Patel Adds Trio of Year of the Dragon Cigars

Add Rocky Patel to the list of companies making Year of the Dragon cigars, except the company isn’t just making one Year of the Dragon cigar, it’s making three.

They all use the same blend: a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over two binders from Connecticut—one of them is broadleaf—and fillers from the Condega, Estelí and Jalapa regions of Nicaragua as well as the Jamastran Valley in Honduras. Production is handled at Tabacalera Villa Cuba S.A., the company’s factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

As for the cigars, they are:

• Rocky Patel Year of the Dragon 2024 Robusto Grande (5 1/2 x 52) — Duty-Free Exclusive
• Rocky Patel Year of the Dragon 2024 Toro (6 1/2 x 52) — U.S. Exclusive
• Rocky Patel Year of the Dragon 2024 Robusto — International Exclusive

The first of the cigars to go on sale will be the Robusto Grande, which is the duty-free exclusive. It will go on sale on Feb. 9, which is the day before the start of Chinese New Year, which marks the start of the year of the dragon on the lunar calendar.

That Robusto Grande vitola is sold in five-packs, priced at $175. It is limited, though the company has not said how many will be available.

The Toro, which will be sold in the U.S., has an MSRP of $35 per cigar and is limited to roughly 6,000 boxes of 10 cigars. It is expected to be shown off at the 2024 PCA Convention & Trade Show in late March and begin shipping in April.

As for the Year of the Dragon 2024 Robusto, it is expected to be offered as part of a sampler pack that will only be offered to international stores.

Davidoff, Gurkha, Oliva, Maya Selva and VegaFina have also announced Year of the Dragon-themed cigars.