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Exceptional emporium proves an exception to the new rule
And how one manufacturer travels the Rocky road to success, writes Pieter Tesch - Friday 30 March 2007
Smoke Signals
IN AN act of dignified defiance the doyen of English cigar merchants James J Fox & Robert Lewis of St James’s Street in London held an open day for its customers and suppliers on Budget day to launch its new walk-in humidor.
While the front and entrance of the shop have kept their traditional appearance of wooden panels beloved by regulars including Oscar Wilde and Winston Churchill, the new humidor at the back of the shop offers room and space to make one’s purchase of the stock that offers the best of what is available in London.
The cigar museum has been moved to a dedicated room downstairs, while upstairs a special area was created where clients can “sample” — that is, smoke — a cigar before deciding on a purchase.
This was a concession for the specialist tobacconist under the smoking ban due to come into force on July 1, explained JJ Fox director Robert Emery.
He added that the new humidor was “a vote of confidence of the firm in its own future” despite ever more restrictive legislation and the concentration of the global industry in the hands of few large conglomerates.
Robert Lewis opened a tobacconist in St James’s in 1787, eventually being acquired in 1946 by JJ Fox of Dublin, itself dating from 1882 and a company strong in its belief that aficionados would continue to appreci- ate the service and quality of its selections, Emery added.
While some present at the opening discussed consolidation of the world’s tobacco companies by the likes of Imperial Tobacco, British American Tobacco and Japan International Tobacco, Simon Chase, marketing director of Hunters & Frankau, British agent for Habanos, dismissed the recent Court of Appeal decision in favour of small importer Mastercigars.
“It will only make very little difference as the ruling applies to the situation surrounding imports from Cuba in 2004,” said Chase, who stressed that instead he was concentrating on the new releases for this year following the recent cigar festival in Cuba in February.
JJ Fox is a natural haunt for the Havana traditionalist, but it offers also a very good selection of what Emery called “New World” cigars from the Caribbean and Meso America for those who fancy something new and different without compromising on quality.
For that, they could do worse than try the Rocky Patel range of handmade cigar produced by Indian Tabac from the best Honduran, Nicaraguan, Ecuadorian and Dominican tobaccos with some added Sumatran.
They include the “massive” Vintage the Sixty, not only big — six inches and 60 ring gauge — but also made with a 12-year aged wrapper and seven-year aged filler.
It is a remarkably smooth smoke, making “Editor’s Choice” of the last issue of Cigar Buyer and at £13.95 per stick — and also available in boxes of 20 — very good value.
If one prefers more spice, Rocky Patel’s Old World Reserve robusto (5.5 ins, 54 ring) at £11.95 (boxes of 50) is equally good value.
For a daytime smoke Rocky Patel’s Vintage Junior (Ecuadorian wrapper aged for 10 years, 4 ins by 38 ring), available in tins of five at £19.95, is a very good alternative.
The story behind the new Rocky Patel range was one of old world India linking up with new world “Indies” as Rocky, who emigrated originally with his parents from India, set up while working as an accountant for the Indian Tabac company in Honduras 20 years ago, explains British agent Gift International’s director Juan Cabello.
Experimenting with different tobaccos, Rocky set out 10 years ago to produce cigars developed to his taste under his own label.
His gamble paid off. These days all Indian Tabac brands have been changed to the Rocky Patel label.
