Discovery

Don Rodrigo Cigars: tearing up rulebook

By Sylvain Patard - Photographs: courtesy of the estates, posted on 31 January 2022

Patricia is Portuguese and now lives in Geneva, but her Don Rodrigo brand is named after her Spanish great-great-grandfather. We met an artist and entrepreneur with a love for life and people.

Her career path has been anything but linear. She started off as a flight attendant then ventured into the medical industry, speaks five languages and ended up in events and cigars by accident. Her motivation is simple: “Passion and empathy are what drove me to launch my own brand of cigars, after years of experience with Davidoff as an events hostess”. As a cigar enthusiast herself, Patricia would not only go on to establish her own brand, but successfully create extra special occasions for her clients by designing unique events at golf courses, luxury hotels and the most prestigious gatherings in Switzerland. “My audience is men and women who want to fully enjoy the finest things that life can offer and savour those exclusive, unforgettable moments with a cigar”. And increasingly, her target is younger people, the thirty-somethings, including many women drawn to a carefree range of very accessible formats. And it isn’t hard to understand why!

 

The Don Rodrigo range

The range comprises four, very different formats that are hand-rolled: a Short Corona; a Robusto Extra; a Torpedo; and a highly unusual Figurado Short Salomon Bicolore. These are well-made cigars that are easy to light and burn consistently, making them the perfect choice for beginners as well as regular enthusiasts. The purpose here is not so much to seek out a powerful or complex cigar, but to enjoy a genuine smoke.

 

 

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