Brand activation · Miami Gardens, FL

Official cigar roller at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix

His own words for the weekend: official cigar roller, representing Arturo Fuente alongside Carlos Fuente III. Rolling in a hospitality suite above the circuit — the clip opens on the track and ends on his hands.

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Franklin with a guest in the hospitality suite, cigars in hand

1 of ~28hands trusted with the Opus X — the same ones at your partyCigar Journal, 2016

6 minfrom loose leaf to a cigar in your guest’s handHis own words

150+nights that ended with the room around his tableFranklin’s own count

The weekend

Representing Arturo Fuente at the track

In May 2026 the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix had an official cigar roller, and it was him. In his own words he was there “representing my family Arturo Fuente, alongside Carlos Fuente III” — the next generation of the family he has worked with since 1995.

He worked from a hospitality suite above the circuit in Miami Gardens. His own clip opens on the track, with a car going past below the balcony, and ends on his hands at the board.

The table

Leaf, blade and press, above the circuit

The station went up the way it does at any event: the round board, the press, the boxes of finished cigars and a pile of leaf on the cloth, under the awning of the suite. Guests with their race passes came and went behind him, and most of the photographs from that day are with them, lanyards on, cigars lit.

Three weeks later he was on a race weekend again, at the Indianapolis 500 for the Silo Auto Club — “From F1 Miami … now it’s time for the Indy 500,” as he put it.

Truly honored to be the official cigar roller, representing my family Arturo Fuente, alongside Carlos Fuente III Jr.—the next generation of greatness. From hand-rolling precision… to the fastest cars on the planet—today we match speed with flavor.

Franklin PichardoPosted May 3, 2026

At the board

Rolling in the hospitality suite above the circuit, Miami, May 2026.

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Trusted with the Fuente Opus X—At the Fuente table since 1995—Formula 1 Miami’s official roller—Featured in Cigar Journal—Chosen by Hublot, Tudor and Bell & Ross—

The same hands can be at your event

Franklin Pichardo has been rolling since 1995, the year Arturo Fuente released the first Opus X — and he is one of the few in the world the family cleared to roll it.

See how he earned them