Charity · Albany, NY

Rolling at a leukemia fundraiser in Albany, New York

The tobacco leaf came out of the case in front of the guests, and they stayed to watch it become a cigar.

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The rolling table on the porch, an Opus X box on the Arturo Fuente cloth

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 cause

A fundraiser at a private home

In June 2026 he was in Albany for a leukemia fundraiser, held at a private home and hosted by a doctor and his wife. He wrote that events like this “remind us that the greatest gift we can give is helping others and bringing hope to families facing difficult challenges.”

Three Junes

A cause he keeps coming back to

His archive has him at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraiser in Albany in June 2024, at its tenth anniversary in June 2025 — “For me this is not a regular event,” he wrote that year — and here again in 2026.

The porch

The leaf, out of the case

Guests in suits gathered on the porch around his table, where the tobacco came out of the case and became a cigar in front of them: a whole leaf laid open on the cloth, the Reserva humidor beside it and an Opus X box at the end of the table. Then he lit each one himself.

What an incredible and meaningful evening in Albany, New York. … Together, we are stronger. Together, we bring hope.

Franklin PichardoPosted June 6, 2026

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Who Franklin is

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