Brand activation · Chicago, IL

Rolling live at a Bell & Ross evening in Chicago

A Bell & Ross banner beside his table, the boxes open and the leaf on the board. Later in the evening he was out among the guests, lighting their cigars himself.

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Franklin lighting a guest’s cigar in the crowded room, a brick wall behind them

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 night

A watch banner beside the table

On Wednesday, October 14, 2026, he set up at Geneva Seal in Chicago’s Fulton Market for a Bell & Ross evening, in a room between a white wall and an exposed brick one. A tall Bell & Ross banner with one of its watches stood at the end of his table.

The station was the one he takes everywhere: the black cloth with his own emblem, two boxes of finished cigars open at the front, the round board with the leaf and the blade, two small lamps and his framed card. Before six he was already at work, rolling one cigar at a time.

Later

Out among the guests

By seven the room had filled and he was out in it, lighter in hand, lighting a guest’s cigar himself in front of the brick wall.

Why watch houses call him

Watch houses keep trusting their guests to his table

Geneva Seal had brought him in once before, for Hublot in June 2025, and called him back for Bell & Ross. Hublot has also taken him to Las Vegas and Canada, and Tudor to a stone barn in Lancaster County. A watch evening sells craftsmanship you can see up close, and that is exactly what his table puts in front of every guest.

The night, as Geneva Seal shared it

Geneva Seal’s own story from the evening, shared with Franklin to publish. Chicago, October 2026.

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Brand and corporate evenings

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