There is a scene Rodrigo Motta cannot get out of his head. November 2025, Dominican Republic. A cigar bar in Punta Cana, the warm Caribbean night outside. Around them, twelve couples. And at one moment, without planning, without a formal invitation — all the women picked up their cigars and lit them alongside their husbands. Silence. Smoke. The sea.
"That was proof that what we built is real," he says, with the voice of someone who still feels that moment deep inside. What they built has a name: Cigar Night. It has history, method, and soul. And it turns three years old in 2026 with 32 editions held, over a hundred people in the group, spots that frequently sell out — and an international trip that has become an annual tradition.
The seed of it all
The story begins long before BNI. It begins with a 16-year-old boy who played chess and had a teacher who smoked a pipe. An unlikely influence that led him to a tobacco shop in São Paulo, where a generous owner gifted him two cigars — one domestic, one imported. "It was love at first sight. Since I was 17, in every moment of my life — with money, without money, low dollar, high dollar — the cigar has always been there."
In the years that followed, Rodrigo went deep. He presided over an online cigar club in the 2000s. He built deep friendships in that world. In 2010, he went to Cuba for the festival. He trained as a sommelier of cigar and beverage pairings. And he never stopped learning.
All that knowledge lived inside a very busy labor lawyer — until, in 2022, a conversation among BNI friends changed everything. Alfredo Tanimoto, Danilo Marques, Alberth Souto, and José Roberto Teixeira were gathered when someone threw the idea out: "let's do a cigar event?" Rodrigo was in immediately. In March 2023, the first edition of Cigar Night took place.
How Cigar Night works
The structure of the event was designed by Rodrigo with the precision of someone who deeply knows the subject. Each edition begins with an introductory talk — how to cut, how to light, how to smoke without compromising what was crafted by hand — designed for first-timers. Then comes a specific theme within a training track he developed over time: tobacco drying, fermentation, storage, terroir.
For each gathering, Rodrigo personally selects the cigar and the beverage to be paired. The table has seen whiskies, cognacs, rums from every corner of the Caribbean, cachaças, stout beers, and fortified wines like Port and Madeira. Spots are intentionally limited to 25 or 30 people — to preserve the quality of the talk and ensure real conversations happen. The WhatsApp group already surpasses a hundred participants. Spots tend to sell out.
But he doesn't do it alone. Cigar Night always takes place at Altino Deck Bar, home of BNI Ethos member Alberth Souto, who opens the space for the event.
It's the same principle as wine. The soil, the climate, the altitude — it's all in the cigar. Cuba has the tradition. The Dominican Republic is today the world's largest producer. Brazil also has its place on that map. Each origin carries an identity.
Givers Gain in practice
Since the first edition, Rodrigo and Alberth established a rule that defines the soul of Cigar Night: they don't charge for their time and space. Each participant's ticket only covers the cigar and the beverage of the evening. The talk, the curation, the training track — all of that he offers for free, by choice, by principle. "For me, this is a hobby. It always has been."
Two pillars of Givers Gain supporting the same event — one with knowledge, the other with space — both trusting that what is genuinely given comes back multiplied.
It's the Givers Gain spirit in its most concrete form. And the results show up in ways no planning could predict. Once, a businesswoman posted in a supplier group asking for someone specialized in cigars for a corporate year-end event. A BNI Campinas member, who didn't even belong to Rodrigo's group, was in that group and spontaneously made the referral. He was hired. The connection came from where nobody had planned — because trust networks work that way.
For everyone — especially those who don't know it yet
A common misconception needs to be cleared up: Cigar Night is not a men's event. It never was. Rodrigo makes a point of stating this clearly, and not just as a formality. "I have a simple principle: if I can't bring my wife, I don't go. So when I created this event, there was never an option for it to be closed."
Women participate and always have. Today, the world's major cigar brands are developing lines specifically designed for the female palate — the world that closed its doors for decades is opening up, and Cigar Night is part of that shift.
The Cigar Trip of November 2025 was the most beautiful confirmation of this: twelve couples, together, spending two days immersed in historic cigar factories and shops in the Dominican Republic, followed by days at a resort in Punta Cana. No divisions, no separate groups. "And it was in a cigar bar, in the Caribbean, that everyone was smoking together. No invitation needed. It just happened naturally."
What awaits you
Cigar Night arrives in 2026 established as one of the reference events in the West region — attended by members from other BNI groups and by people entirely outside the network. You don't need to be a member. You don't need to know anything about cigars. You need to arrive with curiosity and a willingness to discover that smoking well is, at its core, a sophisticated way of being present.
The cigar, he chooses. The rest — you'll find out when you arrive. Cigar Night takes place every last Thursday of the month, at Altino Deck Bar. The event is open to all — BNI members and non-members alike. Get in touch with Rodrigo Motta to join the group and secure your spot at the next edition.
O Cigar Night acontece sempre na última quinta-feira do mês, no Altino Deck Bar. O evento é aberto a todos — membros e não membros do BNI. Entre em contato com Rodrigo Motta para participar do grupo e garantir sua vaga na próxima edição.
When I light a cigar, the world slows down. And it's in that slowness that the best conversations happen. The best business. The best friendships.