The Chef

Chef Chip Hight has always been a man who, not only “thought outside the box”, but re-designed the box. His interest in flavors and passion for excellence led him to start a hugely successful candy company while still in high school. By age 20, Chip had used the candy company as a base from which to launch Hight Cigar. The cigars, produced by the Briones family, were sold in Hight’s first retail store located in a 10×10 space inside an antique mall. Not content with traditional retailing, he apprenticed with a Cuban torcedor with 60 years experience. Working gratis in every spare moment, Chip became proficient in selecting various tobaccos and rolling cigars. Chip is still active in rolling and blending with the production partners in Nicaragua, doing rolling demonstrations for special events, and serving as President of Hight Cigar.

Along the journey to founding today’s well known Hight Cigar, Chip never lost his obsession with favors and his love of good food and great cigars. His uncanny ability to cram a few extra hours into an ordinary 24 hour day enabled to work with some of the world’s respected Chefs. Chip attended culinary school and was soon teaching cooking classes himself. Equally comfortable wielding a chef knife or a chaveta, he became one of he nation’s youngest executive chefs, and served as such at *17 Restaurant and Alden Hotel. While there, he was instrumental in generating exciting new menus and new revenue for the acclaimed boutique hotel located in one of Houston’s original hotel buildings.

Chef Chip continues to surprise both the culinary world and the premium cigar industry with new creations. He is a featured speaker on cooking programs, has his cigars favorably rated in major publications, and travels to find new flavors in sometimes unexpected places like Amsterdam, Managua, Kingston, and Las Vegas.