Cigar Legends

Carlos Fuente Jr. is one of the most recognized faces in the world of cigars. The 51-year-old president of Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia. is a passionate cigarmaker who finds inspiration in breaking new ground in the cigar business. He and his father, Carlos Sr., revived the perfecto shape with their immensely popular Hemingway series of cigars and drove the demand for full-flavored smokes with their creation of the Fuente Fuente OpusX, the first successful cigar to be made with a Cuban-seed wrapper grown under shade in the Dominican Republic. 

Read the Cigar Aficionado Interview with Carlos Fuente...

Pepín comes from a family of tobacco makers and entered the business in December 1961, when he was only 11 years of age, working at a cigar factory belonging to one of his uncles in the town of Báez, Province of Villa Clara, Cuba. In March 1963, having gained a certain amount of experience, he began working at the Félix Rodríguez export cigar factory, also in the town of Báez. He worked there continuously until he was finally able to get out of Cuba in 2001, bound for Nicaragua.

More about Don Jose 'Pepin' Garcia...

C.A.O. was created by Tim’s father, Cano (pronounced Johnno), an Armenian Turk with a penchant for smoking cigars and pipes. Cano, who emigrated to America in 1961, graduated from Columbia University as an engineering major. C.A.O. made a first attempt at the cigar business, in 1980, with a brand called Casa de Manuel. “We learned everything not to do,” says Cano.  C.A.O. added cigar brands through the years, and eventually expanded its coterie of cigar companies that made its brands: the Toraño family began making C.A.O.

More about CAO & Ozgener at Cigar Aficionado...

Carlos Toraño hails from one of the premier tobacco-growing families of Cuba. When his father and family lost their tobacco farms to nationalization after the Castro revolution, the Toraños spread about the world, sowing tobacco seed in their footsteps. After his father's death in a tobacco field, Toraño entered the family tobacco business, and later began brokering and then making cigars, eventually putting his name on a cigar brand. Today, the Toraños make cigars for a variety of customers and are building their family name into one of the established cigar brands of the modern era..

Read the Carlos Torano Cigar Aficionado Interview...

Jose A. Seijas isn't nearly as famous as many of his contemporaries in the Dominican Republic, but he runs Tabacalera de Garcia Ltd., the factory that makes that troika of brands and a score of others. The 270,000-square-foot factory is one of the biggest on the planet, fitting because its owner -- Altadis -- is the world's largest cigar company. Seijas's cigars have always been known for their quality of construction, and today he is pumping up many of his blends with stronger tobaccos, making more flavorful cigars. Seijas and Tabacalera de Garcia may be making its best cigars ever. 

Read about Jose A. Seijas at Cigar Aficionado...

Josè Orlando Padrón, patriarch of Miami's Padrón family, was raised in Pinar del Río, Cuba's famed tobacco growing region. There, as a young boy, he followed in the footsteps of his father and learned the art of processing tobacco. When Josè Orlando came to Miami, following the revolution, he began rolling the leaves into cigars. It's impossible to imagine him doing anything else for a living. Padrón came to the United States from Cuba in the early 1960s with nothing more than a few hundred dollars and a head filled with dreams, and set out to make cigars in the style of the great Cuban cigars of his past. Padrón's Anniversary cigars are some of the world's most sought-after smokes, and its core Padrón line is one of the best buys in the market. 

Read more about Jose Padron...

Rocky Patel has quickly become one of the best-known faces in the world of premium cigars. The owner of Rocky Patel Premium Cigars Inc. spends most of his life on the road, either in the factories in Honduras and Nicaragua that make his cigars, in the tobacco fields of Central America or in the many cigar shops that sell his wares.

Browse our Rocky Patel Cigars inventory...

The history of the Perdomo family's cigar making tradition recounts three generations of Cuban cigar artisans and their quest for survival, freedom and their fervent dream of producing the finest cigars in the world. When he was 26, Perdomo decided that he wanted to own a cigar factory. His father and grandfather had worked in the Cuban cigar industry, after Perdomo's great-grandfather emigrated from Italy to Cuba, settling in San Jose, about 32 miles west of Havana. All Nick Perdomo knew about cigars was that he enjoyed smoking them. In August 1992 Perdomo opened his own cigar company in Miami, naming it Nick's Cigar Co. Today, led by the third generation of cigar maker Nick Perdomo, Jr., Tabacalera Perdomo, S.A. has gained its rightful place as one of the most successfully innovative and fiercely passionate manufacturers of premium cigars in the world.

View our Perdomo Cigars or read more at Cigar Aficionado...

Christian Eiroa of Camacho Cigars is a very busy, yet happy man. He joined his father’s company—Caribe Imported Cigars—in 1995 on a temporary basis, but that short-term job turned into a vocation and a calling. Twelve years later, he is now president of the company and changed its name to Camacho Cigars to reflect the popularity of its flagship brand. In 2000, Christian debuted the Camacho Corojo to immediate success and started a trend for stronger cigars. Not only is he fully involved in revitalizing the Camacho brands, but has carved out more time to return to his true passions: blending new cigars and spending time with his family. 

Read about the Eiora's at Smoke Mag and Cigar Aficionado

The Plasencia family is one of the largest tobacco growers in the world. Nestor Plasencia Jr., who makes cigars with his father in Honduras and Nicaragua, is a 5th generation of tobacco growers.  The tobacco leaves grown by the Placencia's will be sold to clients in Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. The Plasencia's even supply tobacco to the highly-rated premium cigar makers as Toraño and CAO cigars. Their tradition and influence in the industry is unparalleled and Nestor Plasencia Jr. is the man behind the world's only organically-grown cigar, Plasencia Reserva Organica. 

Read about Nestor Plasencia Jr. on CigarAficionado.com