.png)
In the
artisanal cigar industry it is not easy to find a person as authoritative as
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo.
His family
history begins in Havana, Cuba in 1907, according to Ernesto Perez-Carrillo
(third generation) himself in an old interview from 1997 that the magazine
Cigar Aficionado conducted with him. Here's what he says: “My grandfather and
his brother started making cigars on the sidewalks. They had a cigar table,
made their cigars and sold them for a penny".
His father,
Ernesto Sr., worked for many years as a tobacco buyer for Cuban Land Leaf
Tobacco Co., an American company that marketed Cuban tobacco in the United
States and other countries, and in 1948 he bought a small tobacco factory
called El Credito. Over time, the Perez-Carrillo family built a
recognized name on the island, but in 1959, after the arrival of Fidel Castro
to power, they had to flee the country, due to the regime's persecution of
Ernesto Sr., who also, from a master blender and cigar maker, he had become a
Senator in the Cuban Congress.
They
settled in Miami, and in 1968, after trying different businesses, he was able
to buy a cigar factory in Little Havana, which he also named El Credito.
In 1976, after venturing into the jazz world for several years and discovering
that his true vocation was cigars, Ernesto Jr. joined his father's business to
start a long road that has not ended yet, in which he became the legendary
master mixer that he is today.
Ernesto Jr.
fully dedicated himself to the company in 1980 when his father passed away. The
following years were difficult and of great uncertainties because the demand
was small and the capital available to them was very limited. However, he
decided to resist and set out to create a cigar capable of producing a unique
sensory experience in smokers.
In the
early 1990s, he produced his first highly successful blend, which he named La
Gloria Cubana, a cigar that rose to prominence among Miami smokers although it
did not spread to other parts of the country until late 1992, when the magazine
Cigar Aficionado, which was launched that year, rated the Wavel format of La
Gloria Cubana with 90 points. The same day that the publication came out, the
demand skyrocketed in such an excessive way that it would never have been
possible to imagine.
From that
moment on, it attracted the attention of the entire country, which, added to
the unprecedented increase in the consumption of cigars in the 1990s, placed Perez-Carrillo
in an urgent need to expand. Thus, in 1996 he opened a new factory in the
Dominican Republic. In 1997, the Swedish Match / General Cigar company proposed
to him to buy the Dominican factory, the store in Miami and the La Gloria
Cubana brand, and they asked him to work for them as a salaried worker, which
he accepted.
He worked
10 years with General, after which he decided to reinvent himself in the world
of cigars with a new company, this time associated with his two sons and
without the famous La Gloria Cubana brand, despite the fact that it was a vital
part of its history.
He formed
the company EPC Cigar Co., and has since created numerous brands, some of which
have appeared on the Top 25 Cigar Aficionado lists since 2010. In 2014 he
placed second in that respected ranking with his E.P. Carrillo La Historia
E-III. In 2018 he achieved the coveted “Cigar of the Year” award with the E.P.
Carrillo Encore Majestic, a feat that he repeated in 2020 with the E.P.
Carrillo Pledge Prequel. A high-performance trilogy that took him to the top of
the charts with three award-winning cigars in 7 years.
Today,
after more than 50 years of masterfully practicing his trade, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo
continues to develop admirable blends in the family's factory, La Tabacalera
Alianza, in the Dominican Republic.
