My Father Cigars S.A.

My Father Cigars S.A. opened in Esteli in 2009, replacing the Miami workshop, El Rey de los Habanos, where Jose Pepin Garcia and his children had begun in 2003. The factory takes its name from the blend Jaime Garcia created for his father the previous year. It sits alongside family farmland, so the operation covers growing, fermentation and rolling on adjacent sites.

The house style is defined by the Cuban rolling technique Pepin Garcia brought with him, in particular a tightly packed bunch and a triple cap, and by heavy use of Nicaraguan corojo and criollo. The building also houses a large aging and packing operation, and the company has expanded it repeatedly as demand grew. Rollers are trained in the same method, which keeps construction consistent across brands.

The plant is one of the more important contract manufacturers in Esteli. In addition to the family's own brands it produces Ashton Distributors' La Aroma de Cuba and San Cristobal lines and Pete Johnson's Tatuaje, three of the most commercially significant boutique labels in the American market. That combination of own brands and high-profile contract work makes the plant unusually influential relative to its physical size, and its output is closely watched in the American trade.