Pepín García

José "Pepín" García is the Cuban-trained blender and patriarch behind My Father Cigars. After decades as a torcedor in Cuba he opened El Rey de los Habanos in Miami's Little Havana in 2002. His first private-label client was Pete Johnson's Tatuaje in 2003, the cigar that put García construction on the U.S. boutique map. He later built My Father in Estelí with children Jaime and Janny: house lines such as My Father, The Judge, Le Bijou 1922, and Flor de las Antillas (Cigar of the Year in 2012), plus Le Bijou 1922 as Cigar of the Year in 2015.

The factory also rolls for other brands. Tatuaje and L'Atelier still sit with the Garcías. Crowned Heads and Ashton Nicaraguan marques such as La Aroma de Cuba and San Cristóbal use the same rooms. Pepín does not work for STG or Altadis. Who makes Tatuaje, and who makes My Father? The García family, first in Miami, then in Estelí.