Pete Johnson

Pete Johnson is the U.S. brand owner behind Tatuaje (2003) and L'Atelier (2012). He came out of Los Angeles cigar retail, including the Grand Havana Room, and named Tatuaje (Spanish for tattoo) for his ink. In 2003 he met Pepín García in California; Pepín rolled the first Tatuajes at El Rey de los Habanos in Miami. Tatuaje was Pepín's first private-label client. That pairing, Pete's marca and García Cuban-style construction, helped start the 2000s boutique wave.

Johnson does not own a factory. Who makes his cigars? The García family. When they built My Father in Estelí, Tatuaje moved with them. L'Atelier Imports followed in 2012 as a second company (with brother K.C. and partners), using Sancti Spíritus hybrid leaf and wine-world names, still rolled with the Garcías. Tatuaje is the tattoo-shop brand. L'Atelier is the workshop brand. Neither is an STG or Altadis name.

Pete is a brand owner, not a grower or factory operator. Family-lore talk sometimes links him to Janny García and San Cristóbal. The commercial fact is simpler: García manufacturing, Johnson marcas. Tatuaje first, then L'Atelier, then El Rey and My Father for where the cigars are made.