Although there are many influential people behind the Cuban cigar industry, there are essentially no individuals who enjoy a level of international recognition and notoriety as those who exist within the realm of the non-Cuban or “New World” cigar movement. It can be argued that for the consumer, having a recognizable face behind a brand and an understanding of his or her vision can greatly add to the experience of smoking a cigar.

The Cuban Unsung

Following the Castro takeover of Cuba in 1959, Cuba’s cigar industry became nationalized and essentially consolidated into a single faceless entity. Much like the overarching ideology of communism itself, there was to be no status distinctions assigned to one industry individual over the next; all were to remain in communal obscurity, dutifully toiling away to make quality Cuban cigars for the outside world.

Now, over 65 years later, Cuba still remains relatively opaque about the key figures behind their cigar industry.

Cigar maker winners of Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 Cigars of the Year are displayed below their creation. Below a Partagas Linea Maestra simply displays ‘Cuba’.

Birth of the Cigar Personality

Following the takeover, many key industry figures and their families were forced to surrender their operations and became exiled from Cuba. Over time, not only did this lead to a proliferation of non-Cuban cigars, but it also resulted in a proliferation of internationally recognized cigar makers. Some of whom managed to achieve a level of recognition and fame that exalted them to a form of celebrity status within the industry.

This concept of a celebrity cigar personality truly began to take off during the cigar boom that emerged during the mid-1990s after the arrival of Cigar Aficionado magazine. Cigar Aficionado (and a growing number of publications) shone a spotlight on the key figures behind the cigars they rated and served as a looking glass into the processes involved in making cigars. The reporting involved mostly new world brands, as gaining access to companies in countries like Dominican Republic, USA, and Nicaragua proved easier than accessing key people and information from within Cuba.

An assortment of early Cigar Aficionado magazine releases

On February 3^rd, 1994, Cigar Aficionado Editor and Publisher Marvin R. Shanken was granted a rare interview with then-Cuban President, Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba.

To some readers, it felt like Shanken had made contact with the leader of another planet as the two discussed the future of not only the Cuban cigar industry, but also the trade embargo and the future of Cuba as a whole. Shanken smoked a Cohiba, Castro refrained as he had stopped smoking cigars eight years prior.

For the magazine, it took over two years’ worth of unrelenting letters and phone calls with Cuban diplomats in the United States to male this interview happen.

Jose “Pepin” Garcia: From Cuba to Celebrity Cigar Maker

To highlight how fame recognition through cigar making is commonly fostered outside of Cuba, we’ll look at cigar maker Jose “Pepin” Garcia, the patriarch of the Garcia family of My Father Cigars.

Jose, or “Pepin” as he’s typically called, was born in the town of Baez in the province of Villa Clara in Cuba. Over time, Pepin eventually became regarded as one of the greatest torcedors (cigar rollers) within the state-run industry, having provided his talents towards highly lauded Cuban brands such as Cohiba, Partagas, and Montecristo.

Outside of the Cuba however, he was practically an unknown.

In the year 2003, Pepin managed to leave Cuba. He settled in Miami, Florida, where he began making cigars outside of Cuba for the very first time in a Garcia family-run operation called El Rey de los Habanos. As many know, production demands eventually outgrew the Miami location, which resulted in the family shifting operations to a state-of-the-art facility in Nicaragua and their tobacco cultivation to newly purchased Nicaraguan farms. Many accolades followed, and for Pepin and My Father, the rest, of course, is history.

Rubbing Elbows with the Industry Figures

Today, cigar lovers flock to popular cigar events and festivals in hopes of meeting the face behind the cigars they enjoy. As the world of cigars is essentially quite niche and exists on a smaller scale than other industries, many of the big names behind the brands are generally very approachable and happy to engage with an appreciator of their work as a cigar maker.

Modern cigar enthusiasts crave information like never before. Many want to know the story behind their cigars and to know about the people who bring them to life. For cigar lovers, learning the story behind the cigar humanizes their cigar smoking experience and creates a deeper sense of meaning for them and the brand(s) they enjoy.

The author with legendary cigar maker Ernesto Perez Carrillo

Up to the present day, scores of cigar-related print and web media sources routinely report on the brands and the people behind them, sometimes no matter how big or small their position within a company might be.

Notoriety in Cuba

Though Cuba still lacks internationally recognized figures, the country has made inroads in opening to the world about its industry and some of the key figures that make it work. Since 1999, the annual Festival del Habano (Habanos Festival) attracts a big international audience of smokers who descend upon the island to enjoy world-class cigars and to see where and how they are made.  Of course, for American travelers, having this experience can be very challenging given the embargo and travel restrictions, with many preferring to travel to other cigar nations as Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic instead.

There are unquestionably individuals in the Cuban cigar industry that are deserving of great praise and adoration. It is hopeful that the future will increasingly afford cigar lovers the opportunity learn about the faces behind Cuba’s cigar industry, and give credit where credit is due.