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A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR PEPIN GARCIA

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Los Angeles, March 27 – “No new clients will be taken by our company. Only the ones that in our company will keep growing.”

So says Jose “Pepin” Garcia, the hottest cigar maker on the planet today, who – with his family – owns and operates the El Rey de Los Habanos factory in Miami, Florida and the Tabacalera Cubana in Esteli, Nicaragua. He answered some questions from Gary Arzt in the latest issue of Smokeshop, the largest-circulation magazine for the retail cigar trade.

Garcia moved from Cuba to Nicaragua in 2001 and arrived in Miami in 2002, founding El Rey de Los Habanos in 2003. It didn’t take long for him to establish himself as the Tatuaje brand he produced for Pete Johnson was an immediate sensation when introduced in national distribution in 2004. By 2006, the demand was so great for his services that he opened his Nicaraguan factory . . . which is already being replaced by a larger facility.

Garcia said he currently has 62 pairs of rollers in Esteli who produce 18-20,000 cigars a day (about 4.5-5 million cigars annually), but the new facility will have from 100-110 pairs of rollers, so production capacity could grow to 7-9 million per year.

The Tabacalera Cubana operation is also expanding into tobacco production and Garcia said he plans to harvest about 121,200 annually from the plots he is assembling. “By working our own land and by working with other growers, we assure ourselves that we will always have the variety of tobaccos we need.”

Garcia’s first commitment is to quality and then to expansion of production, but is interested in creating more excitement for the existing brands he works on than anything new. Among his more high-profile, contract cigars on the market today:

5 Vegas Miami, made in Miami for Cigars International;

Cabaiguan, made in Miami for Havana Cellars;

Tatuaje, made in three lines in Miami for Havana Cellars;

601, made in four styles in Esteli for United Tobacco;

San Cristobal, made in Esteli for Ashton Distributors;

Troya Clasico, made in Esteli for Lignum-2.

Garcia has also made the Padilla 1948, Padilla Miami 8 & 11 and the Padilla Signature 1932 in Miami, but production of these brands has been reported to be ending this spring.

Garcia also makes, for his own distribution:

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“Csonka cigars are named for the Hall of Fame fullback of the Miami Dolphins, Larry Csonka.