Padrón Cigars

Story: José Orlando Padrón came from a family that had grown tobacco for generations in Cuba’s Pinar del Río province. He left Cuba in 1961 and arrived in Miami in February 1962, where he mowed lawns and did carpentry with a small hammer given to him by a friend. The money earned with that hammer — $600 — allowed him to open Padrón Cigars in September 1964, starting with a single cigar roller. He later found a valley in Nicaragua’s Estelí region with a microclimate and soil similar to Pinar del Río, and overcame civil war in Nicaragua, a fire that destroyed his Estelí plant, and repeated acts of violence against his Miami operation. Today the Padrón family continues the business from its headquarters at 1575 SW 1st Street, Miami.