Cigar Weekly

 

 

José Pepin Garcia and his son Jaime have been operating out of their new factory for about a month now. But this past weekend, the factory officially opened. Located 500 meters north of the Texaco Star Mart in Esteli (there are actually few real addresses and street signs in Esteli), Nicaragua, the new compound for the Garcias is hard to miss.

 

 

You first notice the dual Nicaraguan and Cuban flags. And then there are the 6 buildings in the complex, with the factory dominating the landscape.

 

 

 

My Father Cigars is the official name of the place, and the site is massive. As you come into the driveway off the main road, you see off to your left a total of 5 buildings. Pepin and Jaime used to operate out of a factory in downtown Esteli. They broke ground on the new complex about a year and a half ago. In November of last year, they moved out of the downtown location and into the first building (one of the five) on the new property. This edifice became their rolling factory and office. Today, with the completion of the new manufacturing structure (the sixth), the original building has returned to what it was intended for - fermentation. These buildings represent the heart and soul of the company, and house the pre-industry portion of the facility. Here, tobacco arrives from the drying barns, is sorted and begins the fermentation process up through final aging. 

 

 

 

Much attention to detail is given to the pillones as the tobacco winds its way from building to building, from first fermentation to the last. Jaime says they have their very own water system here because the water in Esteli contains too much chlorine.

 

 

The fermentation process takes up to a year, depending upon the leaf. And once fermented, the tobacco is stored in bales. Over 500,000 pounds of tobacco are stored here.

 

 

The main building covers about 50,000 square feet in area. It houses the reception area and some offices, but the bulk of it is given over to manufacturing.

 

 

A total of 640 people work in the complex. 200 are rollers and bunchers, and they turn out about 25,000 cigars a day. Pepin says there is room for expansion, and that more rollers will be added. We were able to see the whole process since Nestor Miranda, Jason Woods (of Miami Cigar & Company) and I came in a day early (Thursday night).

 

Friday, the rest of the guests arrived, and that night, the Garcias hosted a welcome party at the factory’s cafeteria. There was Cuban music as well as lots of rum and beer, and we had a great time. Who knew Pepin was such a good singer?

 

 

At 11:00 on Saturday morning, the ceremonial opening of the factory took place. Jaime and Pepin were dressed to impress, and welcomed all attendees in the factory’s main lobby. Everyone received a specially made three pack containing two My Father Cigars and a Tobacco Baez.

 

 

All of the rolling tables were removed so that the 400 plus guests could all see the ceremonies.

 

 

There were speeches by local dignitaries, representatives of the factory workers, Jaime and his sister Janny, and a blessing was also given.

 

 

Professional dancers were present. The fun was too much for Jaime to ignore, and he grabbed Janny and took to the floor, followed quickly by Pepin.

 

 

The ceremony ended with Pepin, Jaime and Janny cutting the ceremonial ribbon to officially put the factory - now properly blessed - into operation. Invited guests included Sathya Levin and Manny Ferraro from Ashton, Eddie Ortega and Erik Espinosa from EO brands, Nestor Miranda and Pete Johnson, who brought a posse.

 

 

Everyone was shown the rest of the factory, including the box plant.

 

 

We were then treated to a full sit-down lunch complete with music and rum - oh and some Scotch, too! I think the party continued on. However, because we had a 7:00AM flight out of Managua the next morning, Nestor, Jason and I left to make the two hour-plus drive back to the city, rather than trying to do it at 3:00 in the morning. All told, it was a great trip, and a most impressive operation.

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Frank Seltzer (Mowee) is a former network correspondent who now owns a media consulting company in Dallas, TX. A regular cigar smoker since 1973, Frank runs the DFW Cigar Society, a group that has almost 300 members who get together twice a month to trade smokes and lies. He also runs away as often as he can to his condo in Maui... hence the name Mowee (which, by the way, was the way Captain Cook originally spelled the island when he heard Hawaiians speak it.)