Nick Perdomo Jr. has achieved the American dream par excellence. After 26 years in the cigar business and approaching his midfifites, he manages a company that has more than 4,000 employees, cultivates 1,200 acres of tobacco land and has a production capacity of 80,000 cigars per day.
How tobacco conquers living space
Everything starts with a cigar. No matter how long you have already indulged in the pleasure of the rolled tobacco, in the end, it’s all about one particular cigar. There probably isn’t a cigar smoker for whom this one cigar, over time, hasn’t changed quite a bit.
The Brangelina of cigars
It was not love at first sight. Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars and Janny García of My Father Cigars had known each other and worked together for many years when they realized they were more than “just” friends and business partners. That was in 2009 … or was it 2010?
Carlos Fuente Jr.: We are all one
Since the death of his father on August 5, 2016, Carlito has been the head of the family. That Fuente is one of the most important cigar families (yearly production approx. 30 million cigars) and produces many of the most coveted cigars in the world is adequately known. But who is this man?
Boutique Smokes: Mike Choi
When a man who has spent his working life learning all there is to know about Cuban cigars opens a New-World-cigar business, it’s time to take note.
Mike Choi – who was runner up in Cuba’s prestigious Habanosommelier International Contest and worked at the award-winning Sahakian cigar lounge in London’s Bulgari hotel for several years – is the face behind Boutique Smokes, a new UK business aiming to bring exciting New-World smokes directly to customers.
EXPERIENCE GENEVA WITH JEAN-CHARLES RIOS
Bulgari, Tiffany et Al., Cartier, and Louis Vuitton, just to name a few noble boutiques, line the way to our interviewee in Geneva. We meet Jean-Charles Rios, owner of Gestocigars, in Rue Robert-Céard, in the heart of the city on lake Geneva.
1 Cigar, 3 different tastes
What effect does storage have on a cigar? Our humidor expert Marc André presented three of the same yet completely differently stored cigars to 50 testers.
The wrapper specialists from Ecuador
With a few tobacco seeds sown into his belt and 50 Dollars that his brother had given him, Angel Oliva took the boat to Tampa. This was going to be the start of a better life, and the Oliva Tobacco Company.
Es perfecto!: The García family
Unlike other family companies in the cigar industry today, the kids of the next generation at My Family aren’t there to take over. Thy were there from the start.
Classic and clear: Glass jars
In the past few issues of Cigar Journal we’ve been on the exciting discovery journey of tracing the wonderful ceramic jars – from Habanos S. A. as well as the various distributors worldwide. In this issue we’ll dedicate ourselves to the history of crystal jars, also better known as glass jars or “glass office jars.”
Maintaining the aromas of cigars
Some of us are familiar with the problem: storing cigars in a humidor and after some time, the aromas seem to have disappeared.
Pete Johnson: Old-school
After 15 years of Cigar making, Pete Johnson is writing songs he hasn’t written for a while, and finding his way back to the sense of tobacco tradition and simplicity that was once the foundation of Tatuaje Cigars. He’s also dressing better.


