Tobacco Business

[ 28 ] TOBACCO BUSINESS [ JULY / AUGUST | 21 ] blend. It wasn’t until his own father passed away in 1980 that he felt like he came into his own while still learning from other big names and entrepreneurs in the tobacco industry. “I’ve had a lot of mentors,” he says. “I admire Carlos Fuentes Sr. a lot. There were other gentlemen that I also admired: Rolando Reyes and Orlando Padrón, who had a big influence on how I made and blended cigars since he was also using tobacco from Nicaragua. But I mean, there were so many people that I learned from, not only on the blending side but just because of their work ethics. They were working in their factories, coming in at 5 in the morning and working until 10 to 11 at night. So I guess you could say I got into that culture, and I found that I really enjoyed it. I still learn from a lot of people, even nowadays. I have people that I admire because of the other things they do, [including] the different types of blends they come up with or the tobaccos that they use. In this business, we are always learning. You can always learn from the people you listen to—and sometimes those you least expect to learn from.” Following the sale of El Credito’s La Gloria Cubana brand to General Cigar Co. in 1999 and before launching E.P. Carrillo in 2009, Perez-Carrillo had different plans for his career in tobacco. Originally, he wanted to open his own cigar factory in either Miami or the Dominican Republic and make private blends for friends. Both Rocky Patel and Alan Rubin had offered to help him get started, but before moving forward with his plans, Perez-Carrillo’s children, Lissette and Ernie, asked him to consider another option: Why not start his own cigar line? Perez-Carrillo wanted to avoid the headaches that would come from launching his own cigar line— the sales, the marketing and the finance needed all made doing pri- vate label cigar manufacturing for others more appealing. The only way he’d consider launching his own line of cigars was if his chil- dren would take on a large role within the business, which meant they would need to leave their jobs in order to make it a family business. They agreed, and in 2009, E.P. Carrillo was born. “It worked out better than I ever imagined,” says Perez-Carrillo. “It’s hard to be in this business because sometimes your expectations are so high. You just have to have that faith that if you do things right and you keep the integrity of your brands, things will work out.” Becoming a brand owner and creating blends that would serve as an extension of the family and its history presented Perez-Carrillo with a new challenge. Never one to shy away from obstacles, and with little fear of failing, Perez-Carrillo embraced his new company and knew that having a successful cigar business would come down to the blends he could create and tobacco he could get his hands on to help him carve out his own place and legacy within the industry. Mastering Tobacco Since launching E.P. Carrillo, Perez-Carrillo has become recog- nized as one of the industry’s leading cigar blenders. Although he traded his dreams of becoming a professional jazz drummer for a career in tobacco, music has continued to influence his relationship with cigars and tobacco. While he was growing up, Perez-Carrillo’s parents encouraged him to do what he loved to do, which at the Launched in 2009, E.P. Carrillo Cigar Co. is a family-owned company launched by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo at the urging of his children, including his daughter Lissette-Perez Carrillo (left).