Perdomo: From a Miami Garage to Estelí's "El Monstro"

The Perdomo story begins in Cuba and passes through a Miami garage before it reaches Nicaragua. It is one of those houses where the craft is handed down from grandfather to grandson.

Three generations

The grandfather, Silvio Perdomo, worked in the Cuban factories of H. Upmann and Partagás. His son, Nick Perdomo Sr., followed the same path: he began his apprenticeship in 1948 and worked in Cuban tobacco until the revolution changed everything. The family emigrated to the United States and, in 1976, settled in Miami.

A garage and an air traffic controller

In 1992, at the height of the cigar boom, Nick Perdomo Jr. started making cigars in his garage in Miami under the name Nick’s Cigar Co. Most sources say it was in August. It was not his full-time job: by day he was an air traffic controller, and he worked on the cigars after his shifts. At first there were three rollers, and Nick and his wife, Janine, packed the boxes.

Nicaragua and “El Monstro”

In 1997 Nick Sr. came out of retirement to help his son set up a factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. That was the start of Tabacalera Perdomo, which locals in Estelí call “El Monstro” (the Monster) because of its size. It is one of the largest cigar factories in the country, although sources disagree on its size: some say 88,000 square feet and others 70,000.

What sets Perdomo apart is that it does almost everything in-house: it grows the tobacco, cures and ferments it, ages it, makes its own boxes and rolls the cigars. Today it makes more than 10 million cigars a year, with lines such as the Reserve 10th Anniversary, the 20th Anniversary and the Lot 23.

Why it matters

Perdomo is the story of a Cuban family that did not let the craft die in exile. It is also one of the houses that made Estelí the capital of Nicaraguan cigars. Nick Jr. speaks of his late father as the root of everything he does.

Some dates and figures from the early years change depending on the source. We say so where they disagree.