History Series: Perdomo Cigars...Past and Present

Perdomo Cigars found its humble beginnings in 1992, but you will have to go back to the 1930's to find its roots to appreciate it roots. Silvio Perdomo, the grandfather of Nick Perdomo Jr., was an accomplished cigar roller for several different factories, in Jose de Las Lajas, Cuba. Some of the factories included, Cuesta y Cia in the 1930's, H. Upmann in the late 30's to mid 40's, then Partagas from 1945-1959. During Fidel Castros' brutal takeover of Cuba in 1959, many of those stuck in Cuba found themselves to be enemies of Fidel. Silvio Perdomo found himself in just a position and was imprisoned for fifteen years as an enemy of the revolution, until finally, he was aloud to immigrate to the U.S in 1974. Nick Sr., who also was an enemy of the communist dictator, narrowly escaped being executed and was shot twice in the leg fighting against Fidel Castros' murderess dictatorship. After a brief hospital stay, Nick Sr. fled the country through a catholic charity organization and made his way to Washington D.C.

 

Nick Sr. brought with him many things that a man of character has: including his love of fine cigars. He had followed in his fathers footsteps and was a cigar roller.  To further master his craft, he worked as an executive at Partagas and then for H. Upmann. When faced with entering a new country and needing to put food on the table, he took a job as a janitor at a health facility. The meager pay was barely enough to keep his family going, so in 1976, Nick Sr. moved them to Miami, Florida for a new start. It's here that the modern day story begins for the famed Perdomo Cigar brand. After serving his country in the U.S. Navy, Nick Jr. went to work as an air traffic controller. In the evenings, with his beautiful wife Janine by his side, they launched Tobacalera Perdomo from their garage. Not wanting to follow industry trends at the time of mild tasting cigars, Nick began producing full-bodied cigars. His timing was impeccable as the cigar boom of the mid 90's produced a plethora of new cigar smokers looking for full-bodied flavorful cigars.

 

In 1997, The Perdomo brand grew well beyond its humble factory in Miami; Nick moved the operations to Ybor City near Tampa. This, however, was not satisfactory to Nick as costs were high and he was limited in production. Nick Sr. came out of retirement to help his son set up a facility in Esteli, Nicaragua. In 1999, another facility was needed as they began selling well over a million cigars per year, so a custom built factory was erected to meet the growing demands that the company needed. 

During the cigar boom, bucking industry trends once again, Nick produced the Perdomo Squared, which at the time, was one of the first box pressed cigars to ever be produced. It was a hit and he had another winner on his hands. This cigar boosted The Perdomo Brand into another level of cigar fame.

Today, the Perdomo brand has a 88,000 square foot facility in Esteli, Nicaragua and employs hundreds of people in Nicaragua, along with a staff based at its U.S headquarters. They produced dozens of their own cigar lines, along with countless other brands being produced at their factories for the U.S. market and countries abroad.

Perdomo Cigars