Demaso Padrón, Jose Orlando Padrón's
grandfather, immigrated to Cuba in the mid 1800's from Spain. As a
young boy, Demaso worked in the tobacco fields to make a living. The
wages were quite minimal with the elder Padron only earning pennies a
day for his back-breaking work. It's here that the Padron Cigar story
really begins. Demaso Padron began to grow his knowledge of tobacco.
He also managed to save every penny he earned, outside of what he
needed for food and clothing. Eventually, the Padron family purchased
their very first tobacco farm from their meager savings, in the Pinar
del Río region of Cuba, Las Obas. As their farm began to produce
high quality tobacco, the market demand grew, and they bought several
more farms in the surrounding areas. One particular farm was in an
area called, Piloto. It's from this farm that Jose took his company
name from: Piloto Cigars.
As the Padron factories and farms grew,
so did the family. Jose Orlando Padrón was born in 1926 in the Pinar
del Rio region of Cuba. As a boy, Jose began to learn all the various
aspects of tobacco farming. As he grew, so did his knowledge, and
eventually Jose was running the family farms and factories. Then one
fateful day in 1961, Jose and his family found their farms taken over
and nationalized by Fidel Castro. Jose fled Cuba and headed for
Spain. From Spain, Jose made his move and headed for the U.S, where
he ended up in Miami.
Once in Miami, Jose took a job working
for the government helping Cuban refugees. For this he was paid $60 a
month. Shortly after, a friend of Jose's gave him a hammer and he
began to work as a carpenter. After months of work, Jose was able to
save $600, which was just enough to launch his cigar business. Jose
hired a torcedor, who rolled cigars for Jose in the traditional Cuban
style. With this one employee, Jose was able to make two hundred
cigars per day and began to supply the locals with premium
hand-rolled cigars.
Eventually, Jose became friends with a
business man who had a factory and farm in Nicaragua. He asked Jose
to come to Nicaragua to inspect his tobacco for quality. Soon after,
Jose traveled to Nicaragua and he was so impressed with their tobacco
that he started to exclusively use it in his cigars. However, due to
the inability of the farm being able to supply him with the amounts
of tobacco he needed, Jose decided to move his operation to Estli,
Nicaragua in 1970.
The late 60's and 70's were a turbulent
time in Nicaragua. Political unrest was rampant and riots and
violence was the norm. The Padron factory became a casualty of the
unrest and was burnt to the ground. Determined, Jose found a new
location and rebuilt his factory in Nicaragua, and built a second one
in Honduras. With this accomplished, Jose thought his troubles were
behind him. Although, the 1980's U.S embargo on Nicaragua brought new
troubles for Jose. He found himself scrambling to export all his
warehoused product to Tampa, before the embargo took place. While the
embargo was in place, Jose sold cigars from his stockpile and then
returned to Nicaragua and resumed operations, after the embargo was
lifted.
Today, the brand Padron Cigars is
recognized as one of the premier names in cigars. Jose Orlando
Padrón and his son, Jorge Padrón, run the Padron cigar business.
Jorge currently serves as the company’s president and is taking the
steps to move in as the Director of the Padron family business. Their
farms in Nicaragua continue to grow and produce some of the finest
tobacco available. Their rolling and storage facilities cover more
than 75,000 square feet of space, and they store enough tobacco to
make 25 million cigars. They export more than four million cigars per
year, and truly are recognized as the standard in the premium cigar
world.
