Ernesto Perez-Carrillo
Blender who built La Gloria Cubana at his father's Miami factory, sold the business in 1999, and founded E.P. Carrillo a decade later.
Perez-Carrillo was born in Cuba in 1952 and grew up in Miami, where his father ran El Credito Cigars. He took over the company and turned La Gloria Cubana, particularly its larger formats, into one of the defining brands of the 1990s cigar boom, at a point when demand far exceeded what a small Miami factory could produce. El Credito was a small factory operating out of a converted Miami building.
The family sold El Credito in 1999 and he remained with the acquiring group until March 2009, then started again. Encouraged by his children Lissette and Ernesto III, he founded EPC Cigar Co. and moved manufacturing to the Dominican Republic, where the family operates Tabacalera La Alianza and also produces for outside brands. Starting a new manufacturing business at that stage of a career is rare in an industry where most founders build once.
The second career has been at least as successful as the first: E.P. Carrillo lines have twice taken the top annual spot in Cigar Aficionado's rankings and once placed second. He is one of the few blenders whose work bridges the Miami Cuban-exile tradition and the modern Dominican industry. His daughter and son now handle much of the company's direction, and the family has continued to add capacity in the Dominican Republic.