The Mission of My Father
Three generations of the Garcia family operate one of Nicaragua’s largest cigarmaking operations with unfailing devotion
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There’s a slight shuffle to José “Pepín” Garcia’s walk as he goes from table to table, inspecting the work of his congregation of cigar rollers. The room is vast with 600 employees in blue shirts concentrating on their labors, eyes down, doing things in the old Cuban way. Or at least, the old Cuban way according to Garcia, with some concessions for modernity here and there. He’s a throwback of sorts who grew up in Cuba’s cigar industry, making everything from Montecristo to Romeo y Julieta before bringing his Cubanesque style to Miami in 2003. Now, he’s 74 and the patriarch of a massive Nicaraguan operation that produces some 24 million handmade cigars annually, …
