Padron Cigars
Padron cigars are one of the brands that combine the experience of Cuban handcraftsmanship and knowledge of cigars with the American inventive and flair for business, resulting in a brand that’s know for its quality, and which is easily found all over the country, thanks to its extensive network of authorized dealers.
Padron cigars are also a story of hardships that had to be overcome in order to become the name and company that it is today. Jose Padron, fled Cuba and moved to Florida, in order to look for a better life, like a lot of Cubans did. He stayed in Florida for seven years, but his costs were too much in order to keep a profitable operation. He then decided to move to Nicaragua, a country that has been known for cheap and high quality tobacco leafs for decades, in 1970. Unfortunately for Jose Padron and for his Padron cigars, he chose a bad decade in Nicaragua. The 70’s in Nicaragua were filled with political turmoil, followed by several violent episodes.
However, Padron cigars somehow thrived under these hard conditions, which tells a lot about the quality of Padron cigars and their preference among cigar connoisseurs even back then. Part of the survival strategy of Padron cigars consisted in opening a new, smaller factory in Honduras, which could handle part of the production when conditions were hard in Nicaragua.
The opening of a second factory in another country seriously strained the finances of the Padron family, which were already precarious under the circumstances. However, this decision was probably the thing that saved Padron cigars from bankruptcy a few years later, when in 1985, the then president of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan declared an embargo on Nicaragua and all the products that came from the country. Having an already working factory in another country allowed the Padron family to continue production uninterruptedly, and thus avoid losing orders and clients. Other companies based in Nicaragua were not so lucky, and a few of them disappeared, not being able to comply with deliveries that they had promised.
Even so, the conditions under which the Padron family worked weren’t the best. They lived in the same building where they worked, on a bedroom built on top of the factory. They worked long hours and they still managed to send their cigars to Florida, which was the only market for Padron cigars back then.
The story of Padron cigars finally took a good turn in 1993, when Padron cigars were presented in a trade show. This allowed them to be known by customers from all over the world and become the name that they are today.
