Perdomo

The Perdomo family’s cigar history began in Cuba. Silvio Perdomo apprenticed at Cuesta y Cia in the early 1930s, joined H. Upmann in 1937 and moved into management at Partagas in 1945. His son, Nicholas Perdomo Sr., began his own apprenticeship in 1948, later working as an executive at Partagas and H. Upmann.

After the Cuban Revolution, Silvio spent 15 years in prison before emigrating to the United States in 1974. Nicholas Sr., who had fought against the communist forces, escaped Cuba with assistance from the Uruguayan Embassy and sponsorship from the Catholic Church. Separated from cigar manufacturing, he settled near Washington, D.C., and worked as a janitor for $11 per week.

Nicholas Perdomo Jr. served in the U.S. Navy as an air traffic controller and later held the same occupation at Miami International Airport. In August 1992, he founded Nick’s Cigar Co. in his garage while retaining his airport job. Three rollers made the cigars, while Nicholas Jr. and his wife, Janine, packed them. The company produced and sold 9,400 cigars in its first year.

Production expanded during the 1990s. After reaching the limits of its Miami facility, the company moved to Ybor City in 1997 and also opened a production operation in Estelí, Nicaragua, with Nicholas Sr. returning from retirement to assist. A larger, custom-built Estelí facility followed in 1999. By 2001, Tabacalera Perdomo employed 622 people in Central America and 24 in the United States.

Perdomo remains family owned and operated, with Nicholas Perdomo Jr. serving as president and chief executive officer and Janine Perdomo as vice president of operations. Manufacturing is centered at an 88,000-square-foot facility in Estelí known as “El Monstro,” while the company is headquartered in Miami Lakes, Florida.