Photos/Peter Garritano
After five decades in the cigar business, there isn’t much that Ernesto Perez-Carrillo hasn’t done. He sits here in the aging room of his factory in the Dominican Republic.
Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. has every right to be cocky. After five decades in the cigar business, his name resonates throughout the industry as a beloved, well-respected figure whose distinguished career lead him, in 2018, to the highest award any cigarmaker can receive
Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year. He’s also been inducted into the
Cigar Aficionado Hall of Fame, turned a local Miami cigar into a national brand and continues to produce cigars at his own factory on his own terms in the Dominican Republic. Of course, he isn’t cocky at all. Fifty years of toil seems to have had the opposite effect. Despite his enviable resume of achievement, he’s one of the nicest guys in the industry. So what does the guy who’s done