My Father’s El Rey de los Habanos Returns

Like many other family-owned cigar companies, Cuba is the origin of the García family’s tobacco roots, but in the U.S., the García family’s cigar-making can be traced back to El Rey de los Habanos.

Today, the García family operates My Father—a name used for the company, the family’s large factory in Nicaragua, and various cigar lines—but the family’s first cigars were rolled at a small factory in Miami’s Calle Ocho neighborhood called El Rey de los Habanos. Like how the My Father name is used for multiple things, so too was the case with El Rey de los Habanos. It was the factory name, as well as a cigar line.

Now, that cigar line is returning to shelves with a new blend and new look.

Formally, the new line is known as Don Pepín García E.R.H. It uses a Sumatra rosado oscuro wrapper over a blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos from Condega, Estelí and Jalapa. The original version of the cigar was a Nicaraguan puro, while a 2014 remake used an Ecuadorian habano wrapper.

The new version will be offered in three vitolas:

• Don Pepín García E.R.H. Robusto (5 x 54)
• Don Pepín García E.R.H. Toro (6 x 52)
• Don Pepín García E.R.H. Toro Gordo (6 x 60)

For the moment, the cigars are only offered to stores that are members of the Tobacconists’ Association of America, though it seems likely that other retailers will be able to purchase the cigars next year.

An email sent to My Father seeking information about pricing and other details was not returned.

While the Garcías no longer use the building in Calle Ocho to roll cigars, the company does have a small rolling operation in its Doral, Fla. headquarters that serves as the modern-day successor to the El Rey de los Habanos factory. That factory produces a very limited number of cigars—both production numbers and types of cigars—most of which seem to be Tatuaje releases.