Casa Carrillo Cigars

The Perez-Carrillo story begins in Cuba, where Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Sr. — a tobacco man twice elected to the Cuban Senate — bought the small El Credito factory in Havana in 1948. After the revolution the family rebuilt El Credito in Miami's Little Havana, and his son Ernesto Jr. took over the factory in 1980. There he created La Gloria Cubana, the cigar that stunned the industry in 1992 when four of its nine sizes scored 90 or higher in Cigar Aficionado. After Swedish Match acquired El Credito, Ernesto left in March 2009 and — urged on by his children — founded a new family company with his son Ernesto III and daughter Lissette, opening a 40,000-square-foot factory, Tabacalera La Alianza, in Santiago's Zona Franca in the Dominican Republic. That company, long known as E.P. Carrillo, is now Casa Carrillo: one name uniting the Miami headquarters, the Dominican factory — rebranded the Casa Carrillo Cigar Factory in 2024 — and the brand's international presence. A family-owned house of brands — the Perez-Carrillo, Essence, and INCH series — its portfolio includes two cigars crowned No. 1 Cigar of the Year: Encore Majestic and Pledge Prequel. Every cigar is fermented, aged, rolled the "Cuban way" with a triple cap, and packaged under Ernesto's supervision.