by Frank Seltzer (Mowee)
General Cigar announced today that Ernesto Perez-Carrillo is
leaving the company. Perez-Carrillo's
last day will be March 15th. He is leaving to open a new cigar business with his children. Ernesto is
known for El Credito which was founded by his father and known for not only the
El Credito brand but also its La Gloria Cubana.
El Credito
was founded in
Miami in 1968 by Ernesto
Perez-Carrillo, Sr. , who had fled his
native
Cuba
in 1959. El Credito initially began
making fumas and cazadores -short filler cigars for the local Cubans in
Miami. The younger Ernesto (Jr.) came to the factory
in 1980 and began to rebuild the company's brands in long filler cigars. His biggest success was the La Gloria Cubana line. The success of that brand and the ongoing
success of El Rico Habano and El Credito maxed out the little Calle Ocho
factory in
Miami. In 1996, Ernesto opened a factory in the
Dominican Republic which gave him the additional capacity needed to fill all the orders he was receiving.
Swedish
Match (General Cigar's parent company) bought El Credito in 1999 and
Perez-Carrillo went to work for them running both his Dominican and
Miami factories. Last year, he designed a new cigar to be made, exclusively, in
Miami - Artesanos de Miami - as a tribute to
the craftsmen who work at the El Credito factory on Calle Ocho. General Cigar will continue to make and
market the full range of El Credito's lines.
When
Perez-Carrillo sold it was generally thought it was because his children had
little interest in the cigar business. Now, it appears Lissette and Ernesto have changed their minds and plan
to join their father in the new cigar company.
____________________________________________________________
Frank Seltzer
