In this recent interview, I was able to chat with the Vice President of Sales for My Father Cigars, Mr. Jose Ortega, where we talked about the history of the family, the brand, and the vast portfolio in the present, and the future motivation and mission of this iconic multi-generation name in the cigar industry.

[Tyler Caldwell]: We're really glad to have you here with us today. I've always been a big fan of My Father Cigars. Honestly, the Original blend with the My Father logo on it was one of the first cigars I ever smoked. That's going back around 15 years ago.

[Jose Ortega]: Yeah. The brand was released in 2007. It was actually third on Cigar of the Year in 2008.

[TC]: I would say the cigar that put you on the map would be the Flor de Las Antillas, and the Toro was the number-one Cigar of the Year for 2012.

My Father's Breakout Cigars

[JO]: To your point, no one can deny that 2012 was a spectacular year. That cigar did extremely well; It was the number one Cigar of the Year, and that really just blew up the company. We were able to stay on top of the demand with our supply and we made sure that the cigar was in every store. A lot of people have gotten number ones and have not been able to truly capitalize on it. I think that's one of the things that I've gotta give kudos to the Garcia family for, to Pepin, Jaime, and all of our employees in Nicaragua for doing a phenomenal job.

Because listen, you go from selling, average orders, two or three boxes on this brand, and then the first phone call that I got right when it [00:02:00] was announced that we were number one Cigar of the Year it was a 500 box order from, for one store. You're, you go, oh shit, what do I do?

In my opinion, I like to think that truly the cigar that put the company on the map was the, My Father. That's the inspiration behind why the company is called My Father.

My Father Brand & the Garcia Family's Journey

The brand used to be called El Rey de Los Habanos which is "The King of the Habanos," in Spanish. However, because of the success of that original cigar, the name recognition was enough to be identified by consumers.

In 2001, Pepin had the ability to go to Nicaragua because of his status. He was invited to do some work at a factory there, and he took advantage of it. Prior to that, the first person to leave from the family was Jannie Garcia. I think she was 17 years old at the time. Kudos to her. Imagine, regardless of being male or female, being 17 years old and leaving your country and your family because there's something better out there, and working odd jobs to be able to help your family on top of it. That's bravery.

When Pepin worked in Nicaragua and helped to bring everybody out of Cuba, and because of his knowledge and everything that he's done for the family, Jaime decided to create a brand in secret of Pepin to honor him. Now, nothing ever leaves the factory that hasn't been approved by Pepin. Our hierarchy, if you will, goes from Pepin, to Jaime, and then to Gianni. I'm the adopted child somewhere down here after that. Pepin, being the patriarch, has the final say on everything.

The My Father cigar was the first true blend made by someone other than Pepin. And so he gave it to Pepin to smoke, and he liked it. Moving forward, Pepin happens to be in Miami, and a package is received in the office in Miami, because the artwork is being done by Alcides, Pepin's nephew. Nobody was in the building. Here comes FedEx, who brings the package. He opens it up, he sees it, and it's all this beautiful artwork. He calls Jaime and asks about it. All Jaime can say is surprise, this is something that I'm doing, My Father, in honor of you.

The next year, Pepin was so moved by that, and that's part of why we call it My Father now. Le Bijou 1922 is a cigar dedicated to honoring the birth year of Pepin's father. That blend is stronger and full-bodied, representative of what Pepin's father was like.

[TC]: That's very cool. This is why I love doing these kinds of interview segments. Being a consumer for so many years, and also working in the business for so many years, I get to learn these kinds of stories, and then I can relay them to customers either in video format or in person when they're coming in. That's a very interesting story.

Jose Ortega Meets The Garcia Family

How did you get involved in the brand?

[JO]: In 2010, I met the family. We were at a multi-vendor event up in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania. There was a barbecue that someone put together, and I got invited. It was there that I ended up meeting the Garcias.

At the time, I was with Puros Indios cigars. Putting Jaime and myself together while we're talking about tobacco is a beautiful thing. There's no end. I truly bonded with them. I liked the humility and the knowledge. They were asking me about sales. They were asking me about my perception of the market and stuff like that. And I was asking them about tobacco and cigar making.

It was just a great night. Some alcohol was involved. I gotta put that disclaimer in there. Our flight was at 6:00 a.m. the next day out of Philadelphia. At the end of the night, we all parted ways. We met up at the airport. We all had that same 6:00 a.m. flight in the morning. And I remember running into them and saying, "Hey, great night, man. Truly thankful. I appreciated the conversation." And Jaime tells me to trade seats with someone else so I could sit with him. Obviously, we're all dead, right? We finished the barbecue party around 2:00 a.m. So Jannie just wanted to go to sleep, but Jaime and I picked up where we left off last night in conversation.

During the next three hours of flight, we're sitting there just talking about tobacco. After, Jannie said it was the most dreadful time of her life listening to us the whole flight. But she asked Jaime if he wanted her to give me an offer? And I ended up getting a phone call. Believe it or not, I actually turned her down the first time and I didn't even know she was calling me for that. I was busy with something else. I said, listen, I can't make it. I appreciate it, but thank you. And then she called me a second time and said, "Listen, I'm trying to offer you a job." So then I'm like yeah, I'll make the time. I ended up meeting up with him. We had lunch and that's that, and here we are.

I started July 1, 2010, with the company. During my time there at that event, I ended up getting water in my lungs. I had some sort of lung infection, and I couldn't smoke anything. That must have been in April, and I was finally cleared to smoke July 1 when I was actually starting to work with them. And so I walk in there not really knowing their portfolio of cigars.

Pepin was there and he was happy to see me. He says that I could grab whatever I wanted. Now, I hadn't smoked a single cigar in the better part of three months or so. And what do I do? I picked a Le Bijou Petite Robusto because I saw it, and it was a little cigar. Of course, that little rocket beat the hell out of me. I can imagine Pepin's face when he saw me. I'm sitting there dying, but I'm trying to be a man.

But that's how I came on board. I inherited some of my sales guys. No disrespect to any other company out there, but I truly believe that I have the best sales team in this industry, by far. I think right now my team is a well-oiled machine. We're clear on what our mission is and we're lucky that we have a factory that's making the best cigars that they know how. Pepin uses an expression that I truly love: "I'm not the best, but there's no one better." That's humility. Acknowledging the fact that you are doing everything possible to make sure that you're doing your very best. And he's right.

The Future of My Father

[TC]: We've gotten into a little bit of the history of the My Father brand. What does the future look like for the My Father brand?

[JO]: That's a great question, and thank you. I'm very excited about the future of this company. I share this with all of my reps. It's not often that someone starts a company, then here comes the next generation, who take it to the next level, and normally there's either no generation after that or the generation after that has no interest whatsoever.

In our case, we're now entering the third generation. So Pepin, Jaime and Jannie, and now you have their children getting involved. Listen, Jandie Garcia, Jaime's oldest son, is his right hand right now.

I'm excited about the future of this company because I have Jandie, and listen, I remember taking Jandie on the road a couple of years back. All the Garcia kids are being told you gotta listen. Jandie was answering the phone as a receptionist, I had him calling people, he went out on the road with me, and so forth, but he knows his role is in the factory. He's the one that's there learning from Pepin and learning from Jaime, as far as the operation and the factory.

We took groups and I would translate for Jaime. One time, all of a sudden, Jandie's translating. Not only is he translating, but he's actually going through the whole thing, right? He's explaining everything. And I go over to Jaime, who's standing next to me and we're smoking a cigar, and I said, "Jaime, I think we both lost our job on this one. The kid's doing both by himself." And I put my hand out to him, and he shook my hand. I was so happy to see that because I think of him like my child.

Jaime and I are the same age. Jandie's the same age as my son. I was a proud Papa, because man, to see that he learned that much in such a short period of time, it was a comfort that he could handle it if for some reason Jaime couldn't anymore. I could see that the company is secure.

Most recently, Janie's oldest son Joseph just graduated from Regis University, joined and is into the sales aspect of it. He's been hitting the road. He's in Germany right now, which is why he's not here with us, otherwise he'd be here. And I'd love to put him right here so that he could be real uncomfortable about the camera.

[TC]: Next time.

[JO]: Even from an operational point of view, from sales and so forth, the next generation is getting involved. So I think, when the time comes and I'm ready to retire, I feel good that everything that we've done, everything that we've worked for, will live on. I'm an adopted part of the family, and I know that everything that we've worked to build is not going to just crumble. We're preparing the next group that's going to take it to the next level and that's going to be exciting to see. I pray that I get to live long enough to see it.

Anybody who's seen our operation in Nicaragua knows it's an impressive sight. We have the capacity to make 150,000 cigars a day. We're about to open up a new factory in Honduras. As a cigar smoker, you've got to love it because you're going to see some new blends coming out with some Honduran tobacco, Nicaraguan tobacco, and mixes of the two. It's going to be really interesting.

[TC]: Awesome. I think it says a lot because you've been around for a handful of years now. You've been putting out highly rated cigars, back to back. You've got so many other companies that you are making things for: Tatuaje, the La Roma de Cuba San Cristobal, and now you guys are working with Foundation.

[JO]: I'm glad to see that because Nick's such a great guy, too, so that should be an interesting partnership as well.

Jose's My Father Cigar Favorites

[TC]: Absolutely. Let me ask you, out of My Father's vast portfolio, what would you say is your favorite, and what would you say is the most underrated cigar?

[JO]: My favorite is the Don Pepin Blue, hands down. Anybody who knows me, they know that is my cigar. I think it's probably the most balanced of all the cigars that we make and when I say balance, I mean strength-wise that it's not overly strong, and it's not weak. Remember, I smoke around five cigars a day, so I need a cigar that's got some substance.

As much as I like a good Connecticut early in the day, after 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, I better have a cigar that stands out, or else I'm just smoking to smoke. Don Pepin Blue is very Cuban-esque. It's very tasty, floral, and works every aspect of the experience. Palate, flavor, and aroma is all there. So I think it's just a phenomenal cigar.

With that being said, the most underrated cigar 100% is La Dueña. It is a flavor bomb. It reminds me of if you took a freaking Snickers bar and lit it on fire. But people look at the cameo on the band and say it looks like a girly cigar.

I go, whoa. First of all, I know a lot of girls that smoke stronger than you do. buddy. So tone that down real quick. But aside from that, we didn't call it My Father La Dueña. It's tough. It's easier from a branding point of view when you have the umbrella, My Father, and then everything else is labeled under it for people to reference. So La Dueña kind of stands out on its own. I think that may be a reason why it's so underrated.

I have seen a recent growth in the sales of La Dueña and that's because we put it in the five-pack sampler bags. By default, people buy the bag and they are now forced to smoke that cigar. All of a sudden, my sales have jumped. It's a great cigar. It's a very tasty cigar, and a little powerhouse of a smoke, especially if you go with the Petite Lancero.

[TC]: I will say, with that perspective, the No. 7 is one that's hard for us to keep in stock. As soon as we get a reorder in, I'm already on the phone ordering more. I'm really glad to see that the sales and the recognition of La Dueña have been rising. Yeah, that would be my most favorite, especially that No. 7. I'm a Petite Lancero type of smoker normally. Everyone out there, you need to grab one of those.

[JO]: Lanceros as a whole. I travel quite a bit, and I think there's a huge percentage of cigar smokers that are missing out because they're not going after the Lanceros. Listen, not all Lanceros are great, but that's like anything else, right? Not every Toro is great. It really depends on the manufacturer, but when you have a company like My Father Cigars that does extremely well at making Lanceros, not only for us, but for Tatuaje as well, you've gotta at least try them. Don Pepin Blue Lancero, My Father Lancero, and La Promesa Lancero are phenomenal.

[TC]: I was gonna say that one.

[JO]: You can't get any better than La Promesa Lancero. That's just an amazing smoke.

[TC]: That's a flavor bomb all the way through.

[JO]: Oh yeah, 100%. If you are out there and you haven't tried a Lancero or didn't like your previous experience with a Lancero, I invite you to go grab a My Father Lancero of any of the Lanceros that we make. I think it'll change your perception of Lanceros.

[TC]: Make sure you check out the selection of My Father Cigars on Smokingpipes, and hopefully, you'll be finding some of your new favorite cigars on there.

[JO]: Without a doubt. I'm very passionate about My Father Cigars and the cigar industry as a whole. Smoking cigars is where I'm at. It's my hobby. I always tell people: I don't just sell cigars, I'm a smoker first. And if I run into any of you out there, please stop me and ask me any questions that you have. That's what I'm here for.

[TC]: Awesome. I appreciate you coming through today.

[JO]: Thank you, brother. I appreciate it.