Holy Smoke

Perez-Carrillo, who spends his twelve-hour day shuttling between the Calle Ocho factory and the company's two warehouses, unpacks cartons of cigar boxes at the front of the shop. The cigar makers yell over to him, teasing and making jokes.

Back in his office a little later, he talks about his cigar makers, referring to them in a reverential tone, almost romanticizing them. "Cigar making is like playing the blues," he says seriously. "It's something you live. You either have it or you don't. They say that to play the blues you have to suffer, and cigar making to a point is the same thing. Let's just say you have to live your life to make a good cigar.