The Padilla cigar brand has been in existence since 2003. The owner and master blender, Ernesto Padilla, was born in Cuba in 1972 and was allowed to leave his native island with his parents at the age of seven. His father, Heberto Padilla, was a left-wing, internationally renowned intellectual who returned to Cuba following Fidel Castro’s rise to power but, after growing increasingly disillusioned, left the country in 1980. After graduating from university, Ernesto initially worked in marketing and graphic design. As a keen cigar smoker, his first job was, unsurprisingly, in marketing at the cigar manufacturer Perdomo in Miami, before he set up his own business with his brother Carlos in 2003.