Word: cigars
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Ernesto Perez-Carillo Jr., 52, considers that improbable journey as he strolls among the dozen men and women sorting and rolling molasses-colored leaves in El Credito Cigars' pungent storefront in Miami's Little Havana. His father expanded production to 140,000 cigars a day, at one point supplying troops during World War II. They fled to Miami after Fidel Castro's takeover in 1959. In 1968, finally convinced the exile was permanent, the elder Ernesto paid $5,000 for a cigarmaking factory in Miami. To find a niche among the 30 or so other cigar factories, Ernesto Sr. began...
...sell the business, "something came over me," says Perez-Carillo. He persuaded his father to decline the offer and turn the business over to him. Ernesto Sr. died in 1980. El Credito's focus on premium lines paid off in the early '90s, gaining the company notice during the cigar boom. An article in Cigar Aficionado magazine sparked a flood of orders, causing a six-month backlog. Bill Cosby, Sharon Stone and Arnold Schwarzenegger became loyal clients, says Perez-Carillo...
...Match offered to buy El Credito for a reported $20 million. He sold. "Most people would have thought, Millions and millions of dollars--this is my dream, my dream has come true," says McPhillips. But for her father, "there was a sadness there." Perez-Carillo now works for General Cigar, a subsidiary of Swedish Match, and still runs El Credito in Miami...
...TAIPEI The Taipei Cigar Club meets once a month for food, drink and a relaxing stogie. Members are mostly expatriates, but anybody can join and membership is free...
...quarter-acre plot outside Tampa, Fla. But he owns the Hummer of all yard machines, what he calls a lawn mower on steroids. Cradled in the plush, high-backed seat of his John Deere X595, McCall, 34, manicures his lawn in a quick 20 minutes, smoking a cigar while he cuts the grass--thanks to an automatic transmission, cruise control and power steering that makes one-handed driving a snap. He can plug a CD player into the 12-volt outlet and sip a beverage from the cup holder. There's enough juice under the hood--with a "high torque...