Ernesto Padilla (born 1972 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban-American artist, graphic designer and cigar maker.
Heberto Padilla was out of favor with the government of Fidel Castro at the time of Ernesto's birth, and the family was living under house arrest in an apartment in the Marianao neighborhood of Havana.
His great-grandparents had owned a tobacco plantation in the Pinar del Río region of Cuba, and his father had grown up on it.
In developing the blends used in Padilla cigars, Ernesto worked closely with several recognized experts, including master blender José "Don Pepin" García and Gilberto Oliva.
Four of Padilla's flagship products were to be discontinued, including the Signature 1932, Miami, Dominus, and the newly introduced Artemis, with these to be replaced by new Miami-made lines called Invictitus and Miami Maduro, as well as a Nicaraguan-made lines to be known as Padilla Reserve and Premier Cru.
[11] The small El Titán de Bronze factory owned by Sandra Cobras was named as the maker of Padilla's Miami-based production, while a move was made from the Tabacalera Tropical factory to the TABOLISA facility in Estelí for manufacture of the company's new Nicaraguan line.
[11] Late in 2011 another new line called Padilla Legacies was introduced, made in the Tabacalera Tropical factory for exclusive distribution by mailorder giant E.P.