Nestor Miranda

Nestor Miranda

NESTOR MIRANDA

They say behind every great man there is a great woman. The woman behind Nestor Miranda is Mariana Miranda, the founder of Miami Cigar Co. which created the Nestor Miranda Collection to honor Nestor’s work.
In 1989, Miranda was selling Don Lino out of the trunk of her car. Don Lino is a brand Miami Cigar Co. commissioned to be made by U.S. Tobacco, also known as UST, and they also distributed
other UST brands. Nestor worked in the liquor industry, including with Southern Wine & Spirits, and used his connections to get cigars on the shelves of liquor stores.
The cigar boom of the 1990’s brought a lot of business to Miami Cigar Co. In 1994, the two children, Daniel and Tatiana joined the company as the first employees. A year later, Nestor left the liquor industry, including his position at Southern Wine, to focus on the family cigar business.
Within a year of joining the company, Nestor had become the face of Miami Cigar Co. Nestor had the charisma and was willing to travel to meet customers and vendors on behalf of the company.
When Nestor joined Miami Cigar Co. in 1995 they were immensely successful reaching 12 million in total unit sales. A year later, UST abruptly cut out Miami Cigar Co. as their distributor, arguing they wanted to distribute their cigars themselves. Instead, they gave distributing right to Southern Wine.
UST faced serious backlash for theses business maneuvers, several vendors decided not to sell their products and their cigar venture failed. Miami Cigars Co. was back ordered on millions of cigars and sales dropped to 3.5 million in the middle of the cigar boom. Nestor, along with various other companies that were maltreated, decided to sue for damages and won an undisclosed amount.
In 2006, the Nestor Miranda Signature Selection was released to honor Nestor’s efforts for the company. Don Guillermo, the owner of Grand Habano, was commissioned to handcraft the cigars at the STC factory in Honduras. In 2008, Jose “Pepin” Garcia, the founder of My Father Cigars and tobacco legend, took over production.
The family saw hardship but continued to grow during the following years. In 2008, Daniel tragically lost his battle with brain cancer at 38 years of age.
Following Daniel’s passing Jason Wood, who is Tatiana’s husband, joined the company. Nestor personally ensured that Jason gained an intense understanding of the business to be able to one day take over as Director, which was Daniel’s position.
In 2014, Jason led the rebranding effort for Nestor Miranda Signature Series. It was renamed as Nestor Miranda Collection. Jason wanted to further honor Nestor and create a cigar to make Nestor proud.
The brand relaunched with three lines, the Connecticut, Habano, and Mauro afterward the Corojo line was added. Three other lines, known as Danno’s, were launched under Nestor Miranda Collection to honor the late Daniel Miranda in 2015. 
Miami Cigar Co. has always taken a lot of care packaging their cigars as well. When Nestor turned 70 they launched a line to celebrate the occasion and sold them in a box that looked like a model vintage muscle car.
The cigars in the Nestor Miranda Collection use filler tobacco from Nicaragua, Honduras, and Brazil. The cigars are medium to full body, the preferred profile of all true Cubans like Nestor.
Nestor stood up for his family even when the odds seemed bleak. He encouraged his wife’s business venture and then joined her in the efforts of maintaining a successful business. Honor the upstanding character of Nestor Miranda with one of the cigars in the collection named after him.
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