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In 1962, Jose O Padron arrived in Miami, an unknown city in a foreign land. I had to start from zero. At first, I received $60 monthly, as government aid given to Cuban refugees. I was thirty-six years old, strong, and in good health. Every time I cashed that check, I felt like a burden on the country that had taken me in. For many days, I looked for a job and did not find one. Every night, I went home and thought of the future. I was determined to do something so that I could support my family. One day, Raul Fernandez, a friend who worked in the Cuban Refugee Office asked if I had any carpentry skills. I said I did. He gave me a gift – a small hammer – which he asked me to put to good use. The Hammer made me feel I had the necessary tool to become self-sufficient and not depend on a government hand-out. During the days, I worked as a gardener. At nights, I did carpentry with the hammer. My dream was to save enough money to open a factory to make great cigars, like the ones we used to smoke in Cuba. Through a lot of sacrifice and hard work, I managed to save $600 - money I made working with the hammer. With that, I made my dream come true and opened Padron Cigars in 1964. I still have the hammer as a reminder of how it all started. More than forty years later the Hammer is still here and so is Padron Cigars, the brand the hammer helped build. Padron Hammer Hat One size fits all Padron

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