Lincoln Salazar (LS): J.SANN & SON is a massive project and business venture between you and Drew Estate that’s been in the works for years. With this being the first interview on the groundbreaking venture—tell us exactly what J.SANN & SON is.

Jonathan Drew (JD): J.SANN & SON is a partnership between Drew Estate and myself that I describe as a “generational establishment,” composed of a newly constructed family cigar factory and brand, a world-class cigar bar, a live music venue, and full kitchen supper-club that all exist under one 7,200 sq. ft. roof here in Wynwood, Florida.

J.SANN is the next chapter of the Jonathan Drew story within Drew Estate, inspired by the birth of my son, JD2. It’s really a beautiful, founder-forward story—the culmination of thirty years with Drew Estate and the beginning seeds of a generational ritual, the passing of the torch. There is a degree of pain and vulnerability that lies within the belly of the story that hits hard and personal at the brand level, kind of retrospective and forward looking at the same time.

“At the end of the day, J.SANN & SON is a cigar culture center unlike anything that exists on the planet.”

I wanted to rekindle that feeling of our opening La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Nicaragua, but here in the United States—easily accessible to cigar lovers of all cigar brands. I think the last three decades has proved that The Rebirth of Cigars is not a tame, low-key movement. We’ve never been “mid” at anything, always breaking boundaries and living the brand in real time with our fan-family.

J.SANN & SON is Jonathan Drew Sann and Drew Estate unleashed but not unhinged. The sense of branded house, fatherhood, and family meet at the cigar production floor and the bright stage lights, supper-club restaurant and sports bar to take everyone on a nightly cigar journey—but beyond that of just Drew Estate. This generational establishment digs deep into the entire industry and culture of contemporary premium cigars, from the “big four” cigar companies to the heritage family brands to the smallest boutique brands. It’s really about excellence in brand storytelling and brand immersion. It’s all about the energy and passion that we all share in the manufacturing setting brought directly to the consumer by a leaf historian with credibility to tell it… ie… me.

LS: So what does this mean for Drew Estate? Are you leaving DE?

JD: Of course not. Drew Estate has been my home for thirty years, my everything!

J.SANN & SON only exists because of the loyalty between Drew Estate and myself. It’s symbiotic. Drew Estate is a partner in the new venture. When I sold DE 13 years ago they told me, “stay loyal to us, and we’ll stay loyal to you.” This meant the world to me. I stayed loyal. And now, 13 years later, they’re evidencing their faith in me through partnership and shared services.

I love serving every day as Founder, President and Chief Innovation Officer of Drew Estate. I come to our offices in Doral, Florida every day and work hard. I leave daily with a sense of satisfaction that I wish for my son, JD2, to experience and appreciate as he grows older. I want him to understand the reality of factory life, as well as the excitement of hospitality within the cigar industry. I often wonder which job we will start him with at Drew Estate someday—probably somewhere in the leaf department.

LS: So this is truly a collaboration between you and Drew Estate?

JD: Yes, Drew Estate is an everyday active participant in J.SANN & SON, providing the strength and depth of DE’s departments, staff and logistics to support the vision for the long term. Creating J.SANN & SON has taken over three years. It’s an incredibly complicated and broad venture building this generational establishment—but with a New York eye on details with purpose.

Manufacturing cigars is like second nature to me. It’s what I’ve done for my whole life at this point, really. Living inside the factory for 16 years full time allowed me to concentrate on the small details after dark, after everyone had left the factory for the day. But even with this knowledge, opening a real everyday working factory in the United States requires various disciplines from legal to finance to logistics to training talent and shipping, aging, and storing leaves and finished boxes. These tasks are monumental, even for a small factory.

Having the full Nicaraguan operation supporting the project at every step, including the leaf we’ve acquired, fermented, and stored over the last three years makes the process seamless and ultimately leads to incredible quality cigars.

Now bolt on to the family factory a second component—a cigar bar, and it’s not a little one. This place is bananas. It’s big and layered and real. The cigar bar segment of the facility is extraordinarily complicated in and of itself. The stage is not a small component or afterthought, either. It’s everything, real juicy. The depth of brand immersion at J.SANN levels up to best-in-class establishments that you see outside of the cigar industry. The shared services with Drew Estate dovetails in perfectly, as our Consumer Engagement and Digital Marketing departments are incredible at bringing experiences to life.

In addition to Drew Estate’s internal talents, we have also recruited one of Miami’s top chefs, Julia Ning to oversee the venue. A Miami-based chef for the past thirteen years, Ning has helmed kitchens including Area 31 at EPIC Hotel, Khong River House, and Station 5 Table and Bar. She brings a national pedigree that spans opening hotels across the country with Kimpton Hotels to serving as opening chef of Goosefoot, the Michelin-starred French modernist restaurant in Chicago—delivering a palette of flavors and culinary perspective unlike anything previously found within a cigar-centric venue.

LS: You’ve used that phrase a few times now, “generational establishment.” What does that mean to you? Why “generational establishment”?

JD: My horizon and life vision changed the day that the doctor told my wife, Iza, and I that we were to have a son. That was the very moment that I went back to Drew Estate ownership and discussed our long term vision. I came to them with big questions, like who do we want to be in 20 or 30 years. Do we want to keep our identity true to the roots of the founder story that’s so deeply embedded into our brand culture? Beautifully, the answer was “yes,” and so the plot thickens with my son, JD2 in a center role—with big expectations.

To me, a generational establishment is something truly special. It could be a hospitality or entertainment institution like Radio City Music Hall in New York that’s always there for us—from our parents’ time to ours to our kids’. But a generational establishment can also be a brand like Arturo Fuente that gets passed from father to son… and then from father to son again.

Let’s face it, Drew Estate is a very respected “trust brand.” I find inspiration being part of our evolution going beyond a trust brand—and into a heritage brand. We’ve paid our dues. Now, we’re at the precipice of something grounded in family that retains our identity—but also paves the way for future generations to share and enjoy from all walks of life.

LS: Let’s rewind a little. You’ve discussed various aspects of the new venture—a cigar bar, a restaurant, live music, and a factory. What should people expect from the J.SANN & SON cigar factory?

JD: While J.SANN & SON is a cultural center for all premium cigars, my family factory located under roof, 359 NW 28th Street, Miami FL 33127, is central to the concept because that’s how I’ve always viewed myself—a factory man. Located just four blocks from my actual home here in Wynwood, I can be on the factory floor any time of day and night, creating blends, reviewing production, innovating new ideas, or just smoking with the cigar rollers or my friends.

At Drew Estate, we take great pride in our blends and craft them for wide and diverse audiences. Just imagine, we make almost 300,000 cigars per day. With a tightly run production of only 500 cigars per day at J.SANN & SON, the new family factory will be a creative hub for incubation and customization. It’s a very small operation with cigar production during the week and packaging on the weekends. If we produce 120,000 premium cigars per year, I personally desire to test, weigh, and quality control every single one of them. It’s like we’re making them in my house—like back in the early days of Drew Estate—like what you read about in the homes of the early Cuban pioneer families in Key West and Tampa. Full circle.

And we are not only manufacturing J.SANN & SON proprietary brands. We are a collaborative, living project—and we have mind-blowing collabs in our horizons. We just have to do things right, from our hearts and with our dear friends from around the world, with true respect.

LS: So this factory, you’re actually running it?

JD: I will actually be on the production floor every single day—very few exceptions.

The J.SANN & SON factory is my family factory—a safe place where my friends and I can get medieval, completely unbound and unreasonable, quite unruly. Of course, the Drew Estate production team and leaf team and marketing department and such will play a role—but this is going to be an all-new experience, even for those who have been with me since the beginning.

LS: I assume it’s safe to say that care and attention to detail carry through to everything J.SANN & SON plans to bring to the table?

JD: We’re building a world-class establishment, a dream culture center. Our bar & kitchen promise an experience where every detail is insisted upon—we want to share layers of discovery with everyone who walks through our doors. By building with a generational mindset, we ensure every cocktail, every plate, is perfected… we’re not rushing things, we’re not just filling out a menu.

When you come to join us, you’ll feel that passion and pride. We want everyone who visits us in Wynwood to feel like this space was built for them—because it indeed was. Just like La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate. Back in 2007, when we put up La Gran Fabrica in Estelí, we didn’t need to create Cigar Safari or Subculture Studios for tourism. We did it for the people. When you bring your friends and loved ones here and join us for live music and entertainment, or a brand experience with a cigar maker, or just a Thursday night for drinks and a great cigar, you will become part of the story.

LS: And when can people join you?

JD: Spring 2026. There’s so many chapters of the J.SANN & SON story that we can’t wait to unveil—this interview is just the beginning. Keep an eye open, we’ve got plenty of announcements and details to share over the next few months.

We’ve been building J.SANN for 3 years and we are so thankful to everyone who’s been with us on the journey. We will never forget your help and encouragement. I hope all of you can join us.