Artesano del Tabaco is a company formed by Billy and Gus Fakih, two of the three brothers who owned and ran the two Cigar Inn stores on the east side of Manhattan. The brand has been in the works for the past three years, as the brothers began working with A.J. Fernandez not long after selling their stores in June 2015. The Fakihs were in the cigar retail trade for 23 years, from 1992 to 2015. Billy Fakih told Cigar Aficionado that he and his brother Gus got to know A.J. Fernandez while running the stores and now, Artesano del Tabaco and cigarmaker A.J. Fernandez, have teamed up to create cigars that are rolled in Nicaragua from an all-Nicaraguan blend.