In 1891, Salvador Rodriguez built the three story wooden building you see in the picture above. At the time, there were 200 windows for the factory workers so they would have enough light to sort cigars by color. “Charles the Great” was the only clear havana cigar with an English name.
Cigar Brands: Salvador Rodriguez, Charles the Great, Da Vinci
Twelve years later, in 1903, Salvador Rodriguez built a three story brick building down the road from his original factory. It measures 110 x 50 feet and also has an underground steel and cement vault/humidor that is separate from the main building. It’s accessed via a short hallway, secured with iron doors on both sides.
The Salvador Rodriguez company remained in the factory building until 1952. It remained vacant until the early 1960’s when the Arturo Fuente Cigar company moved into it.
The Arturo Fuente Cigar Company rolled cigars at the factory until 1994. Customer demand and space constraints made it clear that A. Fuente needed to relocate. Arturo Oscar Fuente retired at that time and started the Tampa Sweetheart’s Cigar Company in the same building. They are still doing business in the Charles the Great building to this day. The house brand cigars they sell are rolled in the Dominican Republic by Tabacalara A. Fuente y Compania.
Photo Gallery (click images for full view)
At the time of this article’s original publication, the Fuente’s were in the process of historically renovating the building. The work so far looks wonderful ! The front and one side of the building is obscured by scaffolding so I took a photo from the rear of the building. I will update with photos once everything is complete.
**2020 Update** – The historical renovation was completed in 2013 and the factory building is beautiful! There is also a second, modern building that was built on the next lot over from the original factory.
Tampa Sweethearts relocated to the “little yellow house” near the main parking garage, across from Centro Ybor.