Tag: Ybor City

Gradiaz, Annis Gold Label was one of the most popular cigar brands in the 1950’s. The Sanchez y Haya Shakespeare cigar brand came to the company by way of a 1936 aquisition of Wengler and Mandell. Wengler and Mandell had aquired Sanchez y Haya in 1934. Sanchez y Haya created the Shakespeare brand in 1872 […]

The M. Bustillo (Morgan) building has a very rich history. It has been the home of six cigar companies and has been named a landmark of West Tampa.

The factory building was constructed by F. Lozano, Son & Company. They occupied the factory from 1905 to 1923. In 1924, Morgan Cigar Company bought the rights to the F. Lozano cigar brands. Brand: F. Lozano, La Flor de Lozano, La Flor de Narvaez Other companies that occupied this building: Gradiaz, Annis & Company, Inc. […]

Founded in 1882 by Alvaro Garcia and Jose Vega. Their company manufactured premium, hand rolled cigars. Currently, the brand is a US machine made cigar manufactured by Scandinavian Tobacco Group . The majority of these machine made cigars use a Dominican candela wrapper.

This tremendous, 67,000 square feet, four story factory was originally built in 1908 for M. Stachelberg & Co. and the Esberg-Gunst Company. This building broke with convention and was constructed with a 50 foot width. Most factories were no wider than 45 feet as it was thought anything wider would have difficulties with consistent light […]

In 1895, the Bustillo Brothers cigar company moved from Havana, Cuba to West Tampa, They brought with them 120 workers.

The factory was built for the Berriman Cigar Co. in 1903. At Berriman’s peak it housed 700 workers. By 1910, Berriman outgrew this West Tampa building and moved to Ybor City.

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.

This factory was purchased by Samuel L. Davis & Co in 1904. On October 2, 1910, the factory suffered major damage due to arson. In 1911, the factory was purchased by Balbin Brothers. In 1915, Balbin Bros Co. was acquired by Tampa Cuba Cigar Co and became a subsidiary.