In the beginning
I originally wrote this particular series about the Cigar Factories of Ybor City between the end of 2009 / beginning of 2010 for my Tampa Cigar Examiner column. Unfortunately, the examiner site closed shop and I lost the series.
Fortunately, I have been successful in re-creating the series and added a few updates where possible.
This page is a consolidation of my factory articles.
Ybor City
Ybor city was founded in the 1880’s by Key West cigar maker, Vicente Martinez Ybor. The city became known as the “Cigar Capitol of the World”.
Ybor City had hundreds of cigar factories rolling more than four hundred million cigars a year. From the hundreds of factories that existed in Ybor City, only a handful of the beautiful brick buildings still stand in various Tampa neighborhoods. Of this handful, only one is still used to manufacture cigars. Two other buildings still house cigar related businesses. The others have either been refurbished and re-purposed or sadly, lie vacant.
These articles document the grandness of the remaining buildings in their heyday and as they are today.
The Factories
Bustillo Brothers & Diaz Factory
Salvador Rodriguez / Arturo Fuente
Perfecto Garcia Brothers Factory
P. San Martin and Leon Factory
Regensburg Cigar Factory / J.C. Newman
Samuel I. Davis Factory (Sam’l Davis)
Seidenberg Cigar Company Factory
V. Guerra / V. Guerrieri Factory
DIY Driving Tour of the West Tampa / Ybor City Cigar Factories
Source citations:
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