Ybor City: The History of Cigars in America

There are many places in the world that are seemingly built for cigars, places with factories and roads paved of tobacco, places where leaves blossom freely and cigars are always lit. One of these places is Ybor City. Known now as a hotspot for bars and nightclubs, Ybor City was once known as the Cigar Capital of the World.

Ybor City is a historic district in Tampa, Florida. It was named after Vincent Martinez Ybor, a Spaniard who immigrated to Cuba at the age of 14. Starting off as a cigar salesman, Vincent Ybor eventually began to manufacturer the cigars he previously sold: he started his own cigar factory in Havana. But, this time in Havana was a time of unrest, and a time on the brink of a war. As the Cuban Revolution raged, Vincent Ybor moved his factory and his workers to Key West, Florida.

The success of the relocation fluctuated: Ybor's business was profitable, but labor and transportation problems kept true success evasive. A friend of Ybor, Gavino Guiterrez, convinced him to investigate Tampa as a place to set up cigar roots. Tampa offered the climate, the water, and the transportation necessary for a productive operation.

Ybor was sold on the Tampa idea and purchased a large acreage of land in 1886 and not only started a business, but started a town. This area, built for the purpose of housing Ybor's factories and his factory workers, became fittingly known as Ybor City.

Following the lead of Ybor, other cigar manufacturers moved to this area and by the close of the 19th Century, Ybor City and Tampa had the honor of being the largest cigar manufacturer in the world. Not to be outdone by the expansion of the industry it held, the area itself also saw a population boom as well. When Ybor City was incorporated by Tampa into municipality, the population shot up to 3000, three years later that number nearly doubled.

It was truly home to the cigar industry. Most of the residents made their living making cigars and those who weren't rollers often found jobs in a cigar-related trade. Some made cigar boxes and some made cigar bands, others owned restaurants where "No Smoking" signs never hanged from the window. It was also a melting pot of cultures, home to a variety of Spanish, Italian, African and Cuban immigrants. For many, English was a second language. It was this diversity of groups that grabbed onto the cigar industry, setting the culturist tempo of a worldly luxury.

As more factories were built, Ybor City became the headquarters for cigar production, out producing even Havana. At the center of this was Ybor - he offered aid and monetary gain to reel manufacturers in from Cuba. By the 1900's, Ybor City was known as the "Cigar Capital of the World."

Ybor City continued to grow and prosper, but the world around it did not. The Great Depression, the popularity of cigarettes, the prevalence of organized crime in the area, and the introduction of cigar-rolling machinery all led to Ybor City's demise. This was compounded when the owners of machine made cigars started a "Spit Campaign," a campaign stating that saliva from the cigar rollers often found its way into a finished cigar. This drastically hurt the businesses based on hand rolling cigars and by the 1930's, as machines replaced workers and Cubans went back to their homeland, Ybor City was the capital no more.

There was an attempt to preserve the history and culture of the area. Presently, it's one of only three National Historic Landmarks districts in Florida. A place still worth visiting, it is not longer the cigar Mecca it once was; the ashes of its previous life were laid to rest in a permanent part of cigar history.

Jennifer Jordan is an editor and staff writer for http://www.whatsknottolove.com. At home in a design firm in Denver, Colorado, she writes articles specific to the finer things in life.

The History of Cigars

No doubt, cigar smoking is a pleasure. Over the period, it is considered as the symbol of status of wealth and class. But, do you wonder from where this fashion of cigar smoking came into limelight and who started this? According to research, cigars have been around for over 1,000 years. It was started by the original native population of the islands in the Caribbean as well as the rest of Mesoamerica in as early as 900 AD. In fact, a ceramic vessel at a Mayan dig site in Uaxactun, Guatemala have been found, which was painted with the likeness of a man smoking a cigar that's says the glowing past of cigars.

Later Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus had introduced the smoking to Europe. With two of his colleagues Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, Columbus had taken puffs of tobacco wrapped in maize husks, thus becoming the first European cigar smokers.

During 19th century, the popularity of cigars was on its heights. In fact, all the states of United States had a cigar factory. Cigars were more popular than cigarettes making almost everyone a smoker, or lived with one. Later, in the early part of the 20th century, cigar sales were at its peak. According to a report, the weight of tobacco sold in the United States alone in one year would equal the weight of the entire population of 10 states combined. Found everywhere in the united states, cigars were priced as per the size of the pocket of the general population as earlier Americans were not allowed to buy the Cuban cigars.

Online Cigars Market

The passion of smoking cigars increased with the time. There has been a tremendous rise in the number of cigar smokers now in comparison of past years. Order whether an oscuro cigar, the black one or choose the claro, light brown cigar, make sure you get the right cigar to enjoy that unforgettable experience that lasts forever. By buying cigars online, you can also protect yourself from the duplicate cigars that are common these days. In fact, it also gives you the facility to get cigars at your doorsteps too, no matters you are the resident of any corner of the world.

Cigars are the ultimate experience of smoking. From last 1000 years, the fashion of cigar smoking is in practice and still alluring many aficionados to carry on this great passion.

For more information on buy cigars online visit http://www.selective-cigars.com.

Author is a cigar industry expert.