King Corona sells cigars, clothing, food, alcohol and coffee, and in the rear of the store, a barbershop does a good business. In 1998 he scaled back operations and opened the King Corona shop on Ybor’s main strip, 7th Avenue, or what locals still call Broadway. For several years Marco ran the Tampa Rico cigar company, which included a factory and chain of retail stores. His wife’s great-grandfather came to Ybor from Cuba and worked as a cigar roller. He lived across the street from a cigar factory. Marco has always been around the cigar business. Everyone is smoking cigars - men and women, retirees and teenagers, tourists and locals. A local brewery posts a giant vintage “Hav-A-Tampa” sign. A blues band guitarist wears a Fuente baseball cap. Shops display rollers in their windows, usually an elderly Cuban man, puffing away as he works. The sidewalks are emblazoned with large tobacco leaves outlined in stone. Evidence of the cigar ancestry is everwhere. Even if it makes me turn green, I will transform myself into the ultimate cigar tourist. While in the Cigar Capital of the World, I will sample as many cigars as possible. I live in California, where you have about five minutes to enjoy tobacco before an angry mob materializes and disembowels you right there on the sidewalk. Cigars cost up to 50 percent less than anywhere else. Ybor is still headquarters for many companies and distributors. One of the cool things about Ybor is that if you already smoke cigars, it’s like making a pilgrimage back to the source. Cuestas are now made in the Dominican Republic, but were once produced here, along with Arturo Fuentes, Romeo y Julietas, and dozens of other brands. I’m working my way through a Cuesta-Rey sun-grown Robusto. Speaking of tobacco in the air, Don is halfway into a Puro Placer, a Lonsdale-sized cigar from Nicaragua. The Spanish, Cuban, Italian workers all drank really strong coffee.” “Around 1957, 1958, there were still so many factories,” he remembers. He grew up here, and owns the King Corona Café & Bar, where we’re sitting at the moment. In the early 20th century, 20,000 workers were employed here, producing up to 700 million cigars a year, all handmade from Cuban tobacco.ĭon Marco remembers the last heyday of Ybor City’s cigars. This historic Latin Quarter district of Tampa, Florida was once the Cigar Capital of the World. Not the healthiest breakfast, but when you’re sitting in a cigar cafe in Ybor City, and everyone else around you is smoking cigars, it makes perfect sense to do so. It’s mid-morning and I’m smoking a strong, fat cigar on an empty stomach. A place where a good cigar is a tradition. There is one place left where smoking makes sense, where it’s part of a cultural heritage, a testament to craftsmanship, style, and family. This is what happens when a visitor attempts to smoke as many stogies as possible every day. But the above news release didn't mention anything about that, so I guessed that plan didn't pan out.America’s first capital of cigars was Tampa, Florida. I remember reading on Cigar City's blog when they announced this beer a year ago that they were brewing it with Florida and California fruits. Tastes like leather? But wait, there's more Spending over a year in barrels, both bourbon and wine, has left this dark sour ale layered with notes of cranberries, tropical fruits, leather and aged balsamic vinegar, balanced by wood tannins and roasted malt.'īeerAdvocate says the Oud Bruin style is fruity with vinegar or lactic sourness, which Wambles said comes from the use of wild yeasts. 'An Imperial Oud Bruin developed from a mutual love of classic Belgian technique blended with modern American ingenuity. Well, the Bruery issued a news release saying Marron Acidifie will be coming out soon.

He said the beer took some time to mature. Beery's, Wambles was asked when the beer was coming out. Their beers are meant for special occasions instead of regular drinking - and the price reflects that.Īt last week's total tap takeover at Mr. They make big beers with exotic ingredients. The Bruery's beers have been available here for a little more than a year. More than a year ago CCB head brewer Wayne Wambles flew out to Southern California to brew a beer with The Bruery, another new brewery that's getting a lot of plaudits.

Marron Acidifie from the Bruery and Cigar City.

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