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Things get rolling once again

A resurgence of small factories returns the skilled precision of hand rolling cigars to a place where it once dominated daily life.

By SHERRI DAY
Published December 16, 2005

[Times photos: Melissa Lyttle]

Hector Ruben Del Toro, 73, is one of Havana Dreams' two master cigar rollers. He is following a time-honored tradition once practiced by scores of rollers in Ybor City's heyday.

YBOR CITY - Roberto Ramirez sits quietly near the front window of his new business, La Herencia De Cuba Cigar Factory, and expertly molds tobacco leaves until he fashions one flawless cigar after another.

The shop is awash in color. A mural of bright oranges, reds and yellows decorates the walls. Dominoes sit unused atop a table. Another table awaits chess players. Latin music and the sweet smell of tobacco waft through the air.

A master cigar roller, Ramirez, 70, has rolled for U.S. presidents and for Fidel Castro. According to a plaque in the store's window, he once held the title of No. 1 roller in his native Cuba and was in charge of more than 500 cigar factory workers there. Now, he is king of his small shop on Seventh Avenue near 19th Street.

Since the summer, three cigarmaking businesses like the one Ramirez owns with his son have opened in Ybor City. Ramirez's store opened last month. Just down Seventh Avenue, Felix Huelga opened Tampa Cigar Inc. in July. In August, Lazaro Rodriguez and Ivan Castillo debuted Havana Dreams, a cigar bar that features several rolling stations in Centro Ybor. The pair also owns a second Havana Dreams store on Seventh that serves primarily as a factory.

While the cigar industry never really left Ybor City, which was once home to hundreds of cigar factories, it has declined precipitously since its peak in the early 1900s. Cigar retail stores and tobacco distributors still abound, but most import their wares.

The new factories resemble "buckeyes" or small storefront operations where a few cigar rollers used to practice their craft while trying to land jobs in big factories. (Historians aren't sure how the term "buckeyes" emerged, but one conjecture is that many of those shops used cheaper tobacco from Ohio, the Buckeye State.) The owners of the new factories hope their businesses revive hand rolling in Ybor City as much more than a tourists' novelty. They see big potential marketing fresh, hand-rolled cigars.

"The boom is not here because nobody makes cigars anymore in the United States," said Rodriguez, 33, co-owner of Havana Dreams. "The way to get (it) back is to make cigars in the United States, to get Tampa back as the cigar capital of the world."

To succeed, Rodriguez and Castillo will need more rollers. Their demand, in part, has spawned a 12-week Cigar Rolling School at the eclectic International Bazaar at Centro Ybor. School organizers hope to produce proficient cigar rollers who can work in the avenue's factories.

A new free publication, Tampa Bay's Cigar City Magazine, also is available at stores throughout the bay area. It focuses on the historical stories of Ybor City's cigar workers.

"Like anything, history repeats itself," said Lisa M. Figueredo, the magazine's publisher and creative art director. "People are hungry to relive their roots, to remember."

Combined, the developments represent an improbable resurgence of commerce, employment and interest in an industry that has long passed its peak in Ybor City.

"Cigar rolling is what made Ybor what it was," said Tom Keating, president and chief executive of the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce. "Lazaro at Havana Dreams really sees this as kind of re-establishing what Ybor is all about. It's kind of a rebirth. If people come down here, they'll find an interesting experience."

But the new business owners likely face an uphill battle.

Ramirez is one of the industry's most revered cigar rollers. Despite his reputation, his new shop was largely empty on a recent Friday afternoon until a man clad head to toe in white apparel burst through the door.

"You're looking for cigars?" Ramirez's son, Abraham Ramirez, called out.

"Yes, I am," the man said.

"This is the place," Abraham Ramirez said showing off his father's wares.

"Any place that rolls their own has got to be the place," said the man, who paid for three stogies.

The transaction pleased the younger Ramirez. Still rolling, his father barely looked up.

This, observers say, is how hand-rolled cigarmaking has returned to Ybor City: quiet, forceful and with great expectations.

The International Bazaar's Cigar Rolling School has 25 students and offers classes three days a week.

The $300 course aims to teach students the essentials of cigar rolling. But before students touch a tobacco leaf, they must learn the history of the industry and how cigar rolling came to dominate Tampa's economy in late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Last Saturday afternoon, the school had its inaugural class. Emanuel Leto, outreach director for the Ybor City Museum, lectured for two hours. He regaled the students with tales of Vicente Martinez Ybor, the neighborhood's namesake. He talked about El Lector, the orators workers hired to read them daily newspapers, poetry and novels as they plied their trade. Mechanization, the Great Depression and the introduction of cigarettes helped to hasten the hand-rolling industry's demise, Leto said.

As Leto spun tale after tale, the students stared intently. But no one took notes.

Not to worry, Leto said. His charges had undoubtedly soaked up the important details and would handle tourists' questions with ease.

"It's more of sort of passing a torch to another generation of people," Leto said. "As far as the museum is concerned, it's a way to keep history alive."

Jacqueline Conley, who owns International Bazaar with her husband, Kenny, hopes the school's graduates will help spur economic development in the area.

"Once we teach people to roll, they have a trade, a profession and they can go out there," she said.

Conley expects the program and influx of new hand rollers to help bring balance to Ybor City, which is often dogged by a reputation as only a club and bar district.

Other cigar merchants agree.

"The more people it brings down here, the better it is for everyone," said Don Barco, president of King Corona Cigars, a cigar bar and retailer that imports its inventory. "I'm really glad it's more retail and not more alcohol-driven businesses."

So far cigar students' post-graduation plans are mixed. Some want to become professional rollers. Others simply seek to cultivate a new hobby.

Rodriguez and Castillo of Havana Dreams hope some of the students will consider working for them. The men pay their eight staff rollers $1 per finished cigar. Most of the workers, a mix of 30-somethings and the elderly, make 100 cigars a day.

The stock doesn't stick around. The retail stores sell about 800 cigars a week, Castillo said. Internet and mail-order customers snap up the rest of the inventory.

So the store owners are dreaming bigger. They want to open another store in Channelside and possibly expand nationally. Rodriguez also talks of creating a traditional large cigar factory in Ybor City.

"If we get 50 cigar rollers tomorrow, we could use them," he said.

- Sherri Day can be reached at sday@sptimes.com or 813 226-3405.

[Last modified December 15, 2005, 10:05:12]