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Obituary

Cigarmaker known for old-school ways

Vincent Ruilova didn't have to hand roll his cigars. He could've raised prices more often. But he wanted to keep his customers coming back.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published May 19, 2006

OLD SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - There's little doubt, friends say, that Vincent Ruilova could have made a lot more money if he used machines to produce his cigars.

But Mr. Ruilova, who died May 7 of cancer at age 92, believed in doing business the old-fashioned way.

In 50 years, the Vincent and Tampa Cigar Co. produced millions of cigars, all made by hand, even as demand increased and the number of skilled cigarmakers in Ybor City decreased. He resisted raising prices, even when the price of tobacco increased sharply, because he cared so much about his customers.

"He was very old school, said Mario Garrido, Mr. Ruilova's nephew and current co-owner of Vincent and Tampa Cigar Co. "A handshake meant everything in the world to him. He wouldn't take credit cards. You'd place an order, he'd send you the cigars and you'd send him a check. And if it took you three months to send the check, well, then it just took three months."

Mr. Ruilova was born in Spain but came to Tampa with his parents when he was 6 months old.

He attended school through the sixth grade and became an apprentice at an Ybor City cigar factory when he was a teenager.

"He would walk every morning from West Tampa, where he lived, to the cigar factory in Ybor City and then walk all the way back at the end of the day," said his wife, Aida. "That's a lot of walking."

During his two-year apprenticeship, he learned every aspect of the business, including sales, selection of tobacco and hand rolling.

In 1943 he opened his own company on 14th Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets in Ybor City. The Vincent and Tampa Cigar Co. produced prestigious hand rolled cigars at that location until Mr. Ruilova retired at age 80. The building recently was demolished to make room for the widening of Interstate 4.

Just as Mr. Ruilova was getting his business started, his first wife, Alicea, died of cancer, leaving Mr. Ruilova with two young sons. At his late wife's request, his sons went to live with her parents, but Mr. Ruilova remained involved in their lives.

Within a few years, he met Aida, who was 18 years younger. They married in 1955 and settled in Ybor City to be near his sons. Later, they moved to Old Seminole Heights. Aida Ruilova had two children of her own from a previous marriage, and Mr. Ruilova considered them his children as well.

Vincent and Tampa Cigars grew and at one point employed as many as 80 cigar rollers. The company produced premium cigars under several brand names, including El Eminencia, and sold mostly to retailers and mail-order customers around the country.

Although demand increased for his cigars, the company couldn't keep up because so few people knew how to hand roll them, and the few who did were getting old.

"He didn't want to raise prices so he cut corners wherever he could," Garrido said. "He stopped using cigar bands just because they cost money."

After Mr. Ruilova retired, Garrido took over the company name and turned the business into a cigar store, which is now based in West Tampa.

Mr. Ruilova is survived by sons Vincent III, Ralph and Ronnie; a daughter, Karyn C. Freeman; 11 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

[Last modified May 18, 2006, 12:13:22]