CigArCitYtAmPA
Senior Counsel Section Chairs : ThomasNewcombHyde , ThomasNewcombHyde – AttorneyatLaw & DonSmith , Smith , Tozian , DanielandDavis , P . A .
By1910 , only twenty-fiveyears aftervicenteYbor arrived , therewere over150cigar factoriesinYborCity .
In 1885 , Vicente Martinez Ybor , confronted with labor problems in Key West , was looking to move his cigar factory . Tampa ’ s deep-water port , railroad lines to the north , and closeness to Cuba made it a desirable location . In addition , Tampa ’ s hot humid weather made it a “ natural humidor ” needed to keep cut tobacco workable . A $ 1,000 offer from the Tampa Board of Trade clinched the deal , and Ybor established his factory in an area now known as Ybor City .
Eric Newman , the president of the J . C . Newman Cigar Company , spoke of the history of the cigar industry in Tampa , the role of the J . C . Newman Cigar Company , and the future of the company to an audience of judges and lawyers at the Senior Counsel luncheon in
September . Eric explained that by 1910 , only twenty-five years after Vicente Ybor arrived , there were over 150 cigar factories in Ybor City manufacturing 500 million cigars each year . The factories were typically three-story red-brick buildings with a basement . They faced north to take advantage of the natural light coming from the west in the afternoon . About two dozen of these buildings are still standing .
But the J . C . Newman Cigar company was not in Tampa in 1910 . Julius Caesar Newman was born in 1875 in Austria-Hungary . His family moved to the United States and settled in Cleveland , Ohio . In 1890 , fifteen-year-old Julius borrowed $ 600 from his mother and started a one-man cigar factory in a garage . Business expanded in Cleveland until the Marion , Ohio , Chamber of Commerce invited him to build a cigar factory in their city . The head of the Marion Chamber of Commerce was future President of the United States , Warren G . Harding , who would later invite Newman to the White House to smoke cigars .
In 1954 , J . C . Newman relocated his business to the historic El Reloj cigar factory in Ybor City . J . C . Newman began selling five-cent cigars . He later decided to get into the premium cigar business , eventually teaming up with Carlos Fuente to make “ the best cigars in the world .” Manufacturing cigars
Continuedonpage53
Lefttoright : seniorCounselChair thomasnewcombHyde , gilbertsinger , speakerericnewman , andsenior CounselChairDonsmithatthesenior Counselluncheoninseptember .
5 2 N O V - D E C 2 0 2 1 | H C B A L A W Y E R