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There are few locations throughout the world that are seemingly designed for cigar manufacturing. One of these places is Ybor City, known as the "Original Cigar Capital of the World." Ybor City is a historic district located inside the larger metropolitan area of Tampa, Florida.
It was named after Vincent Martinez Ybor, a Spaniard who immigrated to Cuba as a teenager. Beginning as a cigar salesman, Vincent Ybor eventually endeavored into the cigar manufacturing business in Havana, Cuba. Labor unrest, the high tariff on Cuban cigars, and the start of the Cuban Revolution in 1868 caused Ybor to move his plant and his workers to Key West, Florida.
While his business there was successful, labor issues, transportation problems, and the lack of a quality fresh water supply led him to consider moving his business to a new location. A friend of Ybor's, Gavino Guiterrez, convinced him to investigate Tampa, Florida as a place to set up cigar roots. Tampa offered a warm and humid climate, fresh water, and the transportation necessary for a productive operation.
After visiting Tampa in 1885, Ybor decided to purchase 40 acres of land and began to construct a new cigar factory there. Ybor began developing a company town with the intention of providing a community a good living and working environment. This town, built for the purpose of housing Ybor's factories and his factory workers, became fittingly known as Ybor City.
In 1887 when the city of Tampa incorporated Ybor City into the municipality, the population had doubled in size. Ybor City eventually out produced Havana as the top quality cigar manufacturer, which in turn lured other cigar manufacturers to move their factories to Tampa. By the close of the 19th century, Tampa's Ybor City had become known as the "Cigar Capital of the World." Affectionately labeled Cigar City.
In 1910 a strike organized by the Cigar Maker's International Union began in June and lasted through October, becoming one of Tampa's bloodiest labor disputes. The embrace of increasingly radical ideologies by Tampa cigar workers by the turn of the century kept the unions and their leadership at odds with the business and political elite in Tampa who were closely tied to cigar factory management. Several Shootings, beatings and deportations occurred as cigar workers, manufacturers, and Tampa's business elite battled for control of the lucrative cigar industry.
Most residents made their living from cigar making, while other occupations revolved around the cigar trade. Some workers made wooden cigar boxes in which the handmade cigars were shipped. Other workers made cigar bands, pieces of paper around each cigar denoting its brand. Both cigar boxes and bands were popular collectors items sought after by adults and children alike.
Ybor City developed as a multi-ethnic community where English was a second language for most of its citizens. Cubans made up the largest group. Next were Spaniards who came in large numbers near the end of the 19th century. Together these two groups dominated the cigar industry and established the cultural tone for the community.
Ybor City also attracted Italians, many of whom owned and operated restaurants and small businesses.
Other immigrants included Germans who contributed to the cigar industry through their unique and masterful lithographs. These highly skilled designs that covered cigar boxes were considered the best in the world. The history of Ybor City is the story of America as a melting pot and the American Dream.
Ybor City continued to grow and prosper through the 1920s and into the 1930s, but the world around it did not. Several factors including the Great Depression, the popularity of cigarettes, and the introduction of cigar-rolling machinery ultimately changed the entire cigar industry and Ybor City. However, the cigar culture and tradition in Ybor City survived and still thrives to this day.
Most cigar aficionados recognize this fact and still search for the finest hand-rolled premium cigars made in the original Cigar City.
The resurgence of interest in Ybor City's rich cigar making history has inspired us to release our latest line of Bo City Boys Cigars. Bo City Boys Premium Cigars are crafted in the old world traditions of Ybor City's classic cigar making days.
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