The J.C. Newman Cigar Company will hold a free Founder’s Day celebration on Saturday, April 25, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2701 North 16th St. in Tampa. Guests can watch factory tours and cigar rolling demonstrations, enjoy live music, and grab food with drinks.
Drew Newman owns the company. He’s the fourth generation to run it. This is Tampa’s last cigar rolling factory still operating.
“Walking into our factory is like stepping back in time,” said Drew Newman according to Bay News 9.
The company took over the Ybor City building in the 1950s. Tours started just a few years back and take people down to the basement, where cigars age six to 12 months.
“You don’t find basements very often in Tampa, but every cigar factory had one,” Drew Newman said. “That’s because the consistent temperature and climate in the basement is perfect for aging and storing cigars.”
A museum gallery sits inside, showing cigar making history. There’s a vault that holds the oldest cigars the business owns. An archive room stores artifacts from many factories.
“So, we are on the third floor of the historic El Reloj Cigar Factory,” said Drew Newman. “And this is where we roll cigars by hand, the same way my grandfather and great grandfather did a century ago.”