Ybor City has long been characterized by its cobblestone streets, its old-world charm, and the ever-present, enduring scent of tobacco. It is a legacy of craftsmanship established in this area back in 1886 \u2014 one that endures today with greater vigor than ever before.<\/p>\n
And that is precisely the legacy that Odelma Matos \u2014 known as \u201cLa Faraona\u201d (The Pharaoh) \u2014 wishes to continue building, which is why she decided to embark on the ambitious adventure of creating the world\u2019s longest hand-rolled cigar March 21. The massive cigar was crafted using approximately 100 pounds of tobacco leaf.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea occurred to me because I felt it would be a great way to position both the United States and Ybor City on the global stage,\u201d the master cigar roller and owner of La Faraona Cigars told CENTRO Tampa. \u201cThe previous record was held in Havana, Cuba; set in 2016 by Mr. Jos\u00e9 Castelar Cairo \u2014 known as \u2018Cueto\u2019 \u2014 who rolled a 295-foot cigar in celebration of Fidel Castro\u2019s birthday. I simply felt it was high time for the United States to claim that title.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said her motivation for undertaking the project was its potential to significantly boost Ybor City\u2019s profile.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many people come here specifically to learn about cigars,\u201d Matos said. \u201cThis district is steeped in Cuban and tobacco-making traditions \u2014 years of tobacco history run through these very streets \u2014 so what better way to honor that heritage than by establishing a world record right here?\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Guinness World Records does not officially certify records related to tobacco, cannabis, or products containing nicotine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI exchanged a great deal of information with them \u2014 spending nearly two months on this process \u2014 but they did not accept it. Now, what I am trying to arrange with my team is to have it certified as a world record elsewhere; that is the work we are currently engaged in,\u201d Matos said.<\/p>\n
Support, however, did come from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, who Matos had asked for authorization to hold the event, as it required closing off the historic and iconic Seventh Avenue in Ybor City.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in \u2018Champa Bay,\u2019 we are always in favor of breaking records,\u201d Castor wrote to Matos in an email.<\/p>\n
Charity<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the support she received from the city, along with that of everyone involved in the process, was all she needed to decide that the world\u2019s largest cigar, which officially measured 469 feet, would be donated to the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the cigar is going to be auctioned off \u2014 it will be sold in sections \u2014 and the money raised will go to the children supported by this foundation. The foundation was established by some of the cigar industry\u2019s longest-standing partners \u2014 the Fuente and Newman families \u2014 specifically for the children they assist, and \u2018La Faraona Cigars\u2019 is also a proud supporter of their work,\u201d said Matos.<\/p>\n
The Process<\/p>\n
Ulver Dom\u00ednguez is one of the managers of the La Faraona Cigars retail locations. He said they had been working on the cigar for over a week, \u201cdoing it in stages so we could complete it on Saturday, March 21. We had to be extremely careful during transport \u2014 in fact, we had it wrapped in special blankets.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also stated that, combining production costs, labor hours, and overtime pay, the business invested nearly $20,000 in the production of this hand-rolled cigar.<\/p>\n
For Ren\u00e9 Ortega, another participant in this process, it was \u201ca truly beautiful and enjoyable experience. You do this kind of work because you love it, and if you have the satisfaction of undertaking a project like this \u2014 well, why not? I am very proud to have participated in setting this world record.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ortega says that the aspect that excited him most was the fact that something like this had never been attempted in Ybor City \u2014 an area so steeped in cigar culture. \u201cWe had never seen anything of this magnitude before. People came out to show their support; they loved it, and everyone truly enjoyed the moment \u2014 which was the most important thing,\u201d Ren\u00e9 noted.<\/p>\n
A woman in the cigar industry<\/p>\n
For now, Odelma continues working to officially certify this record \u2014 one that far surpassed the 295-foot length of the cigar rolled in Cuba back in 2016 \u2014 marking a new chapter written 10 years later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never expected to see so many people,\u201d she said. \u201cI never imagined that such a large crowd would turn out. While I was rolling the cigar, people appeared everywhere \u2014 even watching from the balconies! This is dedicated to the city of Ybor, as it serves as a legacy for this \u2018Cigar City\u2019, a truly symbolic gesture during Women’s History Month. I am the only woman in the world to have ever accomplished this, so for me, it\u2019s about planting a seed and firmly cementing the name \u2018La Faraona Cigars\u2019 in the history of the cigar industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ybor City has long been characterized by its cobblestone streets, its old-world charm, and the ever-present, enduring scent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1920,67498,67505,28,83393,67504,67503,276,67506,96941,45880,135,137,136,7029,67501,67502,10364],"class_list":["post-211826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-cigar","tag-cigars","tag-crops-originating-from-the-americas","tag-florida","tag-guinness-world-records","tag-habits","tag-herbal-and-fungal-stimulants","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-individual-psychoactive-drugs","tag-la-faraona","tag-smoking","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tobacco","tag-tobacco-products","tag-tobacco-smoking","tag-ybor-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}