Bought some neat stuff...
...while down in West Tampa and Ybor City. First place I stopped (Friday) was the Gonzalez Habano Cigar Factory and Store on Columbus. Small place across from La Terecita (if you like Cuban food, that place is one of the best). I've been to Terecita more times than I can count, but I've never noticed this place. I was greeted by a gentleman who I believe was the owner, (although I did not get his name). Apparently they roll cigars for some larger distributors, but also sell their own label. You could see the rollers in the back doing their thing. I ended up with a cedar boxed sampler of five cigars-a Doble Corona, a Copihue Churchill (Copihue is their line of cigars made with tobacco aged in red wine-not sure if this counts a a "flavored" cigar), a Torpedo, a Toro, and a Rothchild. All have natural wrappers. The guy was telling me that at the Cigar Heritage Festival (Nov 18th) they are going to roll a 100-ft cigar with a 64 ring gauge. Guiness is supposed to be there as well. It will then be cut into 6" sections which will be sold off at a later date.
Saturday I went to Ybor City. Unfortunately, I did not realize that Tampa Sweethearts closed at 1PM on Saturday so I missed out on that (I REALLY wanted to go there too). I did stop at La Herencia. I picked up a Perfecto and a Petit Torpedo. Stopped at El Sol and got a bundle of their hand rolled Simpaticos (maduro, short filler). Last place was Havana Dreams. Bought a Torpedo, Imperial, Toro, and Datil ( I think it's the same as a Rothchild).
I guess the theme for the trip was locally made cigars that I can't buy at my local B&M. Who knows? They may suck. They may be great. I'm new at this so I probably couldn't tell you the difference. I'll do my best to let y'all know.
TampaSupremo
