All Entries in the "Cigars" Category

“Art Under the Stars” Cigar & Art Show

Our friends at the Creative Native Gallery are at it again. This time, they’ve collaborated with SOHO Cigar (212 S. Armenia Avenue, Tampa FL 33609) for an evening of fine cigars and fine art on May 16th from 7PM-11PM.

The Creative Native Gallery features local Florida artists from all walks of life, backgrounds and mediums. Admission is free.

Club Habano and Don Gonzales Cigars: A Winning Combination

It’s not often that I get to visit two good cigar bars in one weekend. Typically, due to time constraints and general lack of funds, cigars are a limited pleasure for me. But this weekend, I decided to visit the 2nd of 3 events put on by Don Gonzalez cigars, this time held at Club Habano Cigars (11642 N Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa FL).

Club Habano is the work of a father-son team, Pedro Rivero Jr. and Pedro Rivero Sr.

Rivero Sr. constructed all of the fixtures in this beautiful building. His attention to detail and craftmanship is obvious in everything about this establishment. Spanish Cedar and other fine woods surround you, a cigar-wrapper influenced paint scheme decorates the walls. The refinements are complimented by technology, featuring a large Vizio television in the main seating area and another at the bar. It’s obvious to this contributor that Rivero Sr. is a master craftsman in every meaning of the word.

Rivero Jr. is the face of Club Habano, and a social magnet. Exuding confidence and charm, he treats everyone who comes in as a brother and a confidante.

Within minutes of meeting him, he invited me and my wife Kara to the bar to taste handmade sangria that was delightful. There’s no shortcuts when it comes to this drink, all made with real fruit in-house by the Rivero family. Here is your contributor engaging his goblet lustfully:

The place was hopping with a DJ mixing a combination of motown, latin classics and Michael Jackson. If that combination sounds frightful yet interesting, you’d be in the right place. He’s skillful in his transitions and the music matched the atmosphere; fun, light and catered to it’s eclectic and varied audience.

The draw to this event was the Don Gonzalez exhibition, the 2nd night in Tampa following Gaspar’s Cigars on Friday night. The family was in attendance again, showing off their line of tasteful favorites.

The Gonzalez crew will be out at Smoker’s Den tonight in Clearwater for their official Superbowl Party. They asked me to invite all of my readers out, as this will be fun for everyone.

Smokers Den (SUPERBOWL EVENT)
29140 US Hwy. 19 North Clearwater, FL 33618
727-784-1676

For a list of upcoming Don Gonzalez Events, see their page:
http://www.dongonzalezcigars.com/events.php

Gaspar’s Cigar Shoppe on Westshore

To come into Gaspar’s Cigar Shoppe (3675 Westshore Blvd, Tampa – (813) 505-2499) is to walk into a place that feels like home. While many cigar bars have a “buy and leave” approach to the customer, Gaspar’s is more like a social club than simply a place to buy your favorite stogies.

Many months ago, I was invited to Gaspar’s by my friend John Keeler, a fellow Tampa Bay Miatas member and a long time cigar smoker. He is a member there, having his own locker (which anyone can buy, at a bargain price) and access to a friendly environment; with a large screen TV, comfortable seating and a table that is just as likely used for cards as it would be conversation.

Gaspar’s is a relatively small operation, being run by one of the most genuine and happy personalities I’ve ever met; Davelis “D.C.” Goutoufas. D.C. is the guy you’ll always see with a smile on his face. Not a care in the world, a friend to everyone and always welcoming to new people, even those who probably don’t look like they belong in a cigar bar (like myself). He’s always been very kind to me and everyone else who has come into his business. If nothing else, just meeting D.C. makes a trip to Gaspar’s worth doing.

Aside from the great atmosphere and the gracious host, Gaspar’s also has a great collection of cigars. Their inventory is updated regularly and is stocked with care. I’ve yet to look for a cigar brand that I didn’t find there. Whether you are looking for a heavy handed Maduro or something lighter or even flavored, Gaspars has what you are looking for.

I was invited by on Saturday for the Don Gonzalez Party. This featured the family behind D.G. Cigars, an up and comer in the Florida Cigar trade. Having tried both their robusto and the toro over the course of the last two days, I’d say they well earn their 90 ranking in Cigar Snob Magazine.

Their taste is rich and smooth, without the overpowering taste that occasionally comes from a heavier smoke. Along with the quality of their tobacco, their business is a family affair. Having met both the father and the sons, I was impressed with how dedicated they are to the business of cigars and how they welcome you as a member of their family.

While there are cigar companies out there who have come up from small family operations and stayed that way, many more simply turn into a business, churning out cigars in mass production and forget where they came from, and why their families have made cigars this way for generations. Don Gonzalez embraces this connectivity and you can see it in both how they operate and in the quality of their brand.

The Master at Work: The Cigar Craftsman of Ybor City

Ybor is known for it’s rich history in the cigar community. After all, this was a city within a city that was built on the backs of it’s cigar workers. No matter where you go in Ybor (or much of Tampa, for that matter), you’ll see remnants of a time gone by, where tobacco workers were skilled laborers and the craft was tedious, but ultimately rewarding.

Much of this craftsmanship has faded throughout the world. You wouldn’t know it after seeing Wallace Reyes at work. Sitting at a booth every Saturday in the Ybor Farmers market, he and associate Steve Tabak play to the crowd. Using the traditional tools of the trade, Reyes crafts cigars there for live audiences weekend after weekend. Starting with tobacco aged 4 years, he crafts cigars that look so perfect a machine couldn’t replicate this precision. It’s obvious that his 30+ years as a cigar craftsman make his every move second nature.

“We still use all the same tools that were used back when this started. This knife used to be the most dangerous weapon in town. You could slash a neck with it, a wrist. It’s great for cutting tobacco.” he explained as he continued working.

To watch him is a real treat. He tells me that they are a blend of tobaccos from Nicaragua, The Dominican Republics and Honduras. Taking a bunch of the long-cut leaves in his hands, he bunches them together, packing them into his right hand.

Then, using his left hand, he daftly pushes them together and prepares the binder.

Using the old style molding presses, heat and pressure are applied to his bound leaves and kept locked down for 20 minutes.

When they’re ready, he begins the “rolling” part of cigar making that most are familiar with.

The binder, now sealed with a natural glue that is the only one approved for cigar making, is rolled skillfully and gently with the wrapper.

Everything is so ornate at this point, it’s amazing that this man built this with so few tools in so little time.

He finishes off the stogie with a cap he carefully cut from the finishing leaf, making a perfect cigar.

I encourage everyone to come see him. He assures me that he’ll be there every Saturday. They’re one of the first tents when you walk in, right outside the Ybor Museum.

If you can’t come to meet the man himself, you can email him at cigarman@cigarsoftampa.com. His website is http://www.cigarsoftampa.com.