In the early 1900s,
consumers demanded sanitary food and drink, and even cigars. Liborio cigars were sometimes marketed as a
“sanitary” option, but probably did not differ from its competitors. It could have been a marketing ploy to sell cheaper machine-rolled
cigars as a superior product than hand-rolled products produced with immigrant
labor.
From the Tony Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
This affectionate couple does not
seem to mind that they are drawing attention to themselves. The Yum-Yum brand of cigars must have put
them in an amorous mood (no doubt the intention of the Yum-Yum advertisers, who produced this ad).
From the Tony Pizzo
Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
This faded photograph shows workers at
their benches in an Ybor City cigar factory.
From the Tony Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
Some of Tampa’s cigar factories doubled as
apprenticeship sites for young workers.
Here, students stand proudly in front of Ybor City’s Pedro Casellas
factory in 1909.
From the Tony Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
A massive tobacco
plantation in Cuba. Tobacco from a plantation like this one would have made its way to Tampa’s Ybor City in the first decades of the 20th century.
From the Tony Pizzo
Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
This ad from ca. 1909 extols the
virtues of Tampa’s cigar industry and shows Tampa’s many cigar factories.
From the Tony
Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
The ad on this matchbox exhorts
consumers to only purchase cigars produced with union manpower. The ad and stamp design date back to the
1880s and 1890s.
From the Tony Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
This cigar label tells the larger story of Tampa workers rolling cigars from pure Havana leaf
tobacco. Such an arrangement avoided
U.S. tariffs on finished goods that would have been levied on cigars rolled in
Cuba.
From the Tony Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
Long before Tampa became known for
its nude bars, strippers plied a very different trade in the cigar
industry. Usually comprised of female
workers, strippers de-stemmed tobacco leaves to be used as wrappers for cigars.
From the Tony Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
This sharply-dressed man worked as a professional blade sharpener. He was particularly skilled in sharpening chavetas, the blades used by tobacco workers, and was known as a chavatero.
From the Tony Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries