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
The order to launch the Cuban War
for Independence in 1895 was rolled into a Tampa cigar and smuggled to the
island, as is illustrated in this political cartoon. While Cuba obtained independence
from the Spanish Empire, it would be forced into the status of client state of
the United States for the next sixty years.
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 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
Pictured here: two models dressed in costumes made almost entirely of Tampa cigars; the models worked the cigar exhibit at the Florida State Fair in 1941.
From the Tony Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
Cigars went to War during World
War II, so a special cigar display was in order. This cigar tank was apparently modeled on the
M3 tank, known as the Lee or Grant.
From the Tony
Pizzo Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
The cigar industry in Tampa
did not just produce cigars. Cedar logs
were floated into the port for the production of cigar boxes. A crew of women finished the boxes in
factories like this one.
From the Tony Pizzo
Collection, University of South Florida Libraries
Tampa’s Cigar Queen clad in a dress of
cigars. (Eat your heart out, Lady Gaga.)
From the Hampton Dunn Postcard
Collection, University of South Florida.
Tampa’s Ybor City was originally home to the city’s bustling cigar trade. Mr. Smoke is one of our favorite (?) relics of the industry that we house in Special Collections. And yes, he really does talk; pull the string (carefully, of course) and hear one of six cigar-industryesque sayings, like “Put me back in the humidor. I’m drying out!”
For real. You can’t make this stuff up.
Special Collections, University of South Florida