Tabanero Blog

Exploring the Interplay Between Premium Cigars, Festivities, and Business Rituals

As the holiday season approaches, the art of celebration becomes intertwined with various traditions and customs. One such tradition that has seamlessly blended into the fabric of festivities is the enjoyment of premium cigars. In this blog, we explore the unique connection between cigars, celebration, and business, delving into how these carefully crafted indulgences have become an integral part of holidays and corporate festivities alike.

Rituals of Celebration

The act of lighting a cigar has long been associated with moments of triumph, celebration, and reflection. Whether it's to mark a personal achievement, a holiday gathering, or a successful business deal, cigars play a symbolic role in elevating these occasions. We look into the historical significance of cigars as a symbol of victory and the joyous moments they accompany.

Corporate Bonding and Cigar Culture

In the business world, the shared experience of enjoying cigars has become a powerful tool for networking and relationship building. Many corporate events and holiday parties now feature designated cigar lounges, fostering an environment where professionals can connect on a more personal level. Explore how cigars have become a bridge for building camaraderie and strengthening business relationships.

Cigar Selection for Festive Occasions

Explore into the art of choosing the right cigar for different celebrations. From rich, full-bodied options for special milestones to milder choices that suit a casual holiday gathering, understanding the nuances of cigar selection adds a layer of sophistication to the festivities. Provide recommendations for cigars that complement various occasions, enhancing the overall celebration experience.

Cigars as Gifts

 Uncover the tradition of gifting cigars during the holiday season and its role in expressing gratitude or sealing a deal. Explore how the presentation of a thoughtfully chosen cigar can convey a sense of appreciation and celebration in both personal and professional settings.

In the world of celebrations and business, cigars have evolved from being a simple indulgence to a symbol of shared joy, achievement, and connection. This blog aims to highlight the rich tapestry of experiences that cigars bring to festive occasions, weaving together the threads of celebration, personal milestones, and professional relationships. Whether you're a seasoned aficionado or a newcomer to the cigar culture, understanding the connection between festivities and cigars adds a layer of depth to the joyous moments we celebrate.

The Legacy of Tampa: Cigar Capital of the World

Tabanero Cigars and Tampa's Cigar Capital Legacy

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tampa, Florida, earned the prestigious title of "Cigar Capital of the World." This recognition was a culmination of factors, including a boom in cigar manufacturing, the founding of Ybor City, access to fine Cuban tobacco, industry innovation, expansive cigar export, and significant cultural impact. Tampa's cigar industry thrived, shaping the city's cultural identity and architectural landscape.

One integral part of this legacy is Tabanero Cigars, which has been in Tampa since 2007. While Tabanero Cigars has since shifted production to Nicaragua due to a scarcity of skilled cigar rollers, its history remains closely intertwined with Tampa's cigar heritage. Tampa may no longer hold the official title, but its deep-rooted connection to the cigar industry endures, making it a destination for cigar enthusiasts seeking to explore its rich tobacco history. Tabanero Cigars, with its legacy and continued presence, is a testament to this enduring heritage.

Crafting Moments of Purpose and Friendship with Fine Cigars

Talking about Tabanero

The History of Ybor City

On March 16th The Washington Post published an article written by Jason Wilson, “For Ybor City in Florida, a Historic Cigar Town Faces a Cloudy Future.” We are going to expound upon the discussion he raised concerning our town and our craft.  Jason recognized that we are doing something wonderfully unique in Tampa.  “Every minute of every day in Ybor City is a good time for a cigar. in Ybor City, it seems as if — whether perversely or refreshingly — one enters a parallel universe where smoking cigars is still a totally natural part of life.”  This parallel universe, as Jason stated, is the rebirth an industry that was as culturally rich as the soil that produces the savory cigars that made Tampa the envy of the globe. Every renaissance is both the reclamation of the nostalgia of the past and the embrace of the hope of future prospects.  As we at Tabanero Cigars dedicate ourselves to this rebirth of Tampa as the cigar capital, we harken to the past voices.

The Beginnings of Tampa as the Cigar Capital

“Vicente Martinez Ybor created modern Tampa out of a marshy backwater, and the population grew from about 700 in 1880 to more than 37,000 residents in 1910. The best cigar rollers left Cuba for Tampa by the thousands. Ybor brought an expanded port, paved roads, hundreds of new homes and businesses, streetcars, insurance companies and health clinics.  In the early 20th century, Tampa had been the undisputed cigar capital of the world, outproducing even Havana. In its heyday, the city had more than 150 factories, employing about 10,000 workers and rolling more than 500 million cigars each year. Now, beyond the small storefront producers still rolling premium handmade cigars, only one large cigar factory remains.”

How the Past Affects the Present

Jason has correctly identified the nature of the past cigar industry as well as the challenge of the present.  Will Ybor have the large cigar factories that once were the pillars of the industry? Not likely.  However, that is not even part of the vision for the renaissance that Tabanero Cigars is helping to forge.  We believe that the new cigar industry will be a network of cigar boutiques known for the quality of hand-made cigars and not for the quantity.  A similar model might be the growth of ‘craft beer’ as opposed to mass produced beer.  

As more people begin to catch the vision for this nascent artisan boutique in Ybor than we will all see something beautiful blossom in Tampa.

Read the full article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/for-ybor-city-in-florida-a-historic-cigar-town-faces-a-cloudy-future/2017/03/15/c6de6100-efa8-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html 

The Genesis Story of Tabanero Cigars

The Story of Tabanero Cigars

“You can do whatever you dream.”
Those were the words my mother spoke to me often.

Just as the golden rays of the rising sun would greet the fertile ground of Cuba, so the words of her encouragement greeted me each morning and planted themselves in my heart. The Cuban soil produced crops of the sweetest sugar and finest tobacco. My heart produced a dream of the truest Old World values and New World optimism.

My name is Yanko Macedo and this is my story. It is a story of how my Cuban heritage and the American Dream are bringing a renaissance of the cigar industry in Tampa by providing you with the finest cigars handmade by greatest artisans who truly love the craft.

I was born in 1978 to a really poor family in the outskirts of Havana. I'm not lucky enough to say my immediate family had farms or factories; we were pretty poor.  It is a wondrous thing that dreams can grow in such a situation, but the human heart is fertile ground regardless the circumstances that surround it.

Cuba is world renowned for her cigars. It is not just the tobacco that is produced there, it is also the craft of the artisan who makes the cigar. I was fortunate to witness these truths in person as a young boy. Growing up I was sent to visit a member of my extended family who had a farm in Pinar de Rio where they still grow tobacco today. It was during the summers spent amongst the fields and people of Pinar that a love for the way of the cigar was cultivated in me.

Even as a young boy I always knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur.  Something that was instrumental in shaping that desire was a movie I saw when I was six or seven. The movie was Baby Boom. The main character starts a business making and selling baby food. She starts it in her home in New York. The business became a big industry. That really caught my attention. Living in Cuba I couldn’t believe there was a country in which you could do things like that. To have a dream, to start in the kitchen of your house and to become such a big industry – this is wonderful. It is amazing. I wanted to see my dreams come true in America.

In school, every time that they ask me, ‘So Yanko, what are you going to do when you finish this or that?” I always said, “I’m going to America!”  They would say, “ Ah man, you always say that same thing that you are going to America.”

Well, I finally made it when I was sixteen. The first nine years I wasted in Miami by chasing the wrong dreams. I thought that what I was looking for was money, was riches and all that came with it. It took me nine years and eight different ventures, eight different ideas before I understood that what I was looking for was a purpose. The real dream was to feel that I had a purpose.

I remembered those fields from my youth and the beautiful way the artisans made the cigars. The vision of Tabanero Cigars was born. It is my American dream arising from my Cuban heritage. But how was I going to make my dream, my passion a reality?

One of my early ventures was a restaurant in the heart of Tampa, in Ybor City. I remember that on my breaks between lunch and dinner, I used to walk 7th Avenue. It was full of small boutiques. Every time I'd go into a small shop and try different cigars. I was astonished by the lack of consistency. On Wednesday it would taste like this and then on Friday it would be a different batch and it was a completely different taste. I thought, “Well, it looks like these people are treating their small business like a souvenir shop.”

So, I started to search in order to discover if there was a hand-made brand made here in Tampa. Whenever I asked someone the first word out of their mouths was Arturo Fuente or JC Newman.  However, Newman stopped producing hand made cigars in the 50s and switched to machine made. Arturo Fuentes left Tampa in late 70s and moved to Nicaragua. It didn’t work out in Nicaragua and they moved to the Dominican Republic. So there was no hand made brand in Tampa, Florida. That is when I became determined to start a brand to put Tampa back on the map as the premier place for the finest hand-made cigars.

Thus began the adventure of Tabanero Cigars. The first chapter of our journey began by opening a small cigar lounge by the airport in Tampa. It only lasted a year and depleted all my money. It failed. I fell. So, I took a break and started really small with one cigar roller in a little 120 square foot space.  After working with me for two weeks my only roller left because he said that I didn’t have enough clients coming through the door for me to pay him. I said to myself, “Well, what do I do now?”

But I was so sure of my dream and I was working so hard on my vision of having a hand made brand in Tampa that no obstacle was going to stop me. The feeling was so strong that God had been lining up every piece that I needed to make the dream a reality. He was putting together every piece to make the Tabanero brand the most famous brand in the world. My vision was clear. When people mention Cuba anywhere in the world, whether in Dubai, Paris, or Chicago they think of quality cigars. That is what I wanted for Tabanero. Wherever a person is located, whenever they think of fine hand-made cigars, they will think of Tampa and Tabanero.

So in that little space I grew to five rollers. I had to work outside because there was not enough room for me to work in the same place as the rollers. I realized that we needed a new location. We moved five times in a short span of time. At one location we were having our best sales when we were presented with a new opportunity. The owner of a new Cuban-themed nightclub approached me and said, “Yanko, would you like to have an opportunity to move to 7th Avenue?” I jumped at the chance. They put us in a corner of the nightclub where the patrons to the club could watch our rollers. We were doing good numbers from that corner and I thought we had finally arrived. But after six months the nightclub failed and someone called to tell me we had to be out by the end of the month. It was a difficult time.

People saw me pack all our stuff into a truck and they thought, “Well, that's the end of Tabanero.” I had to move into a house which we rented in Ybor Heights. It was a disappointing setback. So I prayed more earnestly and worked even harder on my vision. I would come to the four corners in the heart of Ybor each day for an hour and envision our store in this location. Then I would say to God, “I want to be on one of these corners. I don’t know where and I don’t know how. You know we don’t have the money, but God I want to be on one of these four corners.”

I wait patiently and patiently at the little house where we were barely surviving. One day a business owner approached me and said, “I have a place on 22nd across from the Columbia restaurant which has been in Tampa for a hundred and five years.” I said, “Well, that's better than a house!” So we moved over there and begin growing again. But I did not forget about my prayer to God to be located on one of the four corners.

My heart focused upon a storefront on Seventh avenue that was perfect. I called the landlord telling him I wanted to rent. He said, “No.” But I did not give up. I kept calling him. For four months, every week I would call him. At first, he would answer but after the sixth call he got really mad at me and said, “Please don’t call me anymore I said 'no' already.” I kept calling anyway and would leave a message saying, “This is Yanko Macedo and this is your weekly call. Please if you change your mind let me know – this is my number.”

One day I was overwhelmed by my passion for making Tabanero Cigars the best hand-made cigar boutique in the world. I called the landlord and left a voice mail from the bottom of my heart.  God knows it was from the bottom of my heart. I said, “Sir, you've been saying “no” for four months, but I really, really beg you that we meet face to face and allow me to share with you how we can infuse that corner with the right clientele. There have been bars at that corner forever and it has never positively affected your surrounding neighbors. Let me share with you how my clientele is going to help make that corner a destination point.” The next day at 8 a.m. I got a phone call from the landlord saying, “Ok Yanko, I want to hear what you have to say. I'll see you at 10 am.”

We met and he believed in our dream. So we are now in that location! I love it; I'm so blessed. Customers say to me, “You have a great location.” I respond, “No I don’t have a great location. I have the best location!” From Tampa, Florida we can save the world. If we are talking about cigars, there is not a location like this in Miami, there is not a location like this in New York, there is no location like this anywhere in the world. I am so blessed. Every time I write my check to the landlord I always put a note in there: “John, Thank You. Thank you for the opportunity. I can't thank you enough.” I do it every month.

When I reflect on where we are and remember from where we came – wow.  It is hard to believe that a kid from Havana, a kid with no schooling, could have such an opportunity and through hard work fueled by an unwavering belief in his dream come to this place. Well, that is my dream; this is my story.

Tabanero Cigars Featured in Cigar Snob Magazine

We were recently featured in Cigar Snob Magazine! 

Read the full article below and find out more about why we love what we do. The featured Maceda Press Torpedo is named after Tabanero Cigars owner, Yanko Maceda. Find out more about the Maceda Press here.

Obama Hurting U.S. Small Business by Easing Restrict on Cuban Cigars: A David Garofalo Editorial

Is it a concern or a party? 

Opportunity to Smoke a Cuban Cigar

Why We See This as an Opportunity

We Are Excited!

Our Vision at Tabanero Cigars

Hand-Made Cigars in History

When we see pictures like this but 100 years ago the dreamers like me ask our self how it would be to be there at that time. What would it be like to the smell the aromas, see the people, hear the language?

Restoring Hand-Rolled Cigars in Ybor City, Florida

I ask myself if a factory in the US can get to 100 rollers again making 90k cigars per week, and in just six years we have gone from 200 cigars units per month to sell to 10k.

Do you believe that we have the quality, passion, and integrity to manufacture and sell 360k cigars per month hand-made in the USA by Cuban artisans?

I do, (and we all do at Tabanero Cigars), I don't pay attention to the naysayers. I concentrate in my Vision and to me this still the land of opportunities. I'm living a dream that it was impossible to fulfill back in Cuba.

Thank you for letting me share, 
Yanko Maceda

Ybor City in the News

Ybor City was recently featured in the news during a Public Service Announcement (PSA) by WWE star John Cena.

He used the everyday streets of Ybor to portray a different view of diversity in America. 

Check out the video and local news article about it here.

After the filming was done, John stopped by for some Taba Brew. He enjoyed his cup of the best Cuban coffee in Tampa while relaxing in Ybor City.

We enjoyed seeing John Cena stop by and share such an interest in the great city of Ybor.

What's the source of Tabanero's Tobacco? Only the Best!