J.C. Newman To Celebrate Founder’s Day This Weekend
J.C. Newman Cigar Co., the oldest family-owned premium cigarmaker in the United States, is celebrating its 129th anniversary and the company is inviting the public to join in the festivities. The company’s Founder’s Day celebration takes place this Saturday, May 18, from 11am to 3pm at J.C. Newman headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
“It is a true privilege continuing my family’s 129-year tradition of handcrafting premium cigars in the United States,” fourth-generation owner Drew Newman told Cigar Aficionado. “Today, we hand roll premium cigars just like my great-grandfather did a century ago, and our one-and-only goal is to hand roll cigars the same way for another four generations and 129 years.”
The event is free and open to the public with attractions such as tours of the El Reloj cigar factory and museum, lawn games, food trucks, live music and more. One of the events will be a take on the hot dog eating competition with a Tampa twist: The Cuban Sandwich Eating Challenge. Among the contestants will be The Hungry Couple Miki Sudo and Nick Wehry. Sudo is the seven-time winner of Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, holding the women’s world record of eating 48.5 hot dogs in ten minutes. Wehry has multiple world records under his belt and is ranked as No. 4 in the world of competitive eating. The pair will be joined by local celebrity Drew Garabo of 102.5 The Bone and members of the J.C. Newman staff to eat as many Cuban sandwiches—the traditional lunch of Tampa cigar workers—as they can in eight minutes.
“A century ago, Tampa’s Ybor City cigar district was a melting pot of languages, cultures, religions, and foods,” Newman says. “The Cuban sandwich represents this diversity. The ham came from the Spaniards. The Cubans brought the pork. The Italians added the salami while the Germans added the Swiss cheese and pickles. All of these ingredients are pressed together just like the melting pot that was Tampa’s historic cigar community.”
As to be expected at an event held at a cigar factory, there will be cigars on sale. J.C. Newman will be selling Sanchez y Haya cigars, a recreation of the first cigars rolled in Tampa in 1886, for the era-appropriate price tag of just 5 cents apiece. An outdoor area has been designated as an open-air cigar lounge for those who wish to light up their purchases.
J.C. Newman was founded in 1895 by Hungarian immigrant Julius Caeser Newman, who borrowed $50 from his family to open a one-man cigar factory behind his home in Cleveland. It eventually became the largest cigar factory in the city. In 1954 the company relocated to Tampa and today its portfolio includes brands such as Brick House, Diamond Crown and Cuesta-Rey. The El Reloj factory in Tampa is where the company rolls The American, a line of cigars that utilizes only tobaccos grown in the United States for its blend.
J.C. Newman’s main parking lot will be closed during this event, but the overflow lots at 1509 E. Columbus Drive, 1602 E. Columbus Drive and 1530 East 15th Avenue will be available to park.
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