Hav-A-Tampa is a

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

brand currently owned by

ITG Brands ITG Brands, LLC is the third-largest American tobacco manufacturing company in the United States. It is a subsidiary of British multinational Imperial Brands. ITG Brands markets and sells multiple cigarette and cigar brands and sells blu eCigs ...

. It was founded in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

in 1902. The company's slogan "Won't you Hav-A-Tampa cigar?" was one of a handful that propelled the city towards the nickname "Cigar City." Its signature product, the "Tampa Jewel" cigar, became widely distributed to service-members in Europe. The factory was located in

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...

. In 1996, the firm made $140 million on 859 million cigars. In December of 1997 the company was sold to

Tabacalera Tabacalera, formerly the Compañía Arrendataria de Tabacos, was a Spanish tobacco monopoly whose origins date back to 1636, making it the oldest tobacco company in the world. In 1999, the company merged with SEITA of France to form Altadis, ...

for $275 million dollars. Later, the company was merged into the new company

Altadis Altadis is a Spanish-French multinational purveyor and manufacturer of cigarettes, tobacco and cigars. It was formed via a 1999 merger between Tabacalera, the former Spanish tobacco monopoly and , the former French tobacco monopoly. Through its i ...

in 1999, which was later sold to

Imperial Tobacco Imperial Brands plc (formerly Imperial Tobacco Group plc), is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Mor ...

. The Ybor factory was shuttered in 2009, the cigars are now rolled in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. The company was also the first to employ the wooden tip. https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/tabacaleras-american-gambit-6138

References

{{reflist Cigar brands Tobacco brands