A Quick Tampa Trip – Tabanero, J.C. Newman, King Corona and JR Cigars

La Segunda and Tabanero Cigars

Earlier this week I took a quick trip to Tampa, with the goal of watching hockey with friends. I got to Tampa Sunday morning around 9 and took a Lyft to the La Segunda Bakery in Ybor. This is becoming a tradition for me, one of these days I'm going to fly down, hit the bakery, and fly back home with a carry on of delicious pastries! I sat on the steps of El Reloj and enjoyed a cheese danish and coffee before walking to 7th Avenue to find a cigar shop to visit. My one gripe is that the folks in Ybor insist you drink Cafe con Leche, and I like my coffee black. I always forgot to specify NO LECHE! It's still good coffee, if that's my only complaint I'm doing OK. If I was actually lactose intolerant and it wasn't just a preference, it would be another story.

Anyway, I hoofed it to the first open shop I found, Tabanero Cigars. This is a nice little family shop across from Centro Ybor on 7th Ave. The selection is limited to the company's own cigars, which include Maceda. I smoked the toro Maduro, which is a lovely cigar with more caramel than cocoa. Quite tasty. Yanko and his wife own the shop, along with a box factory in Esteli. They were having a customer appreciation brunch there which I was invited to partake in, but I just enjoyed my cigar. Hospitality was definitely the primary goal here, I was treated like a regular on my first visit. I had some nice conversations with Yanko and his wife, Lorena, as well as some of the regular customers. This is a must visit in Ybor. When I got home I smoked the Momentum Maduro Toro that I picked up there. This was right up my alley with rich, dense cocoa/espresso flavors. The sample of something new that Yanko gave me was, sadly, not for me.

JR Cigars, El Reloj and King Corona

I wasted a lot of Sunday waiting for a bus, taking a nap in my less than desirable motel room, but managed to walk down to the JR Cigars Tampa outlet for a cigar. I was scoping this location out for watching hockey Monday evening. I found it to be acceptable.

Monday morning I awoke to a shower with no hot water, and couldn't wait to put that place behind me, so I was checked out and walking to the bus before 7. I made my way back to the bakery, where I procured a breakfast sandwich and more cafe con leche…fool me twice….and wandered to J.C. Newman's Cigar Workers Park to enjoy breakfast and a PDM Corojo.

Something I noticed about the employee parking lot: it was filled with nice vehicles. This tells me that the company takes good care of their employees. I didn't expect anything less, it just struck me as quite different from employee parking lots in, say, Nicaragua. I took notice of the progress being made on the Sanchez y Haya building, soon to be the Inn at El Reloj (RE LOW….Coop, you reading this? :-). Here are some pictures from the same spot in November of '24 and October of '26.

They are hoping to have the restaurant and cigar lounge open by February, with the hotel rooms to follow. I was able to have a nice meeting with my contacts, Sydney and Amanda, while I was there. From there I walked back to 7th Avenue and wandered in to King Corona to kill a couple hours until Kevin (CigarProp) showed up. I enjoyed an Aganorsa La Validacion with a proper cup of black coffee. This place has a full bar, and the humidor is loaded with just about anything you might want. Hospitality is, once again, number one here, Olivia and Franz treted me well. Kevin showed up and we went to lunch (TY again!), and then went to have a cigar at Corona. After checking in to a proper hotel (a Hampton Inn near the airport which was fantastic), we went back to the JR Cigars outlet to meet up with Tampa Stogie Steve (Tabak) to watch the Flyers lose.

JRs occupies what used to be Tampa Humidor, and it's not in a great part of town, but it has a great selection, lots of specials, and a comfy lounge. Apart from the crap hockey game, it was a brilliant evening, and capped off the trip nicely. I flew back Tuesday morning with no issues. Except for the motel I stayed at Sunday night, great hospitality everywhere I went was my takeaway. Thank you to everyone I met for taking the time! I managed to figure out the bus system so I made my way around on the cheap.

J.C. Newman Yagua Robusto

Size

5″ x 56 robusto

Wrapper

Connecticut Broadleaf, wrapped wet in a palm leaf

Binder and filler

Nicaraguan

Made

PENSA factory, Estelí

When I got back I smoked a J.C. Newman Yagua Robusto, which is a new size in the line. The Yagua line has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, with Nicaraguan binder and fillers, rolled in their PENSA factory in Esteli. It's wrapped while wet in a palm leaf, so all the cigars come out in all sorts of funky shapes. This reminds me of the old Henry Clay cigars in this way. It's a 5″ x 56, but because of the weird way it;s shaped, it doesn't seem that large. I absolutely love this cigar, as I have in the past. It's dark, rich, and loaded with the coco and spice that I dig. This is a winner and I can't wait to get my hands on some more.

Thanks to my wife and kids for making this trip possible! That's all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig