A cigar story

[Bub]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/22/us/after-150-years-of-rolling-them-tampa-is-close-to-no-cigars.html?ref=todayspaper

My parents retired to Sun City Center in Florida in the late 60's.
I remember going to Ybor City and seeing/smelling coffee roasters and cigar stores.
I ordered cigars by mail, perhaps this was pre-UPS, and stored them in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

 

[Dave_In_Philly]

I was in Ybor not too long ago (3-4 years) and it was still a great cigar town. I don't know what it was like in it's hay day, but if you want a large selection of quality cigar shops, great bars and coffee shops, and a pretty decent food scene, it's still worth a visit.

 

[MichaelM]

Interesting and somewhat sobering article. If you have not already done so, it is worth reading up on this proposed legislation and taking action:
http://www.famous-smoke.com/smokers-rights/

 

[Oxman]

It should have been headed, 'Another sad story' !

It is a great shame that so many small manufacturers are facing yet more legislation to make their lives difficult. I do wonder what my great grandchildren will know about tobacco, cigars and pipes, will it be completely outlawed in years to come?

 

[Richard Burley]

...will it be completely outlawed in years to come?

If present trends continue, and it will be sold by the mob or some equivalent and I will be a customer, and there will be violence and false no-knock raids and contempt for the police--and another tenth of the population can go to prison and the ****oisie can pay the bill.

 

[Anonymous]

Things change. Doubtless the folks of Cincinnati bemoaned the passing of tradition when the business featured in the story moved to Florida a little over a half century ago. Odd that that irony seems to have eluded Ms Alvarez.

I consider myself a libertarian (A conservative who still gets high, according to Drew Cary) so I tend to detest government regulations and restrictions. Workplace and community safety however is one area I think government has a legitimate part to play.

I didn't read anything in this story that told me these businesses had to close. My take was that ending their exemption from safety testing etc and the inability of the owners to find new buyers pushed then towards a commercial decision to bail. Significantly, commercial realities meant all their competitors had already made the move to offshore production.

Simple manufactures don't belong in first world countries. The idea that as a society we spend 100s of 1000s (millions?) educating our children so they can turn a spanner on a production line or roll a cigar in a warehouse or put candy into boxes, is absurd.