Ybor City

Joined Jun 2005
961 Posts | 0+
NJ
My wife calls me at work today and tells me that we are going to Tampa Bay in September. I asked her for what? Are we going to see the Jets for a road game? She tells me no, but her aunt has invited us down, and her uncle wants to take me fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. She rambles on off how we can go to Orlando and do all the theme parks, and do this, and do that, and then she tells me that we can go to Ybor city, which is the "Cigar capital of the U.S." I never heard of that before, so she caught my attention. Needless to say, I booked the flight today, and was wondering if anybody knows anything about Ybor City, and if so, what to go and do. Any recommendations? I hope she didn't get one over on me. I was looking forward to driving down to JR's in North Carolina as this years vacation!
 
Wait - did you say there would be a Jets game in this or not?

Cause I am a hell or a Tour guide both in the cigar world and at a
Jets Game! :D

And yes "Ybor city" is a real place!

I've heard a lot of people talk about - very high Cuban population.
I'll see if I can dig up any info -
never been there myself :cry:
 
CC and Wolf, thanks for the help. Unfortunatley, the Jets wont be there, but Buffalo is. I am really looking forward to checking this place out
 
Don't miss the chance to visit Ybor City, If you are staying in Tampa grab the trolley and ride by Channel Side (resturants, bars, shops, etc.) a nice stop before going back to hotel, it also goes by the Aquarium.
In Ybor City more resturants, open air markets, shops and such. Nice clean area.
The only cigar shop I went in to was Arturo Fuente's.
I recommend the Columbian for Cuban quisine.
Check out Adobe Gilas for a break from the heat and frozen drinks.

Enjoy
 
My friend wrote:

Jared,
Do you have any info on Ybor city that I could post on another site.
Someone there is going there & was hunting any info they could find?
thanks!
Loren

p.s. Cigars will go out tomorrow!


I look into it tonight, I brought back a bunch of pamphlets, might even still have the maps of the town that they give out.
 
Re: Ybor city
Quote:
Originally Posted by CastleCrest
Jared,
Do you have any info on Ybor city that I could post on another site.
Someone there is going there & was hunting any info they could find?
thanks!
Loren


Alright found'em. Direct him/her to http://www.ybor.org
They can click on the maps button up top it will give a bery detailed one. My wife and I ate brunch at Bernini's on 7th Avenue, great two thumbs up. Visited every cigar shop listed, Metropolitan Cigars (one of the worlds largest walk-in Humi's) on 7th also had the biggest selection, obviously. El Sol Cigars was very friendly, the owner was there and after talking with him for a few minutes he gave me a cigar to try, ended up talking to him for almost a half hour. Tampa sweetheart is neat, but they only sell boxes and clothing for Fuente, no more tours or single cigars. The JC Newman is kinda boring unless you want to know the history about them, then they have plenty of pictures on the wall and captions to read. The only place that was rolling that day was Gonzalez y Martinez, they had an 80+ year old cuban native and he'll sign the box if you want, I bought a 3-pack box and had it signed. We ate supper at Columbia Restaurant, great spanish/cuban cuisine, if you go here you must try their mojito's, atmosphere it wonderful too. Hope that helps them a little, 7th avenue is definately the hot street, but the whole town was very friendly.

Thanks for having me go through that stuff Loren, brought back some good memories for me and my wife, she went and got out the photo albums
 
CastleCrest,

Thanks for that information, I really appreciate it. I had an email from another friend who told me to go to El Sol Cigars. I will let you all know about it when I go there.
 
Hoping you have fun!
I have heard good things about where your going.
Kind of a little Cuba in the Good Ol'USA!
 
Ybor City is the old Cuban district right in the heart of Tampa. In the past few years the city has really cleaned the area up and has a great night life. It is the old cigar capital here in the U.S.. Fuente and some others still have shops in Ybor, well worth spending the day down there, my parents have a place across the bay near St. Pete and my wife and I make a yearly snowbird trip for a couple of weeks, and Ybor City is always in the schedule.