Hav-a-Tampa Cigars Closing Tampa Plant

[mojo]

Just read an article about Hav-a-Tampa cigars closing their Tampa plant. I don't think I tried their cigars ever. Even though they are machine made, just the idea of another company biting the dust in this country.

Hav-a-Tampa cigars closing Tampa plant

[thebayratt]

When I was younger (about 10 years ago) if im not mistaken they had a small "factory" in Busch Gardens Tampa. I watched a few ladies roll some sticks and bought some they had for sale. Im pretty sure it was a Hava-Tampa, yet it wasn't machine made...... hmmmmm could have been a Tampa Nugget.... Not too sure.
It does suck to see another american business go down due to this so-called "recession" we are in. In no-time it will be better and someone will come out smelling like a rose from a lot of talking.

[orca99usa]

I wonder where they will make them, if not in the city they are named after.

[Arnie]

A bad economy might actually help an economical cigar's sales; but a bad economy combined with a new high tax that disproportionately affects a cheaper cigar and the general smoke-a-phobia raging throughout the country, man, that's a killer! If you put a 40 cent tax on a five dollar cigar it doesn't seem too bad, but put a 40 cent tax on a .50 cigar and it's ridiculous!
It's a sad day.

[PerpetualNoob]

I think I must have tried every gas-station el cheapo cigar brand, at some point, including these. Most of them were like sticking a lit road flare in your mouth. I don't remember anything specific about the Hav-A-Tampa, so I'm taking that as a sign it wasn't drastically better or worse than the others.

I have to agree with the other posters, it's sad to see them get squeezed out of the market, though. I wonder if it was a sales problem, or just a profit problem? When I was a kid, old dudes would suck these things down by the fistful. I would have thought they still do. Come to think of it, I'm probably one of the 'old dudes', now, and that's not what I smoke, so maybe not so much.

[golfermd]

Originally Posted by PerpetualNoob

I think I must have tried every gas-station el cheapo cigar brand, at some point, including these. Most of them were like sticking a lit road flare in your mouth. I don't remember anything specific about the Hav-A-Tampa, so I'm taking that as a sign it wasn't drastically better or worse than the others.

Yeah, but they are probably like "2 Buck Bob" wines. The wines weren't all that good, but they got you started looking for better wines when your income allowed it. You have to start somewhere, and this may have been that start for some kids who were in college and couldn't afford to spend $5 or higher for better cigars. At some point their incomes rose and allowed them to buy nicer cigars.

It's truly sad that those anti's and pinheads in power, although preaching the better kinder society, could care less about those they have to bury in pursuit of their utopia. That utopia doesn't exist, and never will. We are getting a bigger and bigger government with fewer and fewer people actually paying for it. My thought is that those who want to provide all these services actually pay for those services themselves. Get out of my wallet!

[buckwylde]

As if the Florida economy isn't in the shitter enough as it is...