The United States has a rich cigar tradition dating back to the 1600s, with the first crop of cigar tobacco planted in the Virginia colony in 1612. Tampa was once the cigar capital of the world, with 150 large cigar factories producing over 500 million cigars per year. However, many of these factories closed in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, moving production overseas due to labor costs. One family-owned cigar company, J.C. Newman, remains in Tampa, continuing the American cigar making tradition.
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