When a family-owned business makes it for 100
years, it’s a big deal. For the Fuentes, it’s even bigger
because the road has been neither smooth nor easy. In
fact, the family has endured many a setback, only to come
back stronger than before. Next spring, the Fuentes will
celebrate their history, and now refer to 2013 as “year
one” of their family’s second century in the cigar business.
The story begins in 1906 when 19-year-old Arturo
Fuente left his home in Cuba for America. Like thousands
of others, he arrived in KeyWest looking for opportunities
in the wake of the Spanish-American War, which had left
Cuba’s economy in shambles. He was soon rolling cigars
in the area’s now-fading cigar operations… but he did
not stay long.
The remote locale offered precious little real estate,
and the constant threat of !re forced cigarmakers to
look elsewhere after a devastating blaze swept Key West
in 1886. Vicente Martinez Ybor !nally settled in Tampa
for its huge bay, proximity to the railroad, and favorable
climate. There he created Ybor City, which would become
one of America’s premier cigar-manufacturing areas.
Within the year, young Arturo made his way up to
West Tampa. Six years later in 1912, he made the very
!rst cigars to bear his name. At age 25, he had his own
three-story factory—A. Fuente & Co. It was one of several
hundred cigar companies in the Tampa area during that
time and crafted millions of cigars using Cuban tobacco.
By 1924, the Fuente operation had 500 employees
and was incorporated with stockholders. Then disaster
struck; while Arturo was in Cuba on a tobacco-buying
trip, his Tampa factory burned to the ground. This
would be only the !rst time the Fuente business would
be destroyed by "ames.
Arturo did not have enough insurance to rebuild.
In order to support his family and pay off creditors
without declaring bankruptcy, he went to work for
other cigarmakers. He pushed ahead, even through the
Great Depression, and reopened the Arturo Fuente Cigar
The Fuente
Family
A Century and
Still Going Strong
A Century of
Fuente
Arturo Fuente leaves his home in Cuba for America.
At age 25, Arturo Fuente runs his own three-story cigar
factory in West Tampa.
1900s
1910s
While Carlos Sr., 77, is technically retired, he is still
very involved in and enthusiastic about the work of
his “little boy,” Carlito.
by Frank Seltzer
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