Company with the help of relatives and his elementary-
school-aged sons, Arturo Oscar and Carlos. The new
factory was not impressive; in fact, it was on the back
porch of the family home.
Both Carlos and Arturo Oscar were expected to roll
50 cigars every day after school, and their father trained
both in the !ner points of blending and curing tobacco.
But devastation struck the family again when Carlos
was diagnosed with polio, which forced the 11-year-
old boy to be quarantined from family and friends. In a
biography published by Prometheus and written by Loy
Glenn Westfall, Carlos recalled that his father visited him
every morning. Through the window, with tears in his
eyes, Arturo Fuente would encourage Carlos to !ght. “He
didn’t ask how I felt that day,” he said. “He just told me
to have faith.” Carlos was indeed a !ghter and made it
through, though he had to learn to walk all over again.
Like Carlos, the rest of the Fuentes pushed ahead no
matter the resistance. By the late 1940s, even though there
was lots of work, money was tight. The little company
needed to expand from the porch so Arturo got another
factory—this one a two-story affair that housed the
business on the ground "oor while the family lived upstairs.
Carlos, who opted for work over school, was married by
1953. Despite the increase in the family operation’s size,
there was still very little money to support Carlos and his
family, so both of the younger Fuente men worked for
their father while Carlos’s wife took a job at another cigar
company. In 1954, Carlos had his !rst child—Carlos Jr.,
or Carlito as he is commonly known.
By 1957, Arturo was 70 and ready to retire. Initially
he thought his elder son, Arturo Oscar, would take over
but it was Carlos who spent more time at the factory. He
stepped up and bought the business for one dollar, not
much money but de!nitely a bold move for a 22-year-
old. It was also at this time that Carlos moved his young
family from his father’s house and factory in Ybor City to
West Tampa.
Carlos had dreams of further building the business.
Up until the late ’50s, all of the company’s cigars were
sold in the Tampa area for cash. In addition to making
cigars, Carlos sought to expand the reach of the company
by allowing customers to buy on credit in markets outside
of Tampa, primarily New York City and Florida regions
with large Latin populations. It was not easy however, as
cigar smokers were very brand-loyal to names like Bering
and Perfecto Garcia.
When the Cuban embargo hit in 1962, the cigar
landscape changed; according to Carlos, this event leveled
everything. He began getting tobacco from Puerto Rico
and Colombia to use in addition to his stockpiled Havana
leaf. He then worked hard blending tobaccos to come
up with a new cigar, something that would replace the
popular Clear Havanas that were Tampa’s main product.
Even while this leveling of the playing !eld had every
Tampa manufacturer scrambling for new blends, the
Fuente business continued to grow. Arturo had always
wanted a “real” factory so when the four-story Charles the
Great operation in Ybor City became available in the mid-
’60s, the Fuentes bought it. Arturo, then in retirement but
still active with the company, !nally had his large factory.
Carlos remained company president and Arturo Oscar left
his outside job to serve as vice president.
The ’70s brought great changes to the family, beginning
with Arturo’s death in 1973. To honor his father, Carlos
began selling a cigar made from a blend personally crafted
by Arturo. Carlos called it the 8-5-8 and, according to
published accounts, the name came about because, both
forward and backward, it read “85,” the age at which
Arturo passed. It became a hugely popular cigar that
remains a strong seller today. That decade brought other
tribulations as well, as in"ation ravaged the US, and a
lack of Tampa cigar rollers prompted Carlos to look
toward Central America, speci!cally Estelí, Nicaragua,
where other Cuban exiles had set up shop.
The Fuentes found a hospitable location there and, for
the !rst time, began to make premium cigars outside of the
US while still maintaining the machine made operation
in Tampa. Production grew modestly but trouble was on
the horizon as the corrupt and brutal regime of Anastasio
Somoza had become too much for Nicaragua to bear.
Encouraged by the socialist Sandinista party, revolution
was in the air by 1978, and Estelí was ground zero (in
fact, still today, you can see bullet holes in many of the
city’s buildings). The uprising caught the Fuentes by
surprise and they, like so many in the industry, "ed across
the border into the safety of Honduras while their factory
burned to the ground. However, the Fuentes’ foray into
Honduras was not to be; within two years, an electrical
!re claimed that factory as well.
As 1980 began, the Fuentes were out of options.
Completely broke, the company could either exit the
premium-cigar business or move once again. Carlos
reached out to his son Carlito. Like his father before him,
Carlito grew up in the business and fondly remembered
his grandfather Arturo, always with a cigar in hand,
telling him all about Cuba and its rich tobacco heritage.
There was never any doubt that Carlito would enter the
family operation. The two put up what little money they
could raise and headed to the Dominican Republic, where
A long rebuilding begins after the Tampa factory
burns to the ground.
Production continues with the help of Arturo’s
school-aged sons, Arturo Oscar and Carlos Jr.
1920s
Carlos marries and Carlos Jr. (Carlito) is born.
Carlos buys the family business for $1.00.
1930s
1950s
27
800-572-4427
Prices subject to change without notice. Not responsible for
typographical errors. All offers good while supplies last.
1 3,4