J.C. Newman Cigar Co. is delivering José Gaspar Cigars as a historic look at one of the most feared pirates in the Americas. Gasper sailed from his base near Tampa Bay – home of J.C. Newman Cigar Co. – as he amassed a fortune plundering ships in the Gulf of Mexico.
The pirate tribe also threw an annual festival called Gasparilla, and the city of Tampa continues the tradition to this day.
“Gaspar celebrated victories with a bold and flavorful cigar,’” Drew Newman, fourth-generation owner of J.C. Newman, said in a statement. “This cigar honors his legacy and the tradition of Gasparilla.”
The 2022 release of José Gaspar is a 7 x 50 wrapped with a sun-grown, Ecuadorian Havana-seed wrapper. The 2022 José Gaspar cigars are sold in packs of 5 cigars with a price$40.
José Gaspar cigars are only available at the following locations in Tampa:
- Casa de Montecristo
- Cigar Castle
- Cigar City Brewery
- Davidoff of Geneva Since 1911
- Edwards Pipe and Tobacco
- Grand Cathedral
- Hotel Haya
- J.C. Newman Cigar Museum and Factory Store
- JR Cigars
- King Corona Cigars
- Tobacco Depot
- Vincent & Tampa Cigar Co
Shortly after J.C. Newman Cigar Co. relocated to Tampa in 1954, leading cigar makers invited the late Stanford J. Newman to become a pirate and join the Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, the organization that hosts the annual Gasparilla celebration. This invitation was a symbol that J.C. Newman had been welcomed and accepted into the cigar community in Tampa, which was then widely recognized as the fine cigar capital of the world.
