Curing Barn & Indian Statue

Cremo Collects Piloto Seco Cubano Leaves
at Tampa’s Oliva Tobacco Barrel Aging Factory

 
Cremo Cigars collects its 100% American-made Cuban-seeded and crafted tobacco leaves in and around different factories and locations in Florida. It takes a total of five different leaves, which compose the cigar tobacco anatomy, namely, the wrapper, the binder, and the filler, to make any one of the varieties of Cremo cigars!

At the beginning of August, Cremo decided to take a trip up to Tampa, to collect a bale sack of leaves for our Miami Overtown Factory headquarters. This post’s accompanying pics and vids are a testament to this fun-filled adventure.

Located on 3104 North Armenia Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33607, the Oliva Tobacco Company can be found plumb in the center of Ybor City. Reputedly one of the first producers and brokers in the state of Florida and, thus, in all the US, they hail filler and binder tobacco leaves from Caribbean outposts such as Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, with most of their wrapper production incoming from Ecuador ever since the mid to late 50s.

Cremo made the one-day return trip from Miami to Tampa to collect a bale of Cubano Seco Piloto. Piloto Cubano is a famous Cuban seed that first exited the top-reputed Pinar del Rio cigar-making region of Cuba in the late 50s by way of the three abovementioned Central American and Caribbean countries. However, the height of its excellence is achieved at Nicaragua Estelí’s production hub and is Cremo’s go-to choice. Seco (meaning dry in Spanish) is one of the key primings of tobacco leaves, and typically refers to the harvest of the plant’s midsection. It is the thinnest and mildest leaf used for the filler, with renowned attributes being superb flavor, top bouquet, and reduced acridity or bitterness.

Cremo’s team also took advantage of the trip to collect an Indian statue. Why may you ask? Easy! Cigar store Indians have been a popular fixture since the late 19th century. At a time when most people were illiterate, the used of carved symbols in storefronts indicated what that store specialized in. Back when British first imported tobacco leaves and products (circa 1645) from the original 13 colonies (southern), in England tobacco was equated with the imagery of native Indians. In time, already in the New World, a wood carved Native American, each showcasing distinct personalities and attributes, would become the mark of a tobacco product selling establishment… such as ours.