If it wasn’t for a chance meeting and subsequent friendship with another expecting father struck up during Lamaze classes in preparation for the birth of his daughter, Sara, it’s likely that Rick Rodriguez would never have gotten into the premium cigar industry.
In the 1950s, Rodriguez’s paternal grandparents had immigrated to Tampa from Cuba to find work in one of the many cigar factories operating in the city. As he grew up in Tampa, Rodriguez often visited these grandparents, who often enjoyed cigars during Sunday family gatherings. With the Tampa-area cigar factories closing down beginning in the 1960s, however, opportunities in the cigar business became rare, even if Rodriguez had wanted a job with one of the factories. Instead, he became a salesman—first as a college recruiter and then later for a flooring company. Which brings us to that chance meeting with the other expecting father—Dave Bulloch, a fellow salesman.
Almost immediately, Bulloch offered Rodriguez a job at his company, which Rodriguez refused. A few years later, Bulloch offered him another job with another company, which Rodriguez again turned down. A few years after that, Bulloch, who was now a regional sales manager for General Cigar, offered Rodriguez yet another job. This time, Rodriguez accepted. Amazingly, despite his heritage and fond memories of his grandparents enjoying cigars, Rodriguez had never smoked a cigar himself. After accepting the position, Rodriguez smoked his first cigar—an Arturo Fuente Flor Fina 858—at the tender age of 38.
“It’s amazing to me that my cigar journey began only when I was in my late 30s,” Rodriguez says. “Despite my grandparents, I really didn’t connect with cigars before, but when I smoked that first cigar, I was like ‘Oh my Gosh, where has this been all my life?’ Joining General Cigar was a real leap of faith for me that, 27 years later, has worked out way better than anyone could have imagined.”
A natural storyteller, Rodriguez became an area sales representative for General Cigar and relished sharing stories with retailers and consumers about the history of cigars and how they’re made. His success in his territory caught the attention of Edgar Cullman Jr., who offered Rodriguez the opportunity to learn cigarmaking and blending with the industry legends Benji Menendez and Ernesto Pérez-Carrillo. They taught him the ins and outs of running a cigar factory, but it was the informal conversations they had where Rodriguez gained the most knowledge.
“Working in the factories taught me how tobacco was received, fermented, aged, and how cigars are constructed,” Rodriguez recalls. “But just hanging out with these men and our everyday conversations taught me how to blend tobaccos and create cigars. That training and those conversations prepared me so well that I will always be very grateful for the opportunities they have since afforded me.”
Rodriguez became part of General Cigar’s Team La Gloria Cubana for a couple of years before the company asked him to take over as Brand Ambassador and Master Blender for C.A.O., which became part of General Cigar in 2010.
“They essentially handed me a company to run as my own but also provided me a lot of support along the way,” Rodriguez says. “I could lean on others’ expertise, but I had the final say over new cigar blends, how they looked, and how they fit into our portfolio. It was an amazing time and I thought that I was committed to C.A.O. for the rest of my life. Then, out of the blue, my daughter Sara told me that she wanted to get into the cigar business.”
Sara had spent most of her time after graduation from the University of Florida traveling the world. Stuck in Nicaragua during the pandemic, she decided it was time to come home, and her traveling experiences had taught her that she wanted to carry on the family legacy started by her great-grandparents and continued by her father.
“At 29 years of age, Sara told me that she wanted to work in cigars,” Rodriguez explains. “My mind was blown away. We revisited the topic once she got home, and she was clearly very serious about her plans. I was excited because our family story was coming full circle, and thus West Tampa Tobacco Company was born.”
Begun in 2022, West Tampa Tobacco Company has already experienced quite a lot of success. The company debuted with two brands—West Tampa Black and West Tampa White—and has since followed up those releases with the introduction of West Tampa Red, the Attic Series and the limited edition Boliche Blvd. Most recently, the company introduced Circle of Life at the 2024 PCA Show—a cigar that tells the Rodriguez family story that will be shipping to retailers later this year.
“Starting West Tampa Tobacco Company has been an incredible journey,” Rodriguez concludes. “From the start, we made it into 75 stores and we’re growing exponentially. We’re even in 38 countries worldwide now in our first two years. Our mission statement is to listen to our fan base and give them what they want: a really good cigar at a decent price so that they can enjoy it multiple times. With Sara in the business now, we have come full circle and I am so very grateful to, and humbled by, all the people who helped the Rodriguez family’s cigar journey along the way.”
West Tampa Tobacco Company Cigars
West Tampa White
Clean, crisp, rich and creamy, West Tampa White is a medium-bodied cigar made from a light pink Habano wrapper, Ecuadorean Habano binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. Made at the Garmendia Cigar Company in Estelí, Nicaragua, West Tampa White is available in three sizes: Robusto (5 x50), Toro (6 x 52) and Grande (6 x 60).
West Tampa Black
Medium- to full-bodied, West Tampa Black features a dark Habano wrapper surrounding a Habano binder grown on the volcanic island of Ometepe in Nicaragua and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. Aged to perfection to present a complex and flavorful blend at the Garmendia Cigar Company factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, West Tampa Black is also available in three sizes: Robusto (5 x 50), Toro (6 x 52) and Grande (6 x 60).
West Tampa Red
Also made at the Garmendia Cigar Company factory in Estelí, West Tampa Red is a full-bodied flavor bomb featuring a Mexican San Andrés Maduro wrapper. Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos round out this classic blend, which is available in Robusto (5 x 50), Toro (6 x 52) and Grande (6 x 60) sizes.
Attic Series
An ongoing project created from blends that Rodriguez has put together over the years but have not yet seen the light of day, the first release in the Attic Series is a medium- to full-bodied Toro (6 x 54) made from a Mexican San Andrés Maduro wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. Just 2,000 of the first release were made available with other installments coming.
Boliche Blvd.
A limited edition Gigante (6 x 60), Boliche Blvd. is limited to just 500 50-count boxes. Big and bold, Boliche Blvd. takes its name from one of West Tampa’s best-known thoroughfares.
– Photos courtesy of West Tampa Tobacco Co. Story by Stephen A. Ross
This story first appeared in PCA The Magazine, Volume 2, 2024. To receive a copy of this magazine you must be a current member of PCA. Join or renew today at premiumcigars.org/membership.