Arturo Fuente (cigar)

Arturo Fuente is a brand of cigar, founded by Arturo Fuente, Sr. in 1912 in West Tampa, Florida. Following a catastrophic fire in 1924, the brand ceased production for 22 years, reemerging in 1946 on a limited, local basis. Ownership was transferred to Arturo's younger son, Carlos Fuente, Sr. in 1958. Following the 1960 United States embargo of Cuba, the Fuente brand began a period of slow and steady growth, emerging as one of the most critically acclaimed makers of hand-rolled premium cigars outside of Cuba. As of 2010 the company was producing 30 million cigars per annum from its factory in the Dominican Republic.

The Arturo Fuente cigar brand was born in 1912 in West Tampa, Florida. It was in that year that the brand was launched by a 24-year-old Cuban émigré named Arturo Fuente (November 8, 1887 – February 11, 1973) as A. Fuente & Co. Fuente had come to the United States in 1902, leaving his hometown of Güines, Cuba in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War.

The original factory used by the company was a three story wooden building, one of nearly 200 cigar-making facilities in the city of Tampa alone. All of these manufacturers would import tobacco from nearby Cuba for production into finished cigars.

The company was incorporated in 1924, by which time A. Fuente & Co. had grown to the point that it employed 500 workers. However late in 1924 disaster struck the company and their building burned to the ground. Production of the brand was halted; it would not be until 1946, 22 years later, that production of the brand resumed.

By the end of World War II Arturo Fuente had finally recovered from the catastrophic losses suffered in 1924 fire and the Great Depression had abated, making a return to cigar manufacturing again conceivable. Fuente relaunched his brand "in the garage," so to speak—adding a few rolling tables to the 160 square foot back porch of his home in Ybor City, Florida.

Production was a family affair at the time of the 1946 restart, with Arturo and his wife rolling full-time, joined by a few other hired torcedores. Arturo's sons—Carlos and Arturo, Jr.—were soon drafted into the enterprise, sweeping the floors and helping with the rolling after school.

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Wikipedia