J.C. Newman Cigar Co. Book Launch Event - November, 2025

[JohnS]

J.C. Newman Cigar Co. Book Launch Event

 November 6, 2025 - Press Release 

Join J.C. Newman Cigar Co. on Wednesday, November 12 for the release of Cigar City: The Legacy of Tampa’s Founding Industry, a fine-art photography book honoring Tampa’s historic cigar tradition. J.C. Newman Cigar Co. is publishing this book in celebration of the 140th Anniversary of the founding of Ybor City.

This beautiful 201-page hardcover book features 189 photographs by Zack Wittman that capture the 25 cigar factory buildings still standing in Tampa. The book also includes text by Drew Newman on the origins and evolution of Tampa’s cigar industry.

Zack Wittman is an award-winning documentary photographer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other leading publications. Drew Newman is a fourth-generation owner of J.C. Newman Cigar Co., which operates the last traditional cigar factory in the United States.

Enjoy a relaxed evening with beer, wine, and a grazing table while Wittman and Newman host a fireside chat about the creation of this remarkable book. Together, they’ll share the stories behind the photographs and the factories, cigar makers, and families who built Tampa’s identity.

Each ticket is priced to include a copy of the book, beer, wine, and a grazing table.

Tickets are available here

Source: https://www.cigarjournal.com/j-c-newman-cigar-co-book-launch-event/

[JohnS]

J.C. Newman Releases Fine Art Photography Book

 November 19, 2025 - Press Release 

Last night, J.C. Newman Cigar Co. celebrated the release of Cigar City: The Legacy of Tampa’s Founding Industry, a fine art photography book honoring Tampa’s historic cigar tradition, with a reception and a book signing event at its historic El Reloj cigar factory. This 201-page hardcover book features 189 photographs by Zack Wittman of the 25 cigar factory buildings in Tampa. The book also includes text by Drew Newman on the evolution of Tampa’s cigar industry.

“A century ago, Tampa had more than 200 cigar factories that hand rolled an astonishing 500 million cigars per year,” said fourth-generation owner Drew Newman. “Cigars built the City of Tampa, fueled its economy, and made it world famous as ‘Cigar City.’  This beautiful book showcases the 25 cigar factories still standing in Tampa.”

The book was inspired by a 2023 article in the Tampa Bay Times profiling the 25 cigar factory buildings in Tampa. J.C. Newman published it in celebration of the 140th Anniversary of Tampa’s Ybor City historic cigar district, which was founded in 1886. The book has a suggested retail price of $75 and is available online for wholesale to independent booksellers.

“Each of the 25 cigar factories featured in Cigar City stands as a monument to the people and traditions that shaped Tampa,” said Newman. “Through these powerful images, we aim to preserve and celebrate this cultural legacy for generations to come.”

Source: https://www.cigarjournal.com/j-c-newman-releases-fine-art-photography-book/

[JohnS]

Inside the 12,000-photo quest to document Tampa’s last cigar factories

A new book takes readers inside the historic factories of West Tampa, Palmetto Beach and Ybor City — and back in time. 

Drew Newman, great-grandson of J.C. Newman Cigar Co.'s founder, on left, and Zack Wittman, journalist and documentary photographer, pictured with their new photo book at J.C. Newman Cigar Co. factory, 2701 N 16th St, on Friday, Nov. 14, in Tampa. The two were photographed in the American Room as cigar rolling was taking place. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

By Gabrielle Calise - Times staff

Out of over 200 cigar factories that once ruled Tampa, only 25 are still standing.

The descendant of J.C. Newman Cigar Co., the last operating cigar factory in the country, is on a mission to preserve the history of each remaining building.

To coincide with the 140th anniversary of Ybor City, Drew Newman teamed up with St. Petersburg-based documentary photographer Zack Wittman to collect the images and stories of these factories in a new art photography book called “Cigar City: The Legacy of Tampa’s Founding Industry.”

Wittman spent six months shooting over 12,000 images inside and out of the factories. He was granted access to spaces that many people never get to see, including the abandoned Samuel I. Davis factory that has sat untouched for years. 

“Cigar City: The Legacy of Tampa’s Founding Industry" is available for purchase at jcnewman.com and soon, local bookstores. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

Newman first got the idea for the book two years ago while reading about former factories in the Tampa Bay Times. Fires, urban renewal and construction projects — including the addition of the interstate — wiped out most of the factories in Ybor City, Palmetto Beach and West Tampa. His great-grandfather, Julius Caesar Newman, founded J.C. Newman Cigar Co. in 1895.

“It was October of 2023 when the Times created a list of the 25 cigar factories still standing in Tampa, identifying them by address with their current uses and their history,” Newman said during a book launch event at J.C. Newman last week. “It was this piece of journalism by Paul Guzzo that highlighted for us a great opportunity here to tell the story of these buildings that built the city of Tampa.”

Newman called Wittman in December 2023 to be the eye behind this quest. Wittman is an award-winning photojournalist whose work has been featured in publications around the world, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time and Rolling Stone. Disclaimer: He’s also a former Tampa Bay Times photographer and a friend to many of us at the paper. (The Florida journalism world is small!)

Wittman, during the book launch, described the factories as “the monuments to this industry that built the city. And our stories are told through these objects.”

He took exterior portraits of each factory at the same time each day to highlight the similarities and differences among each facade. Detail shots show the unique personality of each building, including shadowy staircases and trap doors.

The 189 photos that made it in the book also feature people interacting with the structures, from neighbors and factory caretakers to master cigar rollers.

“The factories are in different stages of flux,” Wittman said. “Some are offices, some are apartment buildings, some are completely abandoned, but the community is the throughline that connects all of them.”

An inside look at new coffee table book titled “Cigar City: The Legacy of Tampa’s Founding Industry." [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

The book is available for purchase on the J.C. Newman Cigar Co. website and in person at the gift shop. Soon, it will be in local bookstores. But Newman wants to be clear that it’s not a J.C. Newman Cigar Co. book.

“We didn’t want to see the Newman name on the back,” Newman said. “This is about Tampa and the industry and the legacy of the 200 cigar factories that were here a century ago, and 25 of those 200 that are still standing.”

Wittman and Newman were inspired by the Burgert Brothers Photographic Collection of over 20,000 images of Tampa life and landmarks from the mid-1800s through the mid-1900s. The photos are available to the public through the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative.

“It’s just a tremendous resource that we use and a lot of people use because they captured Tampa the way it was 60, 70, 80 years ago,” Newman said. “And for us as cigar makers that are attached to the tradition of cigar making, we want to make cigars today the same way that was shown in the photos.”

Newman hopes this book, and the rest of Wittman’s photos that didn’t make it in, can be a continuation of the Burgert Brothers’ mission.

“People 25, 50, 100 years now can look back at the Wittman photos and say, ‘Wow, this is what Tampa cigar factories were like.’”

Zack Wittman, journalist and documentary photographer, with his new photo book at J.C. Newman Cigar factory, 2701 N 16th St., on Friday, Nov. 14, in Tampa. Wittman made 12,000 photos on a quest to document Tampa’s historic cigar factories. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

Cigar City: The Legacy of Tampa’s Founding Industry

Images by Zack Wittman. Words by Drew Newman.

201 pages, $75. Visit www.cigarcitybook.com for more information.

Information from the Times archive was used in this report.

Source: https://www.tampabay.com/life-culture/history/2025/11/24/cigar-city-tampa-book-florida-history-ybor-factory-art/