A week in the life - Ybor City edition! Chris & Amy's trip to Tampa

We recently spent an incredible week in the cigar capital of the world and we cannot wait to share some highlights with you.

At the Sterling Cigar Lounge on Wednesday, we enjoyed exquisite cocktails and stunning cigars to kick off our trip. After that, we rode a party bus to Ulele for dinner, it's a fantastic restaurant with a Michelin star.

Thursday began with a fascinating walking tour during which we discovered the background of this vibrant city. After that, we went to Grand Cathedral Cigars, where we were blown away by what we saw—their humidor is a cigar lover's paradise. It was a beautiful building and a real hidden gem!

We also had the pleasure of meeting Aldo Puncioni, the creator of SmokingMoses, who shared his knowledge with us through a cigar class, and we were treated to a real American BBQ. After enjoying a few cigars, we later had dinner at Casa Santo Stefano to cap off a fantastic day.

Friday, we visited the J.C. Newman cigar factory, where we were greeted warmly and given a tour of the century-old factory. We also saw a preview of their new feature hand rolling film and had a tasting class before giving rolling our own a go! I don’t think they turned out too badly either!

We ended the day with dinner and flamenco dancers at the famous Columbia restaurant.

We attended an NFL game at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, and it was incredible. We had an entire box to ourselves, complete with unlimited food and beverages—heaven!

Bobby Newman, whose enthusiasm and love for the industry is inspiring, later joined us as we finished the evening in the Corona Cigar Lounge.

That wraps up our week in Ybor City, Tampa and what an experience it was. A big thank you to Tabac World and J.C. Newman Cigar Company for making this a truly memorable and insightful experience. We learnt a lot but also had a great time!

Amy & Chris Watling