Altadis Moving Hav-A-Tampa Factory Offshore

David Savona
Posted: June 26, 2009

Hav-A-Tampa cigars are moving out of Tampa. Beginning next month, the final Hav-A-Tampa Jewel will come off the machines in Tampa, Florida, once a mecca of cigarmaking. The cigar factory has been in operation there since 1902.

Hav-A-Tampas are made by machine, finished with homogenized tobacco leaf wrapper, and are known for their distinctive birch wood tips. The mass-market cigars measure five inches long by 29 ring gauge, and sell for about 75 cents each.

The Hav-A-Tampa brand is owned by Altadis U.S.A. Inc. The company said Hav-A-Tampa has been severely impacted by the increased taxes on cigars from the expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. Altadis is moving the production offshore, to a facility in Puerto Rico. The company made a similar move in November, when it closed the Selma, Alabama, cigar factory where it made Phillies cigars.

For more on this story, see the next Cigar Insider.

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