64 TOBACCO BUSINESS | JULY / AUGUST | 22 For J.C. Newman Cigar Company, its history and the stories that come from it are at the core of its business. It was back in 1895 that Julius Caesar “J.C.” Newman rolled his first ever cigar within the family’s barn located in Cleveland, Ohio. When he was just 14 years old, Julius became a cigar maker apprentice. His mother paid $3 per month toward his apprenticeship, wanting her son to learn all he could about the cigar industry. After he completed his apprenticeship, Julius spent three years workingasa journeymancigarmaker.Arecession led to him losing his job, but it didn’t kill his dream of working in the cigar industry. He decided to start his own company, whichwould later come to be known as J.C. Newman Cigar Company. The earlydays of J.C. NewmanCigarCompany were filled with obstacles and challenges. In 1895, he launched his business by building his own cigar table using some old boards and borrowed $50 to purchase tobacco that would be used to complete his first order, which was placed by the family’s grocer for 500 cigars. The first brand out of J.C. Newman Cigar Company was called “A.B.C.,” an acronym for “Akron, Bedford and Cleveland,” the name of a local streetcar line. By 1916, business was picking up for J.C. Newman Cigar Company. The company now consisted of two factories, located inMarion and Lorain, Ohio. The Great Depression and World War II challenged the company, but it continued onward. When World War II ended, Julius’ sons, Stanford Newman and Millard Newman, returned from military service and joined J.C. NewmanCigar Company. Stanfordworkedwith the company’s cigar manufacturing operations while Millard oversaw the company’s sales. It wasn’t until 1954 that the company made the move to the Tampa area after Julius decided that J.C. Newman Cigar Company’s future was in cigar manufacturing. Relocating J.C. Newman Cigar Company to Tampa brought the company closer to the center of the U.S. cigar industry at that time and also brought them closer to Cuba, which is where the bulk of the tobacco they imported came from. Before making the move to Tampa, Stanford had been sent to the city to find the perfect location for the company’s cigar factory. Stanford found a locationwithinYbor City, aTampa neighborhood that was founded by Vincent Ybor in 1886 and made into the city’s cigar making district. J.C. Newman Cigar Company settled into its new home in Ybor City within the Regensburg factory, built in 1910. Regensburg was one of the last large cigar factories ever built in Tampa, and it became known by its nickname, El Reloj, which is Spanish for “The Clock.” Those within Ybor City grew accustomed to hearing the hourly chimes from the factory’s tall brick clocktower. ThenandNow At one point in time, Tampa was home to 150 cigar factories. Today, El Reloj is the last of these cigar factories still in operation. El Reloj is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Ybor City National Historic Landmark District. In 2019, it was announced by J.C. Newman Cigar Company that El Reloj would be undergoing a multimillion dollar factory expansion and renovation. In addition to improving some of the utility of the factory— including upgrading its aging infrastructure and F People living within Ybor City grew accustomed to hearing the hourly chimes of El Reloj’s clock, which chimed hourly and was used by many as their main source of keeping time.
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