three amigos in Tampa!

This morning rain is threatening and my partner Kevin is catching up on sleep, so let me catch up in what's been happening!

Bob and I met early on Wednesday to pick up Kevin at the airport. Kevin's flight was on time and then the question was whether Bob might stick around. It turned out things were quiet for his job so he was free to join us which made me very happy.

Our first stop was Ybor City. Tampa Sweethearts to be exact. Expecting to find a little storefront, I was awed by the large old factory building we found. But upon entering, we met friendly smiling faces, typical of the Fuente family and of cigar people in general.

In no time we were chatting and joking with lovely Darlene as she took us behind the scenes into the inner sanctum of Special limited samplers and hard to find Fuente goodies! And while my head was still reeling from having to choose from among all those treasures, the tour of the building began.

Darlene showed us the wall of photos of friends going back years and years while Bob was taken elsewhere to choose a Flor de Ybor sampler. Then she took us downstairs to the shipping dept and to a very special place, their walk-in humidor. It looked like a meat locker but instead of hams and sides of beef, it held rows and rows of stacks of cigars. A little like heaven to us!

At this point Arturo Jr took over the tour. He took us to another ancient looking below ground humidor and told us all about the history of Ybor City and the Fuente family in Tampa, all while moving thru the rest of the building and ending up in his office where he showed us beautiful artist renderings of the different buildings that have been home to Fuente cigars.

Our tour was sadly at an end. We made our purchases, exchanged hearty handshakes and left, feeling like we had made new friends!

It was time for lunch. On to Carmine's!