J.C. Newman Celebrates 137th Anniversary of First Cigar Rolled in Tampa with New Sanchez y Haya Line

J.C. Newman has long put its heritage in Tampa, Fla. front and center, and today it is launching a new cigar line that celebrates the city’s cigar heritage as it commemorates the 137th anniversary of the first cigar to be rolled in Ybor City.

The line is called Sanchez y Haya and is named for the factory that originally produced that cigar. J.C. Newman took on the task of recreating the original Sanchez y Haya line, creating a natural version that uses a sungrown Sumatra wrapper and a maduro version that uses an oscuro leaf. Both blends feature Cuban-seed tobaccos for the binder and filler, though the company is not disclosing specifics about where the tobaccos are grown.

The cigars are offered in a single 4 1/2 x 50 short robusto priced at $8 each. They are presented in vintage, 100-year-old boxes that contain 24 cigars, with each box containing an equal number of the natural and maduro blends.

Additionally, the cigars wear bands that are a replica of those found on the original Sanchez y Haya line, with the original band displayed above the ones being used on the new cigars.

The Sanchez y Haya line is being made at the J.C. Newman PENSA factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, though Drew Newman told halfwheel that he hopes to eventually move production of the line to the company’s El Reloj factory in Tampa’s Ybor City. He said that El Reloj is currently operating at maximum capacity producing the company’s The American and Angel Cuesta lines.

The cigars will debut during an event this evening at Hotel Haya in Tampa’s Ybor City neighborhood and will continue to be available at the hotel, as well as at J.C. Newman’s El Reloj factory in Ybor City and at select premium cigar retailers in Tampa. Production is capped at 5,000 cigars per year, meaning it will have limited but ongoing availability.

The original Sanchez y Haya factory was opened in 1886 by Serafin Sanchez and Ignacio Haya and became known as Factory No.1 as it opened a few weeks before the factory of Vicente Martinez Ybor was completed.

Images courtesy of J.C. Newman Cigar Co.