West Tampa Tobacco Co. Attic

Last year, Rick Rodriguez and Gus Martinez—both former General Cigar Co. employees—launched a new company called West Tampa Tobacco Co. It debuted with two blends—Black and White—made at the Garmendia Cigars Co. factory in Nicaragua. Shortly thereafter, the company announced it was working on a limited edition line called Attic Series.

As the company explains it:

Take the first step into the mind of Rick Rodriguez. Attic Series will be an ongoing project that will allow Rick to take you on a journey through his life by delivering blends that he has kept locked away in his “Attic” for nearly 30 years. Expect to be surprised at what Rick unpacks. Each blend will tell a unique story in the series that uncovers the mystique of the blending of some of the world’s best cigars.

The first Attic Series release is called Attic. It’s a 6 x 54 toro extra that uses a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a binder from Condega, Nicaragua and fillers from Condega and Estelí. Attic is limited to 2,000 boxes of 14 cigars, which began shipping in December 2022.

• Cigar Reviewed: West Tampa Tobacco Co. Attic
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Garmendia Cigars Co.
• Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés)
• Binder: Nicaragua (Condega)
• Filler: Nicaragua (Condega & Estelí)
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Toro Extra
• MSRP: $12.99 (Box of 14, $181.86)
• Release Date: Dec. 6, 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: 2,000 Boxes of 14 Cigars (28,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

While I am a fan of this gray color for things like cars or furniture, on this particular cigar I don’t think the color is doing the wrapper any favors. It’s more about the matte style of the band than the hue itself, but the matte gray color makes the wrapper seem even duller than it is. Per this chart, the color of the wrapper is umber, though it’s quite dull. Veins are plentiful and the cigar is quite bumpy to the touch. The medium-full aroma from the wrapper has lots of barnyard smells along with scents of unlit charcoal, bread and generic woodiness. The foot has an artificial sour apple smell to it that sits on top of the other smells, a mixture of sweet cocoa, woodiness and black pepper. I don’t think that sour apple flavor is due to any sort of infusion, rather it’s a subtle characteristic of tobacco like many of the other aromas. Cold draws have a bitter cocoa, some of the sour apple flavors and some scents that remind me of freshly rained-upon mud. The final cigar is a bit different with something that reminds me of the taste of chlorine in pools and a fruity sweetness akin to Hi-C or one of its competitors. Also, that cigar has a very open draw. Unfortunately, two of the cigars are damaged by removing the foot band. One time this is caused by me sliding the foot band off; another time I tear it off and it leaves the wrapper damaged.

While only one cigar had a really loose draw during the cold draw, all three cigars have a loose draw for the first puff. Flavors are short and strong: leather, some sugary sweetness, lots of dry pasta and earthiness. After 20 or so minutes, the flavor profile settles with dry peanut butter and leather leading while creaminess, black pepper, pita bread, mineral water flavors and dry creaminess as second flavors. The finish isn’t as strong as the main flavor, though it keeps the dryness. That means dry earthiness leads black pepper, leather, white pepper, creaminess and the mineral water flavors. Retrohales have fruitiness, leather, Ritz crackers, creaminess, minerals, unseasoned steak and, on one cigar, some rubber sensations. The finish is toastier with creaminess, black pepper, white pepper and, on that one cigar, rubber flavors. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus. Unfortunately, the foot band’s damage is causing some slight annoyance as it some parts of the wrapper were distributed. For the most part, construction is good, though one cigar needs a touch-up to help with an uneven burn. The draw could be better, but it’s nowhere near as loose as it was for the first few puffs. While I don’t think it warrants deducting points, I do think it’s causing me to puff quicker than I’d like to.

Tartness picks up as the second third burns down. While never a large part of the profile, it provides a much-needed contrast to the dryness that is present in the rest of the profile. The main flavors are earthiness and peanuts, which are followed by sharp white pepper, dry peanuts, leather, creaminess, black pepper, gingerbread and a mild amount of herbal flavors. If I’m not fully engaged with the cigar, it’s easy to dismiss this as just dry and earthy, but when I control both my focus and the rate at which I exhale the smoke, the flavor profile really comes alive. The finish is similar to the first third with the mineral flavors picking up, edging out nuttiness. There’s also a milder tartness, black pepper, generic earthiness and oak. Retrohaling produces the flavor of unripe strawberries—or a taste similar to the less sweet tops of strawberries—grassiness and some more of the Ritz cracker flavors. Once again, the finish has lots of mineral flavors, now over some burnt coffee and a touch of harshness. The finish is not as intense as the retrohale itself. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus. Touch-ups are needed on each cigar in the second third due to waning smoke production. In particular, one cigar really wants to be puffed on faster than I’d like to otherwise the smoke production drops quite noticeably.

While only one cigar stood out for needing a quicker puff rate, I was puffing more frequently than usual to keep the smoke production at a normal level. That seems to take its toll in the final third, as I notice some puffs in each cigar are affected by the heat of the smoke. As swiftly as it entered the profile, the tartness’ departure in the final third leaves a noticeable hole in the flavor profile of the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Attic. Predictably, earthiness and mineral flavors are the leading flavor combination over black coffee, cognac, herbal flavors, toastiness, creaminess and an intermittent black pepper. The cigar finishes with peanut shells, black pepper, white rice, creaminess and white pepper. Retrohales seem even drier than before with toastiness, burnt rice, black pepper and leather. I find it difficult to tell the retrohale and the rertrohale’s finish apart. There’s some added peanut flavor during the finish, but otherwise, it’s quite similar to when the smoke is in my nostrils. Flavor is medium-full or full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-full. One cigar needs a touch-up in the final third, though I make the other two cigars avoid any explicit issues in the final third.

Final Notes

• I debated whether this cigar should be called the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Attic Series Attic but decided to spare everyone from that.
• The next Attic Series release was supposed to be released in either March or April 2023, though Gus Martinez recently told my colleague, Patrick Lagreid, that the company is now targeting until later in the year, likely at the 2023 PCA Convention & Trade Show.
• If you’re looking for a new release from West Tampa Tobacco Co., it recently announced that it would be releasing a new line called Red, which is scheduled to debut in May.
• I found this wrapper to be abnormally fragile. You can see some of the damage that removing the secondary band caused in the first smoking picture. It was fragile enough that I opted not to try to take the main band off for the photograph. The main band was removed pretty cleanly on the other two cigars, but the foot bands were problematic on two cigars.

• While I’m sure it’s happened before, I can’t think of another cigar that has as large of a QR code on one of the bands. Since the band says “SCAN ME,” I scanned it, and it took me to a video on YouTube about the Attic Series.
• You can scan the QR code in the above picture of the band and see the video for yourself. I wish the video had more info about this particular cigar.
• I couldn’t really make out what was on the foot band, but per our story about the cigar, it’s a chaveta—a half-moon-shaped tool used to cut wrapper leaf while making a cigar—attached to a cigar. The boxes have a picture of a chair; the two items reference Rodriguez’s grandfather, who was a cigar roller in both Havana and Tampa.
• While the wrapper might have had veins and bumps, the seams were oftentimes invisible to my eye until I got very close to the cigar.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time averaged one hour and 45 minutes.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co. and LM Cigars carry the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Attic.