World’s Longest Cigar will be rolled in Ybor City Saturday as part of Tampa Cigar Week
By Sean Daly
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YBOR CITY, Fla. (WFTS) — Odelma Matos is the Queen of Ybor City, a 4th-generation Cuban cigar roller whose image adorns every inch of wall space at La Faraona Cigar Factory and Lounge.
And this Saturday at 2 p.m., Odelma will do what no one in her famous family — in fact, no one anywhere on the planet — has ever done:
Roll a 465-foot cigar, a new world record.
The previous record? 295 feet.
“This is important to me, my heritage,” she says. “This is good for Ybor City, too.”
As part of Tampa Cigar Week, a celebration of the city’s rich history, especially the strong Cuban influence, Odelma’s epic cigar will snake down several blocks of historic 7th Avenue. The event is free to attend.
In the early 1900s, Ybor City earned its nickname of “Cigar Capital of World,” by pumping out 600 million cigars a year — at the time, more than the entire country of Cuba.
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