Florida and the Cuban connection

     While on a recent trip to the Florida west coast I noticed a lot of cigar stores on almost every strip mall. In two of the stores were on site cigar rollers from Cuba. One shop in Madeira beach in the shopping area known as Johns Pass, was Cuban Paradise cigar & cafe. Two rollers were at the front rolling cigars, 10 hours a day producing a couple of hundred fresh cigars. ( see pics ) I sampled several of there Toro maduros which were excellent.
     Another cigar stand was in Dunedin. The down town area of Dunedin has quite a few breweries and restaurants, and our guest Mark asked if  I smoked cigars and we walked down the street to a little open air area where there was a little shed with a Cuban couple in it with hand rolled cigars in display cases. The story goes that Emile and Rose were both licensed Pharmacists, but their certifications were not valid here. So they opened a wine bar and cigar shop here and are doing very well. Both have their citizenship’s and are trying to live the American dream. The double corona I had was excellent and the ash could have stayed on all the way down the length of the cigar if I tried to retain it. ( see pics ).
     Where the tobacco comes from I did not ask, all I know is that my originally planned smokeless trip turned out to be a joy. So if your out and about in the St. Pete area keep your eye open for these and I am sure many other cigar shops.