The Brief The J.C. Newman Cigar Company was founded in Cleveland on May 5, 1895, but they moved to Tampa in 1954 and bought a cigar factory with a towering time machine. When the Newman's arrived in Tampa in 1954, the Cigar City was a gritty place. READ: Commemorative cigar pays homage to Tampa Smokers, marks beginning of baseball seasonThe backstory:"The cigar industry built Tampa 100 years ago," said Drew Newman, whose great-grandfather founded the J.C. Newman Cigar Company in Cleveland on May 5, 1895. They moved to Tampa in 1954 and bought a cigar factory with a towering time machine. When the Newman's arrived in Tampa in 1954, the Cigar City was a gritty place.