Cuban immigrant Arturo Fuente (1887-1973) opened his first cigar factory under the name A. Fuente & Co. in West Tampa in 1912 at 1804 Habana Ave. on the northwest corner of Habana Ave. & Union St.  The history ofArturo Fuente is told in an interview with Carlos Fuente in the YouTubr video below.

In 1920, Arturo moved to the corner of Albany Ave. & Nassau St. and the following year began to produce the Miss Tampa brand cigars.  The firm merged with Salvador & Rico and produced brands USA-CUBA, Flor de Salvador Rico, Flor de Rico, Tampa Elite, Fuente, Garcia Bouquet, and Tampa Sweethearts.  As a result of the factory burning down in late 1924, the Arturo Fuente brand was out of production for 22 years, re-emerging in 1946 as Arturo Fuente Cigar Co. with limited production in Arturo Fuentes' house where they stayed until the early 1960's. 

Carlos Fuente (1935-2016) acquired Arturo Fuente Cigar Co. from his father in 1956 and continued to operate out of the house.  In the early 1960s having outgrown the facilities at his house, Carlos acquired a two story facility on 13th Ave. in Ybor City which was shortly thereafter expropriated for the construction of I-4.  Carlos then moved the factory to a building on the corner of 18th St. and 17th Ave. vacated by Vicente Nieto & Bros. which facility they outgrew in 1964.

That was when Carlos Fuente had the opportunity to buy the Charles the Great Cigar factory building pictured below.  This four-story 22,602 sq. ft. brick building at 22nd St. & 3rd Ave. in Ybor City, was built for Salvador Rodriguez, maker of the Charles the Great, Da Vinci and Salvador Rodriguez cigar brands.  The name Charles the Great was given after Salvador Rodriguez’s best well known cigar brand.  The building is sometimes reported built in 1902 and sometimes in 1903, while according to Hillsborough County records it was built in 1895. 

Salvador Rodriguez moved to this location ca. 1903 from his previous factory in Palmetto Beach where he had been since 1891.  After approximately 21 years manufacturing cigars at his new location, in 1924 Rodriguez sold the factory building and the rights to all his cigar brands to Francisco Sierra (1863-1948) who had parted way from his family's business at Corral-Wodiska & Co.  Sierra continued to operate the factory until it was no longer profitable and in 1951, three years after his death, the building was sold to the DeSoto Shoe Service whose business did not last and abandoned the building in 1955.  Since 1964, the factory building has been owned by the Arturo Fuente family, today by Arturo Fuente Cigar Factory, Inc. 

In 1974 due to inflation and the lack of skilled cigar rollers, Carlos Fuente decided they had to move the company abroad.  For a short time they manufactured cigars in Puerto RIco and Mexico and explored possibilities in the Dominican Republic before deciding for Nicaragua.  They operated in Nicaragua until 1978 when due to the Sandinista political unrest there, their factory was burned down.  They then established a factory in Honduras but this time due to an accidental fire, the factory burned down one year later.  In 1980 they moved the company to Santiago in the Dominican Republic, where they still operate under the leadership of Carlos son Carlito Fuente (1954- ). 

Carlos brother Arturo Fuente, Jr. (1932- ) incorporated the Tampa Sweetheart's Cigar Co. on January 2, 1969 and stayed in the Charles The Great building until 1994 when he retired.  Today, the Tampa Sweethearts Cigar Co. is still in business, selling cigars rolled in the Dominican Republic by Tabacalara A. Fuente y Cia. and others. 

The building, which sits on a "hill" in Ybor City, has been recently remodeled by Robert Holsopple who states that it is probably the most extensive restoration of a historic building ever in Tampa, bringing it back to where it was in its heyday.  The building will house the Fuente companies administrative offices in the USA including the Fuente Family Charitable Foundation.  Much of the inside has been restored from original and period wood and architectural details.  It has been finished with art representing the history of the company and its founders.