If you are a cigar aficionado searching for some affable city where you can lap up a smoke, you sure can find them. Miami, Florida provides a profuse Cuban cigar ethnicity. Tampa, Florida is celebrated for a vivid history of cigar. Las Vegas offers you recreational galore and smoking delight.

Miami, Florida is one place where the finest cigars are sold. Little Havana is an area of the city that is greatly entrenched in Cuban cigar customs. May Cuban settlers own cigar specialty shops there. The Cuba Tobacco Trading by Pedro and Peter Bello is one of the most sought after shops in Miami.

Tampa is prominent for some its cigar retailers such as Thompson Cigar Company and Edwards Pipe & Tobacco. The Ybor City, on the other hand, was the late 18th century's Cigar Capital of the World. It is now evolved into a favorite entertainment quarter.

The Edward's Pipe & Tobacco has also stores in Colorado, and North Dallas. The store has been offering eclectic pipes, cigars and a wide collection of accessories like lighters. It's been in the business since 1964.

Thompson Cigar Company was established in Key West, Florida in 1915. Thompson is USA's oldest mail order cigar business, which still carries the Postal Permit number 1 for Tampa, Florida. The company's commitment to supply an extensive choice of products at sensible prices continues. Thompson Cigar Company also owns and runs the country's biggest supply storage humidor, which was specially developed to ensure the freshness and quality of each tobacco sold.

The company's call center that's consists of 200 customer-oriented, courteous staff provides answers to your concerns regarding cigar. You can place your order online or you can visit Thomson Cigar store in Tampa, Monday through Saturdays.

The Ybor City adjacent to downtown Tampa has a tradition of cigar production. Tired of constant political strife of his country, Don Vicente Martinez Ybor, owner of a cigar factory in Cuba, escaped to Tampa, Florida and set up his cigar territory there. With the flourishing of Ybor's factories, Jewish, Cuban, and Italian settlers were drawn to either establish their own trades or work in the factories. Renowned as the Ybor City, the locality contained 200 cigar factories and 12,000 cigar makers or tabaqueros generating an approximated 700 million cigars annually. However, the Ybor City went to seed when the ban and depression plagued the region. The Ybor City developed into a National Historical Landmark over the passing of so many years. Nowadays, tourists are fascinated with the vivaciousness of its ambiance, distinctiveness of its history, and idiosyncrasies of its architecture. This bubbly Latin district even takes pride in its own fermented beer referred to as the Ybor Gold.

Cigars are manually rolled even now by expert tabaqueros, and Roberto Ramirez is one of the most illustrious. Born in Cuba, and ranked among the world's top ten greatest cigar rollers, Roberto is one of the White House's guests tasked to exhibit his expertise. Ybor City guests can pay a visit to Gonzalez Martinez Cigar Factory found on 21st Street and 7th Avenue and see the handiwork of pro tabaqueros who flaunt their skill everyday.

Casa Fuente Cigar Bar is a smoker's haven in Las Vegas. When you're in the city, be sure to stop at Casa Fuente that's located at the Caesar's Palace. Casa Fuente is more than just a family store selling Arturo Fuente cigars; it is a bar that offers a choice of beverages like wines and cocktails, too. The Fuente cigars are trendy, exclusive products that come from Dominican Republic.

The Cuban-themed establishment of Casa Fuente is welcoming, with mosaic-designed floors and Fuente family's portraits adorns the interior.

Thanks to Christa Kowalczyk for contributing this article to our humidors blog:

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So it's no surprise to find cigar-related events all over the social calendar of smokers around the world. In addition to the lavish, expensive Big Smoke conventions put on by Cigar Aficionado magazine – at least two a year, in Las Vegas and New York City – there's the Ybor City festival in Tampa, Florida, free and open to the public. And that's just November. Check out a few other, more-exotic possibilities from all over the globe.

The Dominican Republic is the world's largest source of premium cigars, surpassing even Cuba (from which many of the country's cigar-making families and technologies emigrated during the years after Castro). La Aurora, Davidoff, Arturo Fuente, and La Gloria Cubana, among many others, all operate there, and as of 2007, it has its own yearly cigar festival as well! Taking place in Santiago, the two-day Procigar Festival (the first of which took place March 5-7, 2008) featured cigar factory tours, visits to tobacco fields, chances to hobnob with some of the world's greatest cigar makers, and cigar-and-liquor matchups. Companies such as La Aurora, General Cigar Co., and Tabacalera de Garcia, among others, participated, and the inaugural bow was successful enough to motivate a second – to be held February 16-20, 2009.

While you're there, if you go, you may want to check out some of the other sights offered by this important Latin American cultural capital. The Dominican Republic was the first place permanently settled by Europeans anywhere in either American continent – the oldest cathedrals, universities, and European-made roads can all be found there. Santo Domingo, the country's capital, butts up against its southern coast, offering breathtaking views (the Procigar Festival takes place far further north, in Santiago, but the country is not super-large in total area). Four mountain ranges decorate the country; the Cordillera Central ("Central Mountain Range") approaches Santiago, so visitors to the Procigar Festival could also schedule a day trip to see Pico Duarte, the jewel of the Cordillera Central and the highest peak in the West Indies (over 3000 meters). And, of course, Santiago is itself located in the Cibao valley – between the Cordillera Central and Corillera Septentrional ("Northern Mountain Range"), which run parallel to each other – and it's this rich and fertile area that houses most of the country's farms, including its tobacco farms.

Or you could follow in author James Joyce's footsteps and visit Zurich, Switzerland, where the expatriate Irish modernist polymath-writer completed large sections of his surreal novel Finnegans Wake, and where the Whiskyship sails every November. (What is it with November and cigar events?) This whisky-tasting event, which also offers three hundred premium cigars for the sampling, allows those with sharp noses and tastebuds to enjoy single malt whiskies from all over the world, and to enjoy the companies of folks with similar tastes. The 2008 Whiskyship will be the tenth such event. Switzerland, of course, features all sorts of other attractions – among other things, there's the James Joyce Foundation, but also, you know, mountains and pristine lakes and thousands of years' worth of European scenery – and would be worth a visit regardless.

Another possibility – albeit somewhat closer to home, at least for North American smokers – is the Nebraska Cigar Festival in Lincoln. Taking place in late November (which pits it against the Ybor City Festival and the two CA Big Smokes in drawing the attention of Midwestern cigar fanatics who don't feel like going to Zurich), the one-evening event brings in cigars, munchies and a pair of drink tickets for those willing to shell out the admission fees and deal with early-winter Midwestern cold.

Thanks to Ann Knapp for contributing this article to our humidors blog: