Smoke Inn Blog Smoke Inn Cigar Talk
No, it’s not a new stupidly named cigar brand. There are already more than enough stupidly named cigar brands, cigar sizes, and “limited” edition cigars that seem to be made in a never-ending salute to truly trivial events in the imaginary history of some of today’s cigar vendors.
No, the cigar connection is that the famous person on the Car Shield TV Commercial is Tino Martinez, the ex-N.Y. Yankee first baseman— someone I knew since he was a kid coming to the Villazon Factory on Armenia Avenue in Tampa. His grandfather, Tino Gonzalez, ran the Garcia Vega factory in Tampa for decades and then became a partner with Frank Llaneza and Dan Blumenthal in Villazon when they purchased the factory building and started producing Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, and other brands there prior to moving all the handmade production to Honduras.
Tino’s dad Renee was the factory foreman, and his mom worked there too making short filler all tobacco queens and coronas on machine Number 20 (a fact I know because years later I brought that machine up to New Jersey as a showpiece in one of our stores).
That Tampa neighborhood somehow became the early stomping ground for any number of Major League Baseball players… and when Tino was drafted by Seattle, the Seattle Mariner coach was Lou Pinella… a neighbor of his from down the street!
I had offered the free use of our carriage house here in New Jersey when Tino got traded to the Yankees, but at the last moment Don Mattingly (the first baseman Tino was going to replace upon hirs retirement) rented Tino his house in Teaneck, New Jersey.
When I created the El Rey del Mundo Honduran brand, one of the sizes was called TINOS! AND when the Yankees won the World Series I sent a dozen boxes to the locker room.
I got one of those movie kind of internet birthday greeting films from Tino a few years ago, but maybe he thinks I’m dead by now because I haven’t gotten another one in a while!!!!
Anyway – I was pleasantly surprised to see Tino doing the Car Shield Ad, but he coulda been smoking a cigar while he was doing it… or yelled out “Hey Lew, if you’re still alive… look at me I’m doing a TV ad !”!
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Smoke Inn, its employees, or its affiliates.
