Tampa cigar maker still on a roll at age 87

Friday, September 16 2011

By JOSÉ PATIÑO GIRONA | The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA -- Every weekday morning 87-year-old Antonio Riverol gets in his 1998 Buick Park Avenue and drives 12 miles from his Tampa home to his job as a cigar roller in Ybor City – where 100 years ago the thriving industry helped put the city on the map.

Along the way, Riverol stops at a West Tampa bakery to get an espresso and buys a lottery ticket at a nearby gas station before arriving at the Columbia Restaurant gift shop, where he's worked for more than a dozen years.

"I've never thought of retiring for no reason in the world," said Riverol, who is fluent in Spanish and speaks limited English. "While I'm working I keep busy."

Riverol learned to roll cigars as a teenager in 1940 in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, and it has been a part of his life ever since. He's worked both full time and part time as a roller in Cuba and in Tampa.

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