West Tampa Tobacco Co. Devil Crab

There’s something I really enjoy about learning what the people in the cigar industry find interesting. While I have long known that Rick Rodriguez, co-founder of West Tampa Tobacco Co., is passionate about cigars, it was more recently that I learned that he’s also passionate about cooking, and he’s brought that passion to the company’s releases.

In 2023, West Tampa Tobacco Co. debuted a new collection of cigars called the Cook Book Series, launching it with Boliche Blvd., a cigar inspired by the nickname given to Columbus Drive in Tampa. That street is known for the many Cuban and Latino restaurants that serve boliche, a Cuban dish consisting of eye-round beef stuffed with ham and served with rice, and which is often compared to a pot roast.

In 2025, the Cook Book Series got its second release, Devil Crab. It is named for the croquette-style dish made from sautéed blue crab that is then rolled in bread crumbs and then baked or fried. It is a dish that has long been associated with Tampa and its Ybor City neighborhood, rising to popularity in the 1920s among the area’s Cuban, Italian and Spanish immigrant communities as well as a large number of cigar factories. This was due in part to the abundance and affordability of blue crabs during a time when money was tight.

While every person’s version of how the crab is prepared varies, common ingredients in the sauce include tomatoes, onions, peppers and spices, with the sauce referred to as a Cuban-style enchilada or sofrito sauce known as chilau. The dish got its devil name from the spicier versions of the preparation.

Speaking of the preparation of devil crabs, each box of the cigars came with a recipe card for devil crab, so you can make the dish at home.

As for the cigar, however, its ingredients were completely undisclosed. It was produced at Garmendia Cigars Co. in Estelí, Nicaragua and offered in a single 4 1/2 x 60 double perfecto vitola that was priced at $12.99 per cigar and $649.50 for a box of 50 cigars. While production was described as limited, the company did not disclose how many cigars were made.

To close out the Cook Book Series, in May 2026, West Tampa Tobacco Co. released Chef Rick.

Here’s what I said about the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Devil Crab when I reviewed it in June 2025:

I’m not going to make any assertion as to whether or not the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Devil Crab pays proper tribute to the iconic Tampa dish, but I will certainly assert that it is a very flavorful and enjoyable cigar. For a relatively short cigar, it has plenty of flavor transitions and an abundance of nuances, resulting in a cigar that I was almost willing to burn my fingers on to take down to as small of a nub as I could. it sits in a spot where the flavor never falls below medium but never pushes past medium-full, a range that the retrohales stay within, keeping them plenty stimulating but never overpowering or distracting The construction is also fantastic, with absolutely no deductions or notes about how the cigar smoked, so a round of applause to the Garmendia Cigars Co. team for that. I’d certainly put the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Devil Crab on my shopping list, as this may well be one of the best cigars that West Tampa Tobacco Co. has released.

Devil Crab finished tied for #11 on halfwheel’s Top 25 of 2025.

• Cigar Reviewed: West Tampa Tobacco Co. Devil Crab
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Garmendia Cigars Co.
• Wrapper: Undisclosed
• Binder: Undisclosed
• Filler: Undisclosed
• Length: 4 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 60
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $12.99 (Box of 50, $649.50)
• Release Date: April 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: Undisclosed
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 1

The chunky, short perfecto vitola with a cinnamon bun cap might look a bit like a novelty compared to more traditional vitolas, but it’s a vitola I have come to like, provided it doesn’t get too thick. The wrapper is surprisingly dry to my fingers, showing little in the way of oils, while there’s a decent bit of both visual and tactile texture for my fingers. The cigar is quite firm and has little give, but given the dryness, I’m hesitatnt to to squeeze it too firmly. Visually, the cigar looks good at first glance, but then I notice the foot wrap is rather sloppy, almost as if it was damaged and then covered with a wrap of tobacco that has also become damaged. I can’t quite figure out why that would be, as the cigar has remained in its cellophane, as evidenced by the still-intact SKU sticker. I don’t get much out of the aroma off the foot, something I’m not that surprised by given both the small opening and a similar experience during the original review. The cold draw is near ideal in terms of airflow, while the flavor is fairly mellow, offering a bit of mild peanut butter and crackers.

The first puffs of the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Devil Crab are subtle, with creaminess, dry graham crackers, and pepper that is initially mellow pepper but builds as it unfolds on the finish, as well as in subsequent puffs. The first retrohale is more peppery than what’s in the flavor, but it fades fairly quickly. In the first minutes of smoking the cigar, right as the burn line gets to the thicker portion of the foot, the draw noticeably opens up quite a bit. While I’m not saying the two are correlated, but with the additional smoke, the cigar gets richer in its flavor, deepening the existing profiles while adding just a bit more of something that sits between light earthiness and a rich, meaty broth. As the second third gets underway, I taste even more pepper, and the smoke now seems drawn to my eyes, where it imparts an irritating sensation that I do not enjoy. Flavor moves from medium to medium-full in the first half, while the body is more consistently medium-plus, and strength is medium-minus. Other than the issues noted in the pre-light section, construction is solid overall, especially once the burn line opens up that extra bit and delivers that extra volume of smoke. The burn line, combustion, and smoke production are all very good.

The second half of the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Devil Crab continues to build in richness and fullness, though it also turns drier. That leaves a little more of a tingle on the front half of my tongue, and right about when the final third of the cigar gets underway, each puff gives me a bit more heat in the flavor profile. Getting further into the final third, it also seems that the flavor profile is becoming a bit shallower than it has been, almost returning to what it offered in the first third. But in keeping with the crab cake theme of the cigar, I begin to get some flavors that remind me of the well-cooked bits of an overcooked cake. Retrohales, meanwhile, have held on to much of the pepper but now gets a bit smokier. Construction-wise, the cigar does very well in the typical categories of smoke production, draw, burn line, and combustion, but the wrapper has begun disintegrating around the head, splitting and cracking, which results in the draw being compromised. I try to put up with it as long as possible, but with just about an inch left, the experience is no longer enjoyable and I put the cigar down after about 90 minutes of smoking time. Flavor moves from medium-full to medium in this section, body is medium-plus and strength is fairly mild.

Garmendia Cigars Co.
Nicaragua
Perfecto
West Tampa Tobacco Co.
West Tampa Tobacco Co. Devil Crab