WORLD RECORD IN TAMPA!
AP–Tampa, Florida, U.S.A. - Wallace Reyes and his wife Margarita completed their world-record attempt to make the longest cigar in history on Saturday, finishing a 30.78 meters - long cigar at the Tampa Heritage Festival in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida.
The cigar was completed in front of hundreds of onlookers and with the help of more than a dozen volunteers who helped to complete the project in about 8 hours.

The Reyeses created the giant cigar – 101 feet long, approximately an inch thick (64 ring) and 53 1/2 pounds – to mark the 85th anniversary of their Gonzalez Habano Cigar Co. Counting labor and materials, the cost of the single stick was about $5,100 US dollars. He said the project required about 76 hours in total.

A representative of the Guinness Book of World Records was supposed to be present, but did not attend the event due to a family emergency, according to the Tampa Tribune. Instead, instructions were sent to Tampa Sweetheart Cigar Co. owner Arturo O. Fuente, Jr., who enlisted Ybor City Chamber of Commerce President Tom Keating and a Tampa police officer, Dean Uno, to serve as official witnesses.

The record-setting cigar overwhelmed the previous longest-ever by an amazing 34 feet. The world's-longest-cigar record had been held by Cuba's Jose (Cueto) Castelar, who put together a 67-foot cigar in Havana in 2005. Assuming no one creates a longer cigar, the Reyes's record cigar will be acknowledged in the 2008 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.