Wally Reyes and his wife, Margarita, both 53, operate a fourth-generation cigar boutique, the Gonzalez-Habano Cigar Co. in the historic Ybor City section of Tampa, Florida. To celebrate the 85th anniversary of the shop, they decided to do something big . . . really big!
 

So last Saturday, they completed the longest cigar ever made, a 101-foot-long monster, during the eighth annual Cigar Heritage Festival in Tampa. With hundreds of spectators looking on and more than a dozen volunteers helping out, the finishing touches were put on a single, 53 1/2-pound cigar that will be listed in the 2008 Guinness Book of World Records (unless someone makes a longer one!).

The cigar, about one inch (64 ring) in diameter, cost about $5,100 to make and once certified as a record-setter, will be sold off in six-inch pieces complete with a copy of the record certification to raise money for charity. In the meantime, the Reyeses set a record that will be heard to beat for a long time.
The project took almost 75 hours to complete and destroyed the previous mark of 67 feet set by Cuban roller Jose (Cueto) Casteler in 2005.