First, A Bit Of History
We all know what a cigar is and the term seems to have little in common with the words “Swisher” and “Sweet”. It all began in 1861 when David Swisher acquired a small cigar business in settlement of a debt. At that time, David and his four sons were involved with traveling general stores that ran across the Midwest with the wagon trains – cigars were but another commodity they could sell.
An American Success Story
However, by 1870 this little “sideline” was producing hundreds of cigars per day in a single room they called a ”manufactury” located in Newark Ohio. Following inter-family reorganization; the sideline became a major business entity which, by 1895, employed more than 1,000 people in three factories producing up to 300,000 cigars per day.
In 1924, operations were relocated to Jacksonville in Florida and mass production was introduced using some of the world’s first mechanized rolling and packaging equipment. One of their brands – the King Edward – became the world’s best selling cigar.
New Brands
The Company continued to prosper and in 1958, they introduced a new cigar brand which they named Swisher Sweets Cigars. Cigar production rose to four million per day by 1964 and Swisher cigars were being smoked in every State in the Nation as well as being exported to 47 other Countries.
Continuous Development
Swisher not only pioneered new manufacturing techniques, they also reacted positively to changing public tastes and attitudes towards smoking. When legislation and taxation became more anti-smoking, the harsher impositions were aimed primarily at cigarette smoking – higher tax on cigarettes, banning of all flavors in cigarettes (apart from menthol), etc. Although cigar smoking was banned in the same places as cigarettes, cigar types were, generally, less restricted and allocated lower tax rates. This allowed Swisher to introduce whole new ranges of little cigars – both with and without filters and available in a number of different (usually fruit based) flavors. The first Swisher Sweets little cigars hit the stores in 1985. Now operating under the name of Swisher International Inc., the Company remains one of the world’s leading cigar manufacturers.
Where To Buy
Today’s retail industry bears little resemblance to that of Swisher’s original days and it can be difficult in many places to find a specialist cigar store with a wide selection of brands and types being offered for sale. For this, if for no other reason, many smokers today are turning to online stores for their purchases of Swisher Sweets Cigars.
