CIGAR HISTORY 1860-1910
A National Cigar Museum EXCLUSIVE
© Tony Hyman
1860 US annual cigar consumption rises to 26 per person.
1860 More than 2,000 cigar factories in US employ 25,000 people. Thirty years later, those numbers would be six times higher.
1860 Machinery for making cigars advertised in popular art magazine. Have ad
1860's British cigar makers widely adopt the cigar mould. Some reports say it was invented there.
1860's Difficulty in identifying a cigar once out of the box, British cigar makers began pasting various shapes and colors of stickers called 'tickets' on cigars. Customer complaints about damaged wrapper led to the adoption of 'rings' called bands today.
1860 Francis Asbury starts NYC business making fancy glass cigar boxes and signs. Have ad
1860 As much cigar leaf grown in Ohio (almost 5 million pounds) as in Pennsylvania and New England.
1860 Cincinnati was 4th leading cigar producing city, behind Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore.
1860 In Chicago, still the wild west, more than 224 cigar factories are in operation.
1860 John G. Root establishes factory in Reamstown, PA. Later makes JOHN BROWN cigars with the slogan “As his soul goes marching on.”
1860 Lewis Osterweis & Sons founded in New Haven, CT. Lasts until 1954.
1860 Theobald & Oppenheimer founded in Philadelphia.
1860 Pedro Murias creates LA MERIDIANA in Havana.
1860 Schmidt & Storm (forerunner of Straiton & Storm 1863) founded in NYC. The for their brand
CUCKOO claims 1861.
1860 Bottomly & Co. begin cigar manufacture in Halifax, England.
1860 Wages for carpenters and masons was 65¢ a day, sunrise to sunset.
1861-1865 US Civil War.
1861 David Swisher receives small Newark Ohio cigar factory as part of debt payment. The beginning of a huge cigar business, still in operation today (in Florida). Numerous examples of boxes, etc.
1861 Weideman Co. starts in the cigar distribution business in Detroit.
1861 Joseph Pattreiouex begins wholesale mixing of tobacco blends in Manchester, England.
1861 A. Jimenez & Sons established on Fenchurch Street in London, England, as importers of Cuban cigars, Mexican cigars, European cigars, and cigarettes from around the world. Sole importers of LA COSMOPOLITANA from Havana.
1862 US Government imposes 5 different excise taxes on cigars based on their value. Cigars valued between $5 and $10 per 1,000 were taxed $2. Cigars valued at more than $20 per 1,000 paid $3.50 per 1,000. Meets with widespread, near universal, evasion.
1862 TANSIL’S PUNCH established in New York City. Full box, more
1862? 1863 H. & J. Breitwieser founded in Buffalo. envelope, boxes
1862 W.S. Mathews & Sons established in Paducah, KY, and manufacturers and exporters of snuff, twist, and plug smoking and chewing tobacco. Still around in 1946.
1862 J.L. Van Gelder begins making cigars at St. Mary Axe, London, England.
1863 US Government requires tax stamp on every bundle or box of cigars and issues blank stamps to be filled in by tax inspectors. See Dating boxes for pictures of all tax stamp issues.
1863 US Government collects $476,589 in cigar taxes to help the war cause.
1863 US Dept. Agriculture sponsors successful experimental plantings of cigar tobacco in Illinois.
1863 Cigar industry makes life miserable for tax inspectors. Taxes collected on 200,000,000 cigars.
1863 Straiton & Storm, one of nation’s most important cigar companies, founded, introduces ROB'T BURNS and eventually OWL., Numerous examples of S & S boxes, pictures of factories
1863 Samuel Davis, Canada’s largest and most prolific cigar factory, founded in Montreal. Various boxes: FRONTIER, MUNGOES, CABLE, etc.
1863 Henry Jacobs & Co. of Montreal honors Civil Warrior STONEWALL JACKSON by naming a cigar brand after him. The brand becomes one of Canada’s biggest sellers for more than half a century.
1863 F.X. Smith, founded in McSherrystown, PA (still operating 1975). photo.
1863 The John C. Groub Co. establishes family wholesale grocery business in Seymour, Indiana, maker of Belle Brand products and seller of BILTRITE cigars. Family business for 60 years. Letterhead
1864 US Government issues five colorful new tax stamps based on a cigar’s retail selling price. Cigarettes added to the tax laws, but not important enough to print special stamps for.
1864 Canadian Government requires tax stamps on cigar boxes, issuing square, strip and diamond shaped excise and customs stamps. See Dating Canadian Boxes for more detail.
1864 Cigar industry continues to make life miserable for tax inspectors.
1864 US tax officials admit cigar tax laws are confusing and cannot be interpreted or enforced as written. Have official admission in letter.
1864± Invention of the steam press made color label lithography economical for the first time. Cubans first to adopt it. See exhibit of early labels produced on first steam presses <here>.
1864 Cigar holder patented that had a removable sponge to add flavoring to cigars.
1864 Thomas Calvert forms important label lithographic establishment in Detroit. Made 2000 impressions per 10 hour day on hand presses.
1864 Cigar Maker’s National Union of the United States founded, the “first constructive, efficient, American trade union.” The first President of the Union, Andrew Zeitler of Albany, NY,, was later killed in Civil War action.
1864 John C. Herman & Co. begins making cigars in Harrisburg, PA. Still in business in 1930, operating multiple factories.
1864 Jaime Partagas shot and killed on his plantation. Son José failed in attempted to run business. Sold out to José Bances after a few decades. Date of shooting variously reported as 1868.
1864 First crop of tobacco grown in Sumatra. Made big impact in U.S. after 1876 Centennial.
1864 An Ohio tobacco planter developed a strain called “white burley” with cream colored midrib and pale green leaves. It rapidly replaced Red Burley, from which it was developed, in fine-cut chewing tobacco and for plug. It later becomes exceedingly important in the cigarette industry.
1864 First cigar factory established in Valkenswaard, Netherlands, by the van Best Brothers.
1864 Weenen Cohen & Co. begin making cigars on Commercial Road in London, England.
1864 TOBACCO LEAF magazine founded. Important trade journal lasts for a century. Various copies.
1865 US Government completely reforms cigar tax laws, requires all cigars to be packed in boxes of 25, 50, 100, 250 or 500 and issues new denominational stamps for a brief time picturing recently assassinated President Lincoln and printed funeral black (except the yellow-green 500).
1865 HOYO de MONTERREY cigars are introduced by Jose Gener, long time Vuelta Abajo grower.
1865 MONTE CRISTO cigars begin production in Havana.
1865 Bethesda Cigar Co. established in Bethesda, Ohio. Made BLACK BALL cigars for 40+ years.
1865 John B. Adt goes into business in Baltimore as maker of ADT tobacco preparation machinery of every type for the manufacture of cigarettes, cigars, smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff: dryers, coolers, cutters, separators, rollers, combs, packers, etc.
1865 Virginia leads other states by replacing the hogshead inspection system of tobacco marketing with the loose-leaf auction system for selling cigarette, snuff, and chewing tobaccos. It doesn’t become universal in the United States until 1939.
1865 First cigarette factory appears in the U.S. in New York City. Staffed primarily by immigrants from Poland, Greece and Turkey, they made Russian style “Turkish” cigarettes for other immigrants. Each roller could make about 3,000 long “clumsy” smokes a day, a total of about 20,000,000 this year..
1866 US Government issues colorful redesigned tax stamps in 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 denominations. Orders all cigars to be packed in boxes containing those quantities.
1866 Ordinary domestic cigars sell for 5¢ or six for 25¢. they are sold at “cheap refreshment stalls, lager beer saloons, and low groceries.” The more pretentious domestic cigars are made of the best domestic tobaccos carefully handled, perhaps with a little Havana added. These sell for 10¢. Next are those made of Havana filler wrapped in Connecticut wrapper. they sell for 10¢ to 15¢. All havana cigars made here sell for 15¢ to 50¢ and are as good as those made in Cuba. Cuban cigars can be found as cheap as 15¢, but good ones cost 25¢ to $1.00. These same prices would be in effect a century later.
1866 Albert Thalheimer cigar box manufacturer, lumber mill, and tool dealer established in Reading, PA.
1866 William Tigner, cigar maker and wholesaler opens in Lima, OH.
1866 Theodore Slater established cigar factory in Washington, PA. Succeeded by his son in 1879, claims to be the first maker of stogies in Lancaster, PA. Brands include: CUBAN EXPORT, NEW ARRIVAL, LANCASTER BELLE, JERSEY CHARTER, BIG HIT, CASTELLO, SLATER’S BIG STOGIES, ROYAL BLUE LINE, GOOD POINTS, CYCLONE, CAPITOL, BROWNIES, BLENDED SMOKE, GOLD NUGGETS, BOSS STOGIES.
1866 Hicks, Elliott & Shroyer wholesalers founded in Logansport, Indiana. Many name changes later (1871, 1879, 1891, 1897), still operating in 1899 as The J.T. Elliott Co. letterhead
1866 J. Lyons opens shop at 617 Myrtle Ave, between Kent and Franklin, in Brooklyn as manufacturer and dealer in cigars, smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff. Advertised “Cut plug a specialty” cut “while you wait” @ 15¢ and 20¢ a quarter pound.
1867 Canadian Government issues slightly redesigned excise and customs stamps.
1867 The Cigar Maker’s National Union of the United Statesadmits Canadian locals and changes its name to Cigar Makers international Union.
1867 G.W. Boyer, goes into cigar business in New Haven. (the STANDARD box)
1867 SANCHEZ y HAYA cigar brand created. Many examples.
1867 The Great American Cigar Co. advertised "All cigars are labeled [banded] with the company's trademark and money orders are issued, varying from $2 to $50 on the inside of labels of a certain portion of the cigars which will be cashed by the treasurer of the company in presentation at their office" Factory & Salesroom No. 24 Broadway St. Corner Church NYC.” Given that cigars cost from $1 to $15 a box during that decade, they couldn’t afford too many prize winners.
1867 M. Van Oestren begins cigar production on Commercial Street in London, England.
1867 Carl Intelmann Ald-Ges, maker of cigar moulds, founded in The Netherlands [?].
1868 US Government issues colorful redesigned tax stamps in 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500.
1868 US Government requires to be printed on all cigar boxes the name of factory owner, state and tax district in which the cigars were made and the number of cigars in the box (‘factory ID’). For regulations and examples, go <here>.
1868 US Government requires “Caution Notices” pasted on boxes forbidding reuse of the box and stamp. For regulations and examples, go <here>.
1868 US Government issues and begins requiring tax stamps on large boxes of cigarettes. Small consumer-sizepackages not yet permitted.
1868 US Government establishes 8 hour day for government workers.
1868 Canadian Government issues new series of excise and customs stamps, similarly shaped. These used until 1880.
1868 A. Hussey Leaf Tobacco Co. founded (NY, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis).
1868 Louis Kuttnauer, packer and importer of Havana and leaf tobacco, opens in Detroit.
1868 Weil & Co., New York City packers and importers of Havana tobacco, register W&C trademark. Their ads guarantee tobacco with “no guano is used.” Use of natural fertilizers was controversial.
1868 Christian Swartz begins making cigars in Norwalk, CT. Dies in 1932.
1868 Smoking cars established on British trains by law.
1868 Edward Norton begins manufacture of tin cans. The Norton Bros. ultimately became the driving force behind the consolidation of small makers into The American Can Co.
1868 Devastating ten-year-long war begins in Cuba.
1868 First MACANUDO rolled in the Caribbean.
1869 US Government issues colorful redesigned 1869 tax stamps in 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 denominations. See Dating cigar tax stamps
1869 Little Dutch type cigar tobacco successfully developed in Ohio from seed introduced from Germany.
1869 CMIU offers temporary amnesty to allow mould workers into the CMIU. Strategy largely fails and the Union continues its battle against moulds and the people who use them.
1869 Klauber Wangenheim Co., important long-lived regional wholesalers, established in Calif.
1869 Juan F. Portuondo cigar factory established in Philadelphia, in business for 50+ years. letterhead, can, boxes, signs, other
1869 Martinez Ybor moves EL PRINCIPE DE GALES factory to Key West, Florida, from Havana to escape the war.
1869 Jul(ius?) Pepperberg founds Pepperberg Segar Co. in Plattsmouth, Nebraska; still making cigars in the late 1920’s, gone by 1936. boxes CT
1869 H.A. Klene founds cigar factory at 127 Fourth St. in Quincy Ill EXPOSITION
1869 Theodore Schumacher and Louis Ettlinger start one of the nation’s more important cigar label companies in New York City. (1869-1892).
1869 Somers Bros., one of the industry leaders, begins tin box manufacture.
1869 Charles and Ernest Wulff found Wulff Litho.
1869± McDowell & Co., established in Madras, India, as manufacturer of high quality Indian cigars including Trichinopoly, Dawsons, cheroots, Bahadur (old style), and Sumatra rattails.
1869 Reported cigarette manufacture in the US dropped from 20,000,000 in 1865 to 1,750,000 in 1869. This was due, according to the industry, to high unit cost, imperfect production, and wavering consumer interest. The industry report didn’t include under-reporting (tax evasion) in the face of new higher taxes and the requirement, starting in 1868, to apply tax stamps.
1870 US Government allows tin to be used for cigar boxes.
1870 Connecticut seedleaf is developed sometime in the 1870’s, tho by whom is unrecorded. This is the 2nd of three important Connecticut cigar tobaccos. Continued experimentation sponsored by both federal and state governments soon led to better quality cigar tobacco growing in MA, NY, PA, MD, OH and WI.
1870 World’s biggest mould and tool makers Miller, DuBrul & Peters Mfg. Co. founded in Cincinnati. Eventually offers more than 2,000 different sizes and shapes of cigar mould.
1870 S.R. Kocher, maker of NABOBS, QUAKER, VOLITTA and “special brands for reliable jobbers” founded in Factory 79, 9th District, Wrightsville, PA.
1870 Approximately 13.9 million cigarettes were smoked annually in the United States, or one-third of a cigarette per person. By 1930 consumption rose to 977 per person.
1870 W.G. Dunnington founds the Dunnington Tobacco Co. to buy, sell and export leaf tobacco from Farmville, Virginia.
1870 MacAndrews & Forbes Co., maker of Oriental Licorice paste, established in Camden, NJ.
1870 Number of lithographers listed in 1870 New York City Directory? Answer: Eighty-one.
1870 Detroit Litho Co. founded. Operates into the 1970’s.
1871-72 US Government issues still colorful redesigned 1868/1871/1872 tax stamps in 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 denominations.
1871 The great Chicago fire. Chicago is 4th largest US city.
1871 Carl Upmann Cigar Co. founded in NYC. Factory in Miami. Various boxes, ads, photo of factory exterior.
1871 Pohalski & Co. registers MONTE CRISTO for US manufacture.
1871 Daniel Morey opens Ottumwa, Iowa’s first notable cigar factory. LA FLOR DE MAYO brand.
1871 William H. Raab (& Sons) opens cigar factory in Dallastown, PA. OPINION, PADDY CARR, MARJORIE DAW and others. Capacity 75,000 per day. Nickel and 2/5¢ cigars a specialty.
1871 Antonio Roig & Langsdorf opens large cigar factory in Philadelphia (1871-1926) GIRARD factory, boxes
1871 Eduardo H. Gato established cigar factory in Key West, FL. Boxes, factory illus.
1871 Thomas Gaved & Co. opens cigar factory on Soho Street in Liverpool, England.
1872 Charles F. Pusch founded his factory in Marysville KS. Fifteen years later his 20 rollers made him the 3rd largest of 150 Kansas cigar factories. Pusch lasted until the late 1920’s.
1872 Louis Pfaff, maker of LAWRENCE HUTTON, PRINCE HENRY, COUNTRY JUDGE, DOROTHY DODD, SAN ARDO opens in PA but their 1905 ad omits where.
1872 F.D. Stephenson begins cigar making in Birmingham, England.
1872 Ward & Robinson opens cigar factory at Belgrave-gate in Leicester, England.
1872 Partridge & Sons open cigar factory on Mansfield Street in Leicester, England.
1873 Fiscal Depression in U.S. begins, lasts three years.
1873 Entrepreneur Francis Korbel and brothers Anton and Joseph in business in San Francisco (F. Korbel & Bros) as lithographers, cigar box makers. They eventually owned a sawmill, published THE WASP, and established Korbel winery. Printed labels 1873-1885 (possibly earlier). RED TAPE box 1873
1873 Starlight Bros, makers of LA ROSA de PARIS, established in Passaic, New Jersey.
1873 Manuel A. Suarez y Cia., leaf wholesalers, founded in Havana. Manuel dies in 1894 and his 20 year old son, Manuel “Chacho” Suarez took over. Chacho died in 1933, replaced by his son-in-law, Dr. Mario Cuervo.
1873 Thomas J. Schaeffer, “maker of fine cigars,” opens a factory in Schaefferstown, PA.
1873 National Cigar Manufacturing Co. founded. Ultimately has factories in New York City, Albany, and Lancaster, PA.
1873 Emil Steffens founds NYC lithographic company. Becomes Steffens, Jones & Co. from 1906-1920,
1873 ROMEO Y JULIETA created (says Mara) by Inocencio Alvarez Rodriguez and Jose Mannin
Garcia who already owned a factory. Sold in 1903 to Jose Rodriguez Fernandez (Don Pepin)
1873 Isaac D. Levy & Co. begin making cigars on Blossom Street, London, England.
1874 R.G. Sullivan opens large 350 roller factory in Manchester, NH. Best known for 7-20-4 and small custom event boxes. Will last to celebrate 80th anniversary. Many artifacts
1874 San Francisco cigar makers adopt a white union label to distinguish their cigars from Chinese goods.
Generally considered to be the first Union label.
1874 John M. Stevens, Maker of cigar boxes and dealer in ribbons and labels established in Allentown, PA.
1874 UNITED STATES TOBACCO JOURNAL founded in New York City.
1874 WESTERN TOBACCO JOURNAL “full of distinctively original statistics and current news” founded in Cincinnati. Subscriptions $2.
1874 Goodman & Harris open cigar factory at Humberstone Gate in Leicester, England..
1874 Tobacconist Robert Graham, Ltd, opens in Edinburgh, Scotland. Still selling cigars 125 years later.
1874 “That smoker has reached the acme of skill...who can blow three concentric rings and spit through the inner circle without causing a line to waiver.” Quoted from MY CIGAR magazine, 1874.
1875 US Government issues redesigned “March 3, 1875” tax stamps, printed in black ink on blue paper.
1875 The New York Times: “From the fine gentlemen who buy their cigars at Delmonicos, or get them direct from the importers, down to the little barefoot boys in the streets, who buy their smokes from the Chinamen at the corner or pick up the stumps that are thrown away, all smoke.”
1875 Reliance / Hilson Company in NYC making 20,000,000 cigars annually. Numerous boxes
1875 ROMEO y JULIETA first appears in 1875? very early label, boxes (see 1850)
1875 Ashland Cigar & Tobacco Co. established in Ashland, Wisc. (wholesale makers) letterhead
1875 Andrew Steffen opens factory in Indianapolis, maker of TISH-I-MINGO.
1875 Kuhles & Stock, maker of SEAL OF MINNESOTA, PRIVATE SMITH, AQUILAS established at 353 Jackson in St. Paul, Minn.
1875 St. Louis cigar maker’s union issues a red colored union stamp.
1875 Sam Gompers and Adolph Strasser form CMIU Local 144 from many smaller NYC unions. Gompers is elected first President.
1875 Cigar Makers’ Union publishes first issue of The Cigar Makers’ Official Journal which lasts until 1972.
1875 Book published giving “long time successful” formulae for coloring poor quality tobacco, adding flavors, and for giving boxes a nice smell.
1875 L.F. Grammes & Sons, manufacturers of cigar box machinery, established in Allentown, PA. Fifty years later is maker of metal novelty boxes with inside mirrors. Brass and other boxes.
1875 British Parliament passed the Trade Marks Act which, among other things, stopped British cigar makers from labeling all their cigars as being Havanas. No such prohibition against using the word Havana ever passed in the United States.
1875 Cigarette consumption 42,000,000; cigar consumption 5,000,000,000+ (tax paid cigars, that is).
1875 Official government figures based on tax receipts say the average person in the US (including all men, women, children) smoke 48 cigars a year, uses almost 3 pounds of chewing tobacco and smokes up a little over a pound of smoking tobacco.
1875 Eli Gillard begins cigar production on East Street in Taunton, England.
1870’s Bohemian immigrant women become big factor in NYC and Pittsburgh cigar industry.
1876 United States’ 100th Birthday. The Centennial celebrated. Three dozen tobacco and cigar companies exhibited at the Centennial.
1876 The Dutch introduced Sumatran tobacco to various New York and Philadelphia companies, who were immediately hooked. Sumatran was so thin and so elastic that two pounds would wrap 1,000 cigars when it took five to ten pounds of Connecticut wrapper to do the same.
1876 Meyer & Mendelsohn go into business as growers, packers and dealers of Connecticut tobacco.
1876 German leaf tobacco company M. Meerapfel Sohne A.G. founded. Still in family hands in 2000.
1876 Adam Kohler opens cigar factory in Dallastown which 20 years later was producing 75,000 a day.
1876 LA FLOR DE JUAN LOPEZ established by Juan Lopez Diaz in Havana.
1876 Illinois ships more than 11,000,000 pounds of tobacco, growing cigar tobacco since 1863.
1877 Lucke & Co. founded in Cincinnati, Ohio. Maker of TELESCOPE, ROLLED, many others.
1877 Adolph Strasser became President of the Cigar Makers International Union and leads an October strike in NYC involving 15,000 cigar rollers. Described by historians as a loss because specific goals were not attained but when settled in 1878 the CMIU had sick, death, strike and out of work benefits (which they were able to keep until the late 1920’s).
1877 Ed Weiland established cigar factory in Peru, Indiana. Still making HAVANA ROSE in 1912.
1877 Former Cuban factory owned by D.L. Trujillo, restarted on 10th St. in New York City.
1877 J.B. Diaz opens business in Havana as packer, dealer and exporter of all grades of Cuban leaf. Around 50 years later. See 1931.
1877 Abraham Waldstein founds the Pioneer Cigar Box Factory and label printer in San Francisco (1877-1892).