Dear Friends,
Today, I had a hankering for a fine cigar and thought it would be a perfect evening to enjoy a genuine and beautifully preserved and aged King Edward Perfecto Cigar from 1929!
KING EDWARD cigars are manufactured by Jno H. Swisher & Son. This pack of five was manufactured during the Prohibition Era and the beginning of the Great Depression, consisting of a natural tobacco wrapper and a blend of fine tobaccos. They are in mint condition for being over 90 years old. Having been aquired through a private collector, they were part of a store selling display of 50 cigars (10 five packs). This is the oldest cigar I have ever had the pleasure of smoking.... and boy was it swell! Mild, earthy, smooth, creamy and ever so aromatic! A wonderful way to end the day.
Now a little history...
Swisher traces its roots back to 1861 when David Swisher, a merchant out of Newark, Ohio, received a small cigar business in settlement of a debt. David and his four sons began to sell cigars across the Midwest from their “rolling stores” or wagons. The cigars were rolled by hand every day in a one-room “manufactury” in Newark. In 1888, David’s sons, John and Harry, bought the company from their father and renamed it Swisher Brothers. The company experienced great growth, and by 1895 the business had grown into three factories that employed over 1,000 people who hand-rolled as many as 300,000 cigars per day.
In 1913, John bought out his brother, Harry, took on his own son, Carl, and renamed the company to Jno H. Swisher & Son. About ten years later, Carl selected Jacksonville, Florida when looking for a new home for their growing business due to the area’s climate, shipping facilities, and proximity to raw materials and markets. Swisher has been headquartered in Jacksonville ever since.
In 1923, Swisher was the first company to order rolling machines, which transformed the business by cost-effectively mass-producing cigars of great uniformity. The “fresh work” machines went into operation in Jacksonville on June 20, 1924, and by the end of the 1920s, Swisher was making 100 million cigars a year. Swisher was also the first to wrap individual cigars in cellophane and the first to come up with a simple device for removing the cellophane by pulling the cigar band. During the same period and largely due to its investment in money-saving machinery, Swisher was able to cut the price of its King Edward Cigar from 5 cents each to 2 for 5 cents. Sales soared, and by the early 1940s, King Edward was the world’s number one cigar. By 1941, the Jacksonville facility was the largest cigar factory in the world under one roof. It also housed the nation’s first industrial children’s nursery, which opened in 1939.
I hope you enjoyed this video as much as I enjoyed making it. Whether you are relaxing with a nice cigar or a pipe today, I sincerely wish you swell smokes always!
22 авг 2024
