Swishers Sweet Flavors and the Origins of the Company

Swisher Sweets is an American brand of cigars, which makes a lot of sense considering where tobacco initially came from, thanks to Christopher Columbus and Sir Walter Raleigh. The brand is known for the variety of products it offers and the famous Swishers Sweet flavors that complement the already existing smoking experience.

“Smoking cigars is like falling in love. First, you are attracted by its shape; you stay for its flavor, and you must always remember to never, never to let the flame go out!” – these are the famous words by Winston Churchill. He was a great politician and a crucial historical figure, even without his passion for smoking. Still, a cigar indeed became one of Churchill’s calling cards.

Smoking became extremely popular in the 20th century. Nearly everyone – from nurses to world-famous singers – used to smoke cigars. Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, all the legends never hesitated to light another cigar or cigarette right before a performance.

Today, in the fast-moving world we’re living in, not everyone can afford to truly enjoy a cigar. True cigar admirers know how special the smoking process really is: it makes no sense to light a cigar when you’re in a rush. You’ll need to calm down, relax, escape your daily routine for a while, and listen to your own thoughts and emotions.

Well, we are confident that you can and do enjoy smoking a cigar. Who wouldn’t love lighting a Swisher Sweet in a circle of close friends, ready to discuss recent news and laughing at old jokes? Since the 19th century, Swisher Sweets cigars have been providing the best experience of tobacco smoking, eventually becoming one of the leading cigar manufacturers worldwide. With its headquarters located in Jacksonville, Florida, the brand has attracted millions of customers worldwide.

History of Swisher International

Despite being officially introduced as “Swisher Sweets” in the 1950s, the company had been around since 1861, when a Newark merchant, David Swisher, received a small cigar business in settlement of a debt. Swisher frequently traveled across the Midwest at the time, selling all kinds of wares from his rolling wagon. After becoming the owner of a small tobacco manufacturing company, David Swisher began selling hand-rolled cigars along with other goods. However, it wasn’t until the 1880s that the Swisher family started taking their tobacco business more seriously when two of their children, John and Harry, joined the company.

Swisher Brothers

The brothers developed a great interest in the company, apparently seeing the massive potential in selling cigars. Eventually, they took over the ownership of the company, bought it from their father in 1888, and renamed it ‘Swisher Brothers’. John and Harry Swisher turned out to be successful businessmen. Their cigar production facility quickly became one of the fastest-growing businesses in Ohio, producing several hundred tobacco products every day. 

A company that previously only needed one room for its entire production now had to grow in terms of space. So, the brothers set up three factories and hired over a thousand employees to make sure that they keep pace with the growing demand for cigars. Only seven years after their purchase, Swisher Brothers was manufacturing 300,000 tobacco products daily.

Jno H. Swisher & Son

The tobacco business kept growing for the next eighteen years, when John’s son Carl replaced his uncle, resulting in the rebranding and renaming of the company. Since 1913, the cigar-producing company was known as Jno H. Swisher & Son. Their business kept expanding and developing, introducing new brands and products, attracting new consumers and continuing to satisfy their long-term customers. Ten years later, John and Carl decided to partially move their production to Jacksonville, which has been the company’s headquarters ever since.

With another wave of the Industrial Revolution taking place in the United States in the 1920s, new processes and operations were adopted by many industries, including in cigar production. The Swishers were looking for brand-new appliances and equipment to simplify, speed up and automate the process of producing tobacco products. They eventually installed brand-new rolling machines and began producing machine-made cigars instead of hand-made products, significantly shortened production time and allowed the company to enter mass production in 1924. Within just a few years, Jno H. Swisher & Son began manufacturing over a hundred million cigars annually. Another innovation the company created was wrapping every cigar in cellophane and removing it by pulling the cigar band.

Until the mid-1920s, Jno H. Swisher & Son products were produced in both Ohio and Florida. Still, as soon as the Great Depression started in 1929, the Ohio facilities were closed once and for all. This was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world to date, forcing many businesses in all spheres to end. However, it surely wasn’t the case for Jno H. Swisher & Son as the enterprise stayed resilient to the economic recession during the 1930s. Not only that – the cigar production company kept growing throughout the Great Depression period, employing new workers while their competitors were leaving the market one by one.

Even though Jno H. Swisher & Son were actively hiring employees, the demand for their products was growing enormously fast. This factor became one of the reasons the price of their cigars went down. Thanks to the company’s very early transition to automation, they were able to lower product costs and, therefore, the cost of their products. For example, the King Edward cigar was 10¢ in 1918, whereas 30 years later, two of the cigars only cost 5¢. This resulted in their extreme popularity among cigar smokers, and by 1940, Swisher cigars became the world’s best-selling cigars. In addition, Jno H. Swisher & Son’s factory was named the biggest cigar production facility worldwide.

Swisher Sweets

Even after World War II ended in 1945, the Swisher enterprise never stopped growing. Looking back at their success during the Great Depression era and the post-war period, John and Carl decided to create a brand-new brand of cigars to compete with King Edward, being the company’s best-selling tobacco product. As a result, Swisher Sweets Cigars were introduced in 1958, surpassing King Edward in terms of popularity and revenue. The two successful brands eventually made Swisher Sweets the biggest cigar brand in the world.

Eight years after the launch of the new brand, the company was purchased by American Maize-Products Company, a publicly traded enterprise producing corn-wet milling products. The 70s and the 80s were a pretty rough period for the tobacco industry in general. With various anti-tobacco campaigns starting to gain popularity worldwide and a premium being placed on aggressive marketing, the consumption of tobacco products slowly began to decrease. Even the Swisher company was experiencing difficulties, but it still invested in new equipment and machinery. Therefore, Swisher Sweets and King Edward were two of the best-selling cigars in the tobacco industry.

Luckily, Swisher managed to stay in the market after such an unstable period for cigar manufacturers. In fact, the company was still powerful enough to be able to market new brands. By the late 80s, Swisher cigars were consumed by millions of people in over seventy countries around the globe.

In the following years, Swisher purchased several smaller cigar production companies all around the country, including Corral Wodiska y Ca. (Bering Premium cigars), Universal Cigar Company (Optimo, El Trelles, Santa Fe, La Primadora), Helme Tobacco Company (Silver Creek, Lancaster, etc.). A series of these acquisitions led to Swisher introducing a new tobacco product, little cigars. Swisher little cigars became the best seller on the market in 1991.

In the 90s, the tobacco industry finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, when it started to grow again after many years of consistent decline. Smoking was becoming very trendy yet expensive, and the demand for cigars was back again. As soon as the industry began to revive, Swisher focused on achieving maximum production efficiency, closing some of their factories across the country and moving most of the production to Jacksonville. American Maze, Swisher’s parent company, was purchased by William Ziegler III, who controlled the company until 1995.

Ziegler then made Swisher a public company, which allowed him to gain significant financial resources to expand the business. The tobacco industry started to grow again in the mid-90s, and William Ziegler continued to develop the company by purchasing smaller companies and shares in larger enterprises.

In 2014, Swisher acquired another cigar-producing company, Drew Estate, which owns famous cigar brands like Acid, Nirvana Cameroon Selection, Tabak Especial, etc.

Swisher Sweets Today

Today, the company produces all kinds of tobacco products, be it Swisher Sweets cigars, mini cigarillos, or blunts, so you will definitely find your own path to joy. Swisher also offers non-tobacco and smokeless tobacco products, which allowed the company to conquer another niche within the industry.

Without a doubt, Swisher has a rich heritage and long history with its ups and downs. But from the very beginning, the company has always remained true to itself, promoting culture and lifestyle, offering new products, and providing consumers of the age of 21 and older with the best smoking experience.

The company’s aspiration for its consumers’ satisfaction has resulted in innovative thinking, which has driven Swisher to grow and adjust to the ever-changing preferences of its customers for over 160 years.

Swisher Sweets Products

Swisher Sweets Products are sold in different categories. The list of their products includes:

-          Swisher Sweets

-          Swisher Sweet Classics

-          Swisher Sweets Encore Edition

-          Swisher Sweets Limited Edition

-          Swisher Sweets Minis

-          Swisher Sweets Cigarillos

-          Swisher Sweets BLK

-          Swisher Sweets Little Cigars

Swisher Sweets Flavor Options

Each of the Swisher Sweets products comes in different blends:

-          Swishers Sweet flavors: flavored swishers include Original, Mellow, Sweet Cherry, Grape, Peach, Full Blend, Menthol

-          Swisher Sweet Classics flavors: Original, Diamonds, Green Sweet, Mango, Black, Strawberry, Grape, Peach, Blueberry, Chocolate, Tropical Fusion

-          Swisher Sweets Encore Edition flavors: Sticky Sweets, Banana Smash, Wild Rush, Arctic Ice, White Grape

-          Swisher Sweets Limited Edition flavors: Sweet Cream, Swerve, Coastal Cocktail, Coco Blue, Boozy Watermelon, Maui Pineapple, Cherry Dynamite, Purple Swish

-          Swisher Sweets Mini flavors: Original, Green Sweet, Diamonds, Island Bash, Sticky Sweets, Grape, Tropical Storm, Blueberry

-          Swisher Sweets Cigarillos flavors: Grape, Chocolate, Blueberry, Mint, Menthol, Natural, Cherry.

-          Swisher Sweets BLK flavors: Smooth, Grape, Cherry, Berry, Wine

Swisher Sweets’ flavors have admirers all around the globe, so we definitely recommend trying as many as you can. These are the top ten flavors:

1.     Original. This is a sweet flavor introduced back in 1958. It combines the right amount of sweetness to provide a mild-bodied smoke. It’s ranked number 1 selling cigars in the United States.
2.     Diamond. Also known as “Unsweet Swisher,” this flavor is similar to the Original flavor, only without the sweet taste.
3.     Wild Rush. Blends the flavors of sweet fruits and watermelon.
4.     Tropical Fusion. A refreshing blend of tropical fruits and berries.
5.     Blueberry. Classic Swisher blended with the taste of juicy, plump blueberries.
6.     Strawberry.  Perfectly combines the sweetness of strawberries, adding just the right amount of tart.
7.     Grape. Swisher’s grape-flavored cigars have been named some of the best ones in the industry.
8.     Green Sweet. Adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the natural leaf cigar.
9.     BLK Smooth. Creates a smooth, mellow, creamy smoke.
10. BLK Cherry. The flavor combines pipe tobacco with the sweet taste of cherries, finished with a black tip for a smooth smoke.

Interestingly, some cigar manufacturers have been trying to replicate Swisher Sweets’ flavors, but no one ever has come close to the original Swisher tastes. This is why it is so important to purchase the original Swisher Sweets products at trustworthy shops.

Swisher Sweets