The Macdonald Tobacco Company (initially called McDonald Brothers and Co.), founded in 1858 by

William Christopher Macdonald Sir William Christopher Macdonald (10 February 1831 – 9 June 1917) was a Canadian tobacco manufacturer and major education philanthropist in Canada. Though born in Prince Edward island, he is considered a Scots-Quebecer. Early life and ca ...

and his brother Augustine, converted tobacco leaf from southern U.S. suppliers to pipe and chewing tobacco in Montreal. After several acquisitions, it is now known as Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which manages flagship brands such as

Benson & Hedges Benson & Hedges is a British brand of cigarettes owned by American conglomerate Altria. Cigarettes under the ''Benson & Hedges'' name are manufactured worldwide by different companies such as Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, Philip Morris USA, British ...

, Camel, Glamour, LD, Mevius,

Natural American Spirit Natural American Spirit (often referred to as American Spirit) is an American brand of cigarettes and other tobacco products, currently owned by Reynolds American and manufactured by the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company. History The company wa ...

Silk Cut Silk Cut is a British brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Gallaher Group, a division of Japan Tobacco. The packaging is characterised by a distinctive stark white packet with the brand name in a purple, blue, red, silver, wh ...

, Sobranie, and Winston.

History

The Macdonald Tobacco Company was founded in 1858 by

and his brother Augustine. While the use of tobacco products was growing in popularity, the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

afforded the fledgling company an opportunity that brought enormous financial success leading to Macdonald Brothers, emerging the preeminent tobacco company in the field in Canada. Since the northern U.S. faced a tobacco shortage due to the Civil War conflict (tobacco growers were located in the south), MacDonald Tobacco, a Canadian company, bought tobacco leaf from the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

and transported it via ocean cargo vessels to Montreal. MacDonald Tobacco further processed it into a finished product, then selling to the northern U.S. tobacco-starved market. By the early 1870s, the company acquired over 500 employees. During this period, William Macdonald bought out his brother's stock position. Deeply proud of his Scottish heritage, William C. Macdonald imprinted a Scottish

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on the product packaging for nearly a century. Macdonald actually disliked tobacco, and upon his death in 1917, he bequeathed his company to Walter and Howard Stewart, the two sons of company manager David Stewart. Walter Stewart, now president, replaced

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

tobacco with "roll your own" cigarettes. In 1922, packaged cigarette production was added, quickly becoming the mainstay of the business. During the 1960s, David M. Stewart (1920–1984), expanded the business into the manufacturing of cigars. The Macdonald Tobacco company remained in the Stewart family until 1974 when David M. Stewart sold it to the American tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company who, in light of the uncertainty created by the Quebec separatist movement, relocated the head office to

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Most of those assets were later purchased by

Japan Tobacco Hepburn: ''Nippon Senbai Kōsha'' , type = 1985-: Public (''kabushiki gaisha'') 1949-1985: Statutory corporation , traded_as = , industry = FoodTobacco , foundation = 1898 (as Imperial Japanese Tobacco Company)1 June 1949 (as Japan Tobacco ...

References

{{Reflist Tobacco companies of Canada Defunct manufacturing companies of Canada R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company Japan Tobacco Companies based in Montreal Centre-Sud