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Swisher
'' (formerly Swisher International, Inc.) is an international tobacco company. Swisher has manufactured products since 1861 and ships more than two billion cigars a year to more than 70 countries. The company operates worldwide, with its headquarters in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. It has manufacturing facilities in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

and

Santiago, Dominican Republic Santiago de los Caballeros (; '' en, Saint James of the Knights''), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of Santiago Pro ...

History

Swisher was founded in 1861 in

Newark, Ohio Newark ( ) is a city serving as the county seat of Licking County, Ohio, United States, east of Columbus, at the junction of the forks of the Licking River. The population was 49,934 at the 2020 census, which makes it the 15th largest city in O ...

by David Swisher. It is based in

. In 1958, the machine-manufactured Swisher Sweets brand was introduced, and by 1964, the company was making four million cigars a day that were being shipped to all 50 states and to 47 foreign countries. Swisher acquired Universal Cigar in 1986, maker of the low-priced machine-rolled Optimo. In 1966, Swisher was purchased by William Ziegler III's American Maize-Products and he became chairman of the company, where he remained until his death in 2008. He was CEO by 1992 and changed the name to Swisher International. By 1995 Ziegler sold his American Maize-Products and kept (or bought back) Swisher, then took it public as Swisher International Group in December 1996. Golfer Bob Duval was endorsing the brand in 1998. In 2014, Swisher acquired

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

-based Drew Estate Tobacco Company that produces a variety of hand-rolled brands such as ACID, Herrera Estelí, Kentucky Fired Cured, Liga Privada, MUWAT, Natural, Nica Rustica, Nirvana Cameroon Selection, Tabak Especial, UnderCrown, and Java by Drew Estate. John Drew had started the company in 1996 with a stall at the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

. The Drew brand went through some upheaval after the acquisition, and John Drew was brought back as its president in 2016. President and CEO Peter Ghiloni, retired from Swisher in 2018. He had been appointed in 2012, coming from

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (formerly United States Tobacco Company) manufactures smokeless tobacco products, notably dipping tobacco, but also chewing tobacco, snus, and dry snuff and is a subsidiary of Altria. Its corporate headquarters a ...

. John Miller was named as president to replace Ghiloni. In August 2020, Swisher International, Inc. announced the rebranding to Swisher.

References

{{Jacksonville Corporations Cigar manufacturing companies Tobacco companies of the United States Companies based in Fairfield County, Connecticut American companies established in 1861 1861 establishments in Ohio Manufacturing companies established in 1861

History

See also

References