Swisher (formerly Swisher International Inc.) is an American 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 the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. It has manufacturing facilities in

Santiago, Dominican Republic Santiago de los Caballeros (" 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 Province and ...

and

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

History

Swisher was founded in 1861 in

Newark, Ohio Newark ( ) is a city in Licking County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located east of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus at the junction of the forks of the Licking River (Ohio), Licking River. The population was 49,934 at the 2020 United ...

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 Optimo Espacio ('Optimum Space') was a weekly Sunday-night club based in Glasgow, Scotland at the Sub Club on Jamaica Street, as well as a collective moniker for the night's resident DJ duo. Having run every week since it was founded in 1997, on ...

. In 1966, Swisher was purchased by William Ziegler III's American

Maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

-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 Robert Duval (born October 9, 1946) is an American professional golfer and is best known for being the father of David Duval, formerly the top-ranked player in the world. Early life and amateur career Duval was born in Schenectady, New York, the ...

was endorsing the brand in 1998. In 2014, Swisher acquired

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

-based Drew Estate

Tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

Company. John Drew had started the company in 1996 with a stall at the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are the hundreds of sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may also refer to: Buildings * World Trade Center (1973–2001), a building complex that was destroyed during the September 11 at ...

. The Drew brand went through some upheaval after the acquisition, and John Drew was brought back as its president in 2016. President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Peter Ghiloni, retired from Swisher in 2018. 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