Marsh Wheeling Cigars

Late in 1988, another cigar manufacturer joined the Berger tobacco family. John Berger & Son Company acquired M. Marsh & Son. Marsh was established in 1840 (America's oldest cigar manufacturer). They were the makers of the original Marsh Wheeling Stogies. What is a stogie and how does it differ from a cigar? Generally speaking, a stogie differs from a cigar in that it is considerably longer and thinner. Also, it is composed of different blends of cigar leaf resulting in a product in which the smoking qualities are different and the flavor is unique. The word "stogie" is a contraction of the word "conestoga" which was derived from the conestoga wagon. In the pioneer days the drivers of these wagons, which plied the National Road, smoked this long, thin type of product and this product consequently became known as a "stogie." In 1840 Miflin M. Marsh founded the company and the Marsh Wheeling brand, which today is a monument to his memory. It was the oldest cigar manufacturer in the United States still operating under its original name in the same city and it had a reputation for quality from coast to coast. The first Marsh Wheeling stogies were made in the Marsh home. They were sold to passengers and crews of the steamboats plying the Ohio River, which docked at the Wheeling wharf, and also to the drivers of the conestoga wagons following the National Road. Mr. Marsh made his sales from a market basket over his arms. There is a vast difference between the crude, rough stogie of years gone by and the Marsh stogie produced today. You will discover that the Marsh product compares favorably in workmanship and quality to products which are selling at considerably higher prices.