Did you know: The Stogie was invented in Wheeling, Virginia, West Virginia. In 1819, Joseph Kirk of Wheeling began manufacturing cigars and in 1825, he was listed as a Cigar and “Stogie” manufacturer. Mifflin Marsh in relating the history of the Stogie tells us, “Some inventive genius here in Wheeling, (Kirk maybe) conceived the idea of making a cheap smoke for the (Conestoga) driver.”

It was the Marsh Wheeling Stogie. Founded in 1840 by Mifflin Marsh, Marsh Wheeling (from Wheeling, Virginia at the time it didn’t become West Virginia until the Civil War) initially made cigars that were affordable for the average person. Marsh made cigars that sold for less than a penny a piece. Marsh also was the first marketer in the cigar business, handing out free samples to Conestoga wagon drivers on the National Road—which ran from Baltimore to Wheeling connecting the east coast with the Ohio River – and to Captains of the river boats that dotted the Ohio River and he then sold the rest to passengers of the boats and wagons. The following year, the Wheeling Suspension Bridge was completed across the Ohio River. As a result, Wheeling’s business really took off and as did Marsh’s. In 1848, Marsh developed what became the icon, the Stogie. At the time, the cheapest cigars were Boston Cheroots selling for $3.50 to $4.00 per thousand. They also were made out of scraps. Mifflin came up with an affordable long filler cigar named in honor of the Conestoga wagons that traveled through Wheeling taking pioneers and settlers out into the west. The Marsh Wheeling Stogie was the result, measuring 7 inches with a 34-ring gauge. (And yes, the use of the word stogie today to mean a cigar comes from the Marsh Wheeling Stogie.) Marsh also came up with the slogan because of the Stogie’s length “longer enjoyment.”