John Hay Cigars

Our retail store in In*******se PA, located in the heart of Amish Country in Lancaster County, is the perfect location for our locally grown ci**rs. The cigar company, then W.W. Stewart & Sons, moved to Reading PA in 1898 and continued producing ci**rs until the cigarette industry all but wiped out most local cigar industries in the 1950's. Craig Stewart, great-grandson of W.W. Stewart, re-introd

uced the John Hay Cigar brand in the early 1990’s. When Craig retired in 2004, David & Lauren Patrick took ownership. The company today is phenomenal, producing some of the industry's most sought after Pennsylvania Broadleaf ci**rs. Pennsylvania Broadleaf, unlike other cigar wrappers are grown right here locally in Pennsylvania, and have been around for quite some time, but until recently, it was only ever referred to as US to***co and used as a binder and occasionally a filler. Due to an ever increasing demand for a unique and robust maduro wrapper that produced a strong yet subtle smoke, the PA Broadleaf has pretty much created a name for itself. It’s not the most attractive leaf due to its somewhat uneven, marbleized appearance. But the flavor is extraordinarily rich and distinctive. John Hay Ci**rs are named for the American diplomat and statesman, John Hay (1838-1905). Hay was born in Salem, Indiana in 1838. He graduated from Brown University and began practicing law in Springfield, Illinois in 1861. When Abraham Lincoln became President, he made Hay his Assistant Private Secretary. In 1897, Hay was appointed United States Ambassador to Great Britain. From 1898 until his death in 1905, he served as Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. John Hay is best remembered for his Open-Door Policy in China and establishing the diplomacy that prepared the way for building the Panama Canal (Hay-Pauncefote Treaty).