During 1906, Robert Wise of Auburn rolled and sold some 250,000 cigars at his small factory on Main Street. He looked to the international market to obtain his choice tobacco from Cuba, his wrappings from Sumatra, and his binders from Connecticut.
. . .Miners and habitues of saloons and gambling halls were the best customers. There also were a few women who smoked the stogies, but they were considered hussies and women of ill repute by local society matrons.
Wise mostly made General Gomez brand cigars. At least 220,000 of them were of that brand, and he bought a years’s supply of leaf tobacco at a time. He had his annual supply stored in San Francisco, and when the disastrous April 19, 1906 earthquake struck he lost some $2,000 when a warehouse burned despite the tobacco being stored in a government-bonded storage facility. . .
The General Gomez at the time was considered one of the best 10-cent cigars to be found anywhere and Wise capitalized on his quality product.
“His success is the result of prudence, perseverance, business foresight, and the conscientious determination to give value received by all his patrons,” the “Placer Herald” reported.. . .
Wise did not advertise much. His word and product seemed to be his bond. Under a column in the Colfax Sentinel titled “Brevities”. . .”By those who are supposed to know, the General Gomez is said to be the best 10-cent smoke sold today.”
. . .Wise operated out of a little shop on the main business street in what now is Old Town Auburn and his cigars were known throughout the west. There were other cigar makers in town, but through his square dealings and working day and night, he was more successful. Factory after factory opened in Auburn while Wise and about half dozen employees rolled the cigars. But the new businesses after a few months only were to close and he was left as the only cigar maker in town.
Wise had his cigar factory on the first floor and the tobacco drying room on the second floor. There was only one entrance from the street, and cigar smokers or those wanting to become cigar smokers were invited into his store to buy or sample his product. Two tobacco strippers and four cigar makers worked at the store and the workers could turn out a thousand cigars in a day at peak production time.
Using Vuelta growth tobacco, considered one of the best of its kind, the tobacco for filling the cigars cost $1.30 a pound. Tobacco for wrapping the cigars cost $4.25 per pound. By buying a year’s stock of tobacco grown during the same season, he was able to maintain the evenness of quality and flavor. . .
A native of Prussia, Wise learned his cigar-making trade in Breslau, a town in the eastern part of the country. He emigrated to New York City in 1873. . . then moved to Auburn a few years later and began working for Henry Noosenhoener, who had established the popularity of the Golden Crown cigar. When Noosenhoener died, he opened a small shop in 1892. The next year he married Ada Lipsett of Auburn and opened up a business on a larger scale.
Making hand-rolled cigars slowly became a special trade and good rollers became harder and harder to find. Wise and his cigar making soon were lost to the cigar makers in places like Cuba where the tobacco was produced. Wise and his hand-rolled cigars then became expendable for a small town. . .and a successful business was lost to time.