This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, Groucho Marx, Winston Churchill, George Burns. They all have something in common. They all smoked cigars. And probably all of them at one time or another enjoyed a cigar made in Detroit. Men smoked the cigars, but women made most of them. Detroit was a hub of tobacco manufacturing, turning out cigars, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff. By the early 20th century, Detroit tobacco factories were turning out a million cigars and £91,000 of chewing tobacco and pipe tobacco every day. And during that time, cigar making was the single largest employer of Detroit women, even ahead of such traditional women's jobs as seamstress and laundress. Why? Women cigar factory owners considered women employees more orderly than men and as having a natural dexterity for rolling cigars. Because women rarely smoked, they didn't pilfer the tobacco leaves for their own use. Many employers also saw women as more reliable and careful than male employees and easier to manage. Another key factor was pay. Women would work for less money and in fact, drove down the wages for male employees. Although cigar makers wages fell, rolling cigars still paid more than almost any other trade open to women. Women could make as much as $40 a week rolling cigars. In other occupations, women might earn as little as 16 cents an hour, or about $8 for a 50 hour work week. Wages were good, but working conditions could be miserable. Rolling cigars left tobacco stains on the women's hands and the smell of tobacco in their clothing. Tobacco dust hung in the air, leading to a high death rate from lung ailments. Women workers were also subjected to unwanted sexual advances from their male supervisors. Refusal could mean the loss of a job or reassignment to less desirable work. Polish immigrants made up the majority of Detroit's cigar makers. So many of them were from the old country that the factories had to close during Polish holidays. Most of the largest cigar makers moved their factories to Detroit's Polish district to be closer to their labor force. After a 1937 strike, Detroit's cigar factories began moving to the south, where there were few labor unions and they could be closer to the tobacco fields. The last tobacco products manufacturer in Detroit closed in 1969. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by Michiganhistorymagazine.org.