Several years ago, we were invited to invent an entirely new artisan tobacco brand. We were tasked with every aspect of the brand's creation, from its packaging to developing its entire marketing strategy. In light of Quaker City Mercantile's unique ground-up brand building talents, it was a project that we were pretty enthusiastic to take on, and what we ended up developing was something entirely of its own in the world of tobacco.

Marshall McGearty sought to explore tobacco blends on a plane far distant from the offerings of other cigarette manufacturers. It turned out that of the 1,500 some varieties of tobacco in the world, only about six of them were used in cigarette blends. Marshall McGearty set out to change this, employing master tobacconists to travel the world and conceive exotic, never-before-smoked blends of rare tobaccos. The blends were hand rolled and sold on premise at a single Marshall McGearty lounge in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago.

From the lounge's interior and exterior environment to in-store promotional events, to each blend's evocative name and premium packaging design, Quaker City Mercantile created every single aspect of the brand from scratch.