A small backyard cigar company in Belmont, Ohio, operated from 1900 to 1943, producing Mr. Roby's hand-made stogies or cigars in this building through the work of family members and the daily help of two or three employees. About ninety percent of its original equipment survives. When the business began, Belmont had no electricity, and most shops relied on natural light through glass windows. Electricity came to Belmont about 1918-20, and this shop had electric power by 1925, when an electric motor was added to the stripping machine; before then it had been run by foot power through two pedals pumped like an organ. The ladies' work benches were made from shipping crates that tobacco dust came in. Much of the tobacco used in the area was grown in and around Woodsfield and Monroe County. The building originally stood on the Roby property on Railroad Street behind the family home. In the early 1900s, Belmont had at least fifteen cigar-making companies within its corporation limits, but today there are none.