Beginning in 1920s New York City, Nat Sherman first opened and ran a successful speakeasy during the Prohibition era. By 1932, he was in the process of opening his very own tobacconist shop on the first floor at 1400 Broadway. A friend of Sherman was constructing a new building there, and after Sherman loaned him money to help pay for the project, his friend offered him the retail space on the first floor as a form of partial reimbursment. Immediately, Nat Sherman decided to start selling cigars, something he had been wanting to break into for then over a decade. Nobody would have expected this move to turn into the start of a long and illustrious future in the tobacco industry.
Throughout the following years, Sherman's shop became the place to be for the wealthy, the famous and even the infamous, considering that prominent members of organized crime groups frequented the store often. As success grew, Sherman partnered with the owner of Epoca Cigar Company, Charles Baer, and became part-owner himself. It was after this union that the first Nat Sherman-branded cigar was officially released in 1947. Manufactured in Tampa, Florida and utilizing American and Cuban tobaccos, he named it Private Label, and it was the first of many premium offerings soon to emerge from the new brand.
After a couple of relocations to different areas in Manhattan, Nat Sherman found its permanent home at 12 E. 42nd St, where the Nat Sherman Townhouse exists today. Since the introduction of their own brand, the company has also become very well known for their high quality pipe tobacco and 'luxury' cigarettes. Basing their business strategy on maintaining and improving their current blends rather than oversaturating the market with non-stop new products yearly, this attention to consistency and detail is what has cemented Nat Sherman as one of the most respected and dependable names in the entire industry.