
In Slaters directory of business in Amlwch in 1844 Morgan & Jones is described as a tobacco manufacturer in the pig market. By 1850 the firm were listed in Bank street and by 1856 are listed as Edward Morgan & Co with Mr Morgan living at Ty Coch near St Eleth Church. The company continued to make tobacco their own brands until the late 1940s and remained in business until 1985.
This was only the first of a number of tobacco companies in Amlwch who produced both snuff and tobacco. In 1868 Edward Morgan Hughes (Fair view) established another firm in Methusalem street. This was the only firm to manufacture cigarettes rather than pipe tobacco or snuff.
A Third company, William Mostyn of Petter’s street is also listed in 1880 and had a works at Madyn farm. The company may have been the first to be established in 1830.The company had changed name to Hugh Owen and Sons by 1910 and later became known as the Amlwch Tobacco company. “Young Wales” Amlwch shag for chewing and smoking was manufactured by Hugh Owens & Sons and their motto was: –
Tuedda dyn at eiddo da, ni siomir ei gais yma
{man goes for good things in life so he won’t be disappointed by his wish here}

Most of the tobacco leaves were obtained from areas of the British Empire and had been imported into Liverpool. Almost all of this tobacco was for use in pipe smoking. The most famous of which were “Baco werin” and “Amlwch Shag”

Three different types of tobacco were made:-
Snuff:- made from grinding the dried tobacco leave, some of which was mixed with flavourings or in some cases adulterated with cheap powder to make it go further.
Twist:- in which wetted tobacco leaves were twisted into a tight coil before being compacted in a press to form blocks which would be sold to be broken off by the customer for chewing.
Shag:- in which wetted leaves were shredded in a machine and packed into small packets and used mainly for pipe smoking.
In comparison to today’s health conscious society magnificent claims were made for some of the Amlwch tobaccos as this verse suggests.
Edward Morgan’s “Hen Wlad”
I Amlwch am dabaco
Aed Gwyddel,Sais a Chymro
Ac yno gan E Morgan fad
Y Mae’r Hen Wlad diguro
At buro’ awyr sylwch
A lladd clefydau coeliwch
Ne cheir drwy’r byd, does neb a wad
Fel mwg Hen Wlad o Amlwch
Ei glod a gan lafuwr
A thysio wnai pregethwr,
Nid oes tebyg i’r Hen Wlad
Edward Morgan’s “Old country”
To Amlwch for tobacco
The Irish,English and Welsh go,
And from E Morgan they buy
The unbeatable “old country”
For a sweet air
and to kill ills
throughout the world nothing is like
the smoke from Amlwch’s “old country”
For praise spoken by
and witnessed by a preacher,
there is nothing like “old country”