MAJOR hairball issue with cat.

I hope someone here can offer some help with this situation.

2 months ago I acquired a cat that had been abandoned by it's previous owners...and now I think I know why...

This is a netured female black cat about 2 years old as near as we can tell.
Her fur is such that it's thick and fuzzy underneath and silky and smoothe on top.

In the last month, she's shed the under layer...and I assumed it was finished being shed. She looks like a completely different cat without it, but I've had other cats who shed like this in the spring and summer and it grows back in the winter.

For the past week, every day she's been coughing up these gigantic hairballs that literally look like cigars. She's not vomiting food...just these gross hairballs.

I've tried 4 different hairball remedies and it doesn't help. I didn't think there was enough hair left for her to shed, but evidently, there must be. I brush her daily but that doesn't seem to make any difference. There's no hair in her stools, either.

It's now at the point where this is disgusting.

Do those foods that supposedly help with hairballs work ?

The next step, I guess, is a Vet visit...but I was wondering if anyone else ever has this problem. She isn't lethargic or showing any symptoms of illness...just these humungous hairballs.

Thanks for any input ! (No need to attach a photo of these vile things !!!)