The US cigarette market is a quasi-duopoly with two companies, Altria’s Philip Morris USA and British American Tobacco (BAT)’s Reynolds American, owning 84% market share by retail value (i.e. amount of money spent by the consumers to buy cigarettes) and 79% market share by sales volume (i.e. number of cigarette sticks sold). Imperial Brands, Vector and all other manufacturers, including Japan tobacco, serve the rest of the market.
The Top-10 Brands in the US cigarette market by retail turnover are:
| Rank | Brand | Manufacturer | Market Share |
| 1 | Marlboro | Altria | 45.8% |
| 2 | Newport | BAT | 12.7% |
| 3 | Camel | BAT | 7.9% |
| 4 | Natural American Spirit | BAT | 4.4% |
| 5 | Pall Mall | BAT | 3.8% |
| 6 | L&M | Altria | 2.4% |
| 7 | Lucky Strike | BAT | 2.1% |
| 8 | Winston | Imperial | 2.0% |
| 9 | Kool | Imperial | 1.8% |
| 10 | Montego | Vector | 1.8% |
A century after its launch, Marlboro continues to be – by far – the #1 brand of smokes in the USA. It is regarded as the best cigarette by many; almost one in every two American smokers prefer Marlboro. With 42% volume and 46% value share, Marlboro is still bigger than the next 9 US cigarette brands combined. Although far from its heyday (i.e. in 1990, Financial World magazine named Marlboro as the most valuable brand the in the world), Marlboro’s brand equity is matchless in the tobacco industry: in the past 5 years, retail sales price of Marlboro increased by 5.6% per year, from $7.05 to $9.27 per pack (overall USA average). In the same period, Marlboro’s volume share declined only by 1.2pp and value share remained largely unchanged. Read more on: Marlboro.
Marlboro-owner, Altria, has only one other brand in the Top-10 list: L&M (jokingly called Little Marlboro in the Industry although its name comes from the original manufacturer of L&M, Liggett & Myers – now part of Vector Group).
BAT‘s Reynolds American has the most versatile portfolio with 5 brands in the Top-10. America’s #2, Newport, is both the signature brand for menthol cigarettes and the leading premium brand for Reynolds American (BAT). Camel and Natural American Spirit are the other iconic brands in the portfolio. However, in terms of volume performance, Lucky Strike is the rising star of the family. Following the replacement of Pall Mall with Lucky Strike as the EDLP (Every Day Low Price) brand by Reynolds, Lucky Strike’s sales volume increased by +24% over the past 12 months – reaching 4.5% volume share driven by its “value for money” positioning. In the same period, Pall Mall’s sales volume collapsed by 25%.
One final note on Reynolds American: BAT claims to own 33.9% volume share in the US cigarette market – higher than the third-party retail audit (scan) data. It is not clear to what extent BAT includes the deep discount segment in its market share calculation. For instance, in the volume variance commentary, BAT lists deep-discount segment growth and overall market share change as two separate variables – noting that it has no presence in the deep discount segment (- which has 15% volume share in the USA in 2024). Meanwhile, with 42.4% share, BAT leads the branded value segment (- which also has 15% volume share in the USA in 2024).
ITG Brands, the US subsidiary of Imperial Brands, owns two brands in the Top-10. ITG’s two core brands, Winston and Kool, are price positioned close to the premium competitive brands (i.e. Marlboro and Newport). ITG’s Maverick, the closest brand to Top-10, competes in the branded value (traditional value) segment. However, in terms of volume performance, ITG’s two deep discount brands, Sonoma and Crowns shine out: the former’s volume is flat and the latter’s volume increased by +40% over the past 12 months in a market declining close to 10%. Similar to Reynolds American, ITG also claims a higher volume share than the third-party retail audit (scan) data (i.e. more than 10% claimed vs. 8.4% reported by the third-party).
Vector Group is the 4th largest manufacturer in the USA focused on the traditional (Pyramid and Eagle 20’s) and deep discount (Montego) segments. In parallel to the increased macro-economical pressures on the US consumer over the past three years, Vector’s Montego has grown to become the largest brand of smokes in the deep discount category, capturing more than 4% volume share in 2024 (larger than ITG’s all deep discount brands combined). Although Montego is now the fourth largest brand in the USA in terms of sales volume, it ranks #10 in terms of value (retail turnover) share due to its ultra-low price positioning. Montego is set to move up to the #6 position in terms of value share as the brand strategy transition (from volume-based to income-based, resulting in the average price of Montego lifted up to US$5 per pack level) is completed without losing excessive amount of volume share.
Japan Tobacco (JT) is the 5th largest manufacturer in the USA with 2.3% volume share. Although JT’s LD brand (competing in the deep discount segment) makes it to the Top-10 in terms of volume share, it is left out of the Top-10 in terms of value share due to its ultra-low retail price. Following the acquisition of Vector Group by Japan Tobacco (announced on August 21, 2024), JT became the 4th largest manufacturer in the USA – owning two Top-10 brands by volume share (Montego and LD).
