The cigar-smoking fad may have lost some steam in other markets, but Altadis USA keeps rolling along. Created from the 2000 consolidation of HavaTampa Inc. and Consolidated Cigar Holdings, Altadis USA is a leading cigar maker nationwide that generates more than half of its parent Altadis, S.A.'s worldwide cigar sales. Altadis USA manufactures and markets both premium and mass-market cigars under well-known brand names such as Don Diego, El Producto, H. Upmann, and Montecristo. It also sells little cigars under the Dutch Treats and Supre Sweets brands, as well as humidors and cigar cases.

Imperial Tobacco Canada makes cigarettes, loose-leaf tobacco, and other tobacco-related products, including filter papers and tubes. It also operates marketing and event-planning subsidiaries. The company's brand names include du MAURIER, Player's, John Player, JPS, Matine, Peter Jackson, Sweet Caporal, Embassy, Hi-Dro, and others. Amid slumping sales, Imperial Tobacco in 2005 shuttered the last of its Canadian-based cigarette-making plants. Imperial Tobacco Canada was established in 1908 and is a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, one of the world's largest cigarette companies.

Reynolds American Inc., through its subsidiaries, manufactures cigarettes and other tobacco products in the United States. It offers cigarettes under the CAMEL, KOOL, PALL MALL, DORAL, WINSTON, SALEM, MISTY, and CAPRI brands, as well as under the DUNHILL, STATE EXPRESS 555, and NATURAL AMERICAN SPIRIT brands. The company also manufactures other tobacco products, including little cigars under the WINCHESTER and CAPTAIN BLACK brands; roll-your-own tobacco under the BUGLER brand; and moist snuff under the GRIZZLY and KODIAK brands. In addition, Reynolds American offers loose leaf chewing tobacco, dry snuff, and plug and twist tobacco products. It sells its products primarily through distributors, wholesalers, and other direct customers, including retail chains, as well as distributes cigarettes to public warehouses. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Nat Sherman makes and sells premium cigars, cigarettes, pipes, tobacco, and smoking accessories (ashtrays, cigar cutters and cases, humidors, lighters) throughout the US and in more than 40 countries worldwide. Exclusive brands include Fantasia (cigarettes), Maduro, Metropolitan, and Gotham (cigars). Run by the third-generation of the Sherman family, Joel Sherman (company president) and his son Bill (EVP), the firm operates a showroom on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street in New York City and manufactures its products in Greensboro, North Carolina. The company was founded in the 1930s by its namesake, the tobacconist Nat Sherman.

Imperial Tobacco Group has traded up to an even bigger throne. Its acquisition of Spain's Altadis in 2008 added the Montecristo and Ducados brands. Its purchase of German tobacco firm Reemtsma (Davidoff and West cigarettes) doubled its size and made it one of the world's top tobacco firms. Imperial's other brands include Lambert & Butler, the UK's #1 cigarette, as well as Castella cigars, and Amphora and St Bruno pipe tobacco. Its Drum brand is the #1 hand-rolling tobacco worldwide, and Rizla is a top cigarette paper. Acquisitions in Australia and New Zealand have assured Imperial's presence in emerging markets.

Atlantic Dominion has built a business on providing convenience to the masses. As part of its distribution arm, the company supplies more than 15,000 products -- including beverages, groceries, snacks, tobacco, and general merchandise -- to retailers across the US. It also services vending machines, providing fixture installation, product ordering, CO� gas and dry ice services, and repair. Customers include convenience stores, supermarkets, drugstores, tobacco merchants, and US military bases. Originally a seller of handmade cigars, Atlantic Dominion was founded by Leroy Davis in 1875. The company remains family owned and is led by Robin Ray, the founder's great-granddaughter.

Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken company produces a variety of brands, including Gauloises Blondes, Davidoff, Peter Stuyvesant, R1, and JPS. It sells its cigarettes through affiliated operations in more than 130 countries around the globe. Health-related legal complications have as yet not touched the company, since the majority of its sales come from areas outside those litigious towards cigarette makers. Reemtsma is a subsidiary of the UK's Imperial Tobacco.

Altadis Pyrenees Mountains may divide France and Spain, but Altadis unites the countries for a smoke. Born of the 1999 merger of Spain's Tabacalera and France's Societe Nationale d'Exploitation Industrielle des Tabacs et Allumettes (Seita), Altadis is one of the world's largest tobacco firms. Altadis brands include Ducados, Fortuna, Gauloises, and Gitanes. Its cigar operation (the top worldwide) produces Antonio y Cl opatra, Farias, Hav-A-Tampa, and Montecristo and controls a quarter of the world's cigar market (mostly from its Altadis USA unit).

Century Distributors is a full-line supplier of tobacco products and grocery items that caters to some 3,000 customers, including supermarkets, news stands, bookstores, office supply stores, convenience stores, and liquor stores throughout Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington, DC. Its products include frozen foods, health and beauty, foodservice, and tobacco, among others. The company boasts a more than 100,000-sq. ft. distribution warehouse. Other services Century offers include inventory control, manufacturer programs, and merchandising support. The mid-sized company is owned by Sheldon Sadugor and managed by his three children.

British American Tobacco Japan (BATJ) is busy catering to the will of the Japanese people while attempting to temper the regulatory decisions of the Japanese government. Having been tasked with providing smoking materials and accessories to the country's approximately 32 million smokers, BATJ also has its hand in helping to persuade or dissuade the government on taxation and regulations concerning the marketing and consumption of tobacco products. The more than 20-year-old subsidiary of British American Tobacco has 13 regional offices about Japan.

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