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Liggett Group ( ), formerly known as Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, is the fourth largest tobacco company in the United States. Its headquarters are located in
Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
, though its manufacturing facility is 30 miles to the west in
Mebane, North Carolina Mebane is a city located mostly in Alamance County, North Carolina, United States, and partly in Orange County. The town was named for Alexander Mebane, an American Revolutionary War general and member of the U.S. Congress. It was incorporated ...
. The company is a subsidiary of holding company
Vector Group Vector Group Ltd. is an American diversified holding company with two major businesses: Liggett Group LLC (tobacco) and New Valley LLC (real estate), including Douglas Elliman. Bennett S. LeBow founded Vector Group in 1986. Since then, he has ...
.


History

John Edmund Liggett's grandfather, Christopher Foulks, was the owner of a snuff mill in
New Egypt, New Jersey New Egypt is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Plumsted Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States.War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
the mill was razed by British soldiers. Foulks moved west around 1820 and opened a new snuff shop in
Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city and the county seat of St. Clair County, Illinois, coterminous with the now defunct Belleville Township. It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville and the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows. The p ...
, in 1822. In 1833 he moved his tobacco business to
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
, where in 1844–1847 (dates uncertain) John Edmund Liggett entered his grandfather's business. By 1858, Foulks's company was known as J. E. Liggett and Brother. Around 1869 the company created the first blended cigarettes, using a mixture of Turkish and Virginia tobaccos. A partnership was formed with George Smith Myers of Missouri, and in 1873 The Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company was incorporated. In 1876, Liggett & Myers introduced L&M plug chewing tobacco, during the 1880s it entered the cigarette business and by 1885 the company had become the world's largest manufacturer of plug chewing tobacco. John E. Liggett died in 1897 and two years later Liggett & Myers was acquired by
American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members ...
, controlled by
James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University. ...
. George S. Myers died in 1910 and the following year the U.S. Court of Appeals issued a Dissolution Decree to the American Tobacco Company which created the opportunity for Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company to be reborn. It was headquartered in St Louis again. Liggett & Myers continued to release new brands. In 1912,
Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...
was reintroduced as a Turkish-Virginia blended cigarette and in 1915 Burley and Maryland tobaccos were added to Chesterfield blend. It was in 1916 that Chesterfield became the first cigarette to add a moisture-proof, overall cover to the paper and foil pack. In 1917, the company built a warehouse and factory at Huntington, West Virginia. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1998. By 1921, cigarettes had become the most used form of tobacco. Continuing to innovate, in 1952, Liggett & Myers using Chesterfield became the first to offer cigarettes in two sizes: King and Regular. In 1953, L&M filter cigarettes were introduced. In 1963, Lark charcoal filter cigarettes were introduced. In 1968 the company changed its name to Liggett & Myers, Incorporated. In 1970, the
Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
brand was launched in regular and menthol. The company again changed its name in 1976 to Liggett Group, Inc., with Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company as a division. In 1980, Eve 120's were launched nationally and the same year Liggett was acquired by
Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to for ...
PLC. In 1981 Liggett introduces generic cigarette concept. Another name change took place in 1983, this time the head company becoming GrandMet USA with the tobacco company officially named Liggett Group Inc. In 1983, smoker Rose Cipollone filed a
lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
against the Liggett Group and two other tobacco companies that produced the cigarettes she smoked. Cipollone died of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...
in 1984, but the trial continued. The Liggett Group was charged $400,000 in damages in a 1988 court decision, but in 1992 the decision was reversed on appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in the case
Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. ''Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc.'', 505 U.S. 504 (1992), was a United States Supreme Court case. In a split opinion, the Court held that the Surgeon General's warning did not preclude lawsuits by smokers against tobacco companies on the basi ...
In 1986, Bennett S. LeBow purchased Liggett from
Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to for ...
. In 1987, Liggett's stock was offered publicly on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1988, Liggett introduced Pyramid cigarettes. In 1990 Liggett became a subsidiary of Brooke Group Ltd., a holding company owned by Mr. LeBow. In 1990,
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
acclaimed Pyramid as "one of the most successful cigarette introductions of the decade". In 1992,
Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...
and Lark were relaunched with new packaging and backed by large advertising and promotional campaigns. In 1993, Liggett developed its Control Label concept, offering customers exclusivity to market Control Brands owned by Liggett. By 1994 Liggett had expanded its Control Label family to a total of eight brands. In 1995–1996, the company attempted unsuccessfully to take over the much larger R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. In 1996–1997, Liggett Group had become the first tobacco company to settle smoking-related litigation brought by the attorneys general of several states. In 1998 Liggett signed the tobacco litigation Master Settlement Agreement, and 1999 saw the formation of Vector Tobacco Inc. In 1999, Liggett Vector Brands Inc. sold L&M, Lark and Chesterfield brands to Philip Morris Companies Inc., now known as the
Altria Group Altria Group, Inc. (previously known as Philip Morris Companies, Inc.) is an American corporation and one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes and related products. It operates worldwide and is headquartered in ...
.


References


External links


Liggett Group
{{Authority control Tobacco companies of the United States Companies based in Durham, North Carolina Former components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average