Altria's tobacco subsidiary Philip Morris is the world's largest commercial tobacco company by sales (the China National Tobacco Co. and Japan Tobacco sell larger volumes). Their flagship Marlboro brand is the world's most popular tobacco brand. Other popular tobacco brands owned by Phillip Morris are Parliament, Virginia Slims, and Benson and Hedges (in some markets only).
Philip Morris was begun by a London tobacconist of the same name. He was one of the first people to sell hand-rolled cigarettes in the 1860s, selling them under the brand names Oxford and Cambridge Blues, following the adoption of cigarette smoking by British soldiers returning from the Crimean War. The company opened its New York office in 1902 and soon became part of James Duke's American Tobacco monopoly. |
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