The U.S. cigar market is comprised of two segments: small and large cigars. The large cigar segment includes both large machine-made cigars and hand-rolled premium cigars.
John Middleton competes in the large machine-made cigar segment. This segment is estimated to have grown volumes at a compound annual rate of approximately 4% over the 2003 to 2007 period.
The chart below demonstrates some of the differences in the cigar categories:
