Cigars
After growing “gangbusters” for years, the cigar segment took a hit over the past 24 months or so, Teller said. “It was homogenized tobacco leaf (HTL) products that took the hit,” he said, leaving rolled-leaf and natural-leaf cigars to make up the difference. “Retail is still too heavy with HTL regular items,” he said, leaving him to predict an “upside to only 1.2% volume growth” in 2020.