Value Vexation

Back in its heyday, Roger cigarettes used to be a “bell ringer” of fourth-tier cigarettes in the United States.

David Redmond, CEO of Portland, Ore.-based Carolina Tobacco Co., says his company’s brand sold about 1.2 billion sticks a year in the early 2000s, with the next-closest fourth-tier competitor at about 400 million.

Flash forward to today in the United States, and ironically, all is not OK for the brand that was named for the military slang that means, “I understand you, OK.”