Altria Group CEO Michael Szymanczyk

Altria Group Inc., the owner of biggest U.S. cigarette maker, Marlboro maker Philip Morris USA, has been under pressure from its competitors as consumers face economic challenges and unemployment remains high.

That's on top of the tax hikes, smoking bans, health concerns and social stigma that have made the cigarette business tougher.

In the second quarter, Altria said its top-selling Marlboro brand lost 0.2 points of market share to end up with 42.6 percent of the U.S. market, but it sold about 1 percent more of the brand. It sold for an average of $5.63 per pack in the quarter, compared with an average of $4.20 per pack for the cheapest brand.

The Richmond, Va., company has introduced several new products with the Marlboro brand, often at lower prices. They include special blends of both menthol and non-menthol cigarettes to help keep the brand growing and steal smokers from its competitors.

Less-expensive brands such as Pall Mall from Reynolds American Inc. and Maverick from Lorillard Inc. attracted more smokers looking to save money.

In a conference call with analysts Wednesday regarding second-quarter earnings for Altria CEO Michael E. Szymanczyk discussed the company's Marlboro brand and the overall premium segment.

QUESTION: In terms of the cigarette category, the premium segment has been pretty resilient in this difficult economic environment. Can you foresee that changing in any way, and is there a risk that the price gap between the premium and the discount segment needs to get even narrower to sustain the premium segment momentum?

RESPONSE: The stability between premium and discount, if you go back and look at it, is pretty consistent for about a 15-year period now. ... What you see is that Marlboro's consolidating share of the premium segment, so its business comes from people who are more inclined to smoke a high-quality, premium product and I don't see anything changing that. I do think that particularly in tough economic times, you have to be thoughtful about how you manage your value equation. ... The premium segment looks pretty healthy and Marlboro is very healthy within it.