Share Based Compensation (Details 2) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2011 Y	Dec. 31, 2010 Y	Dec. 31, 2009 Y
The fair value of granted options and SARs for the Lorillard Plan
Weighted average expected dividend yield	5.80%	6.20%	5.50%
Weighted average expected implied volatility	30.00%	23.60%	30.50%
Weighted average risk-free interest rate	1.50%	1.90%	2.30%
Expected holding period (in years)	5.0	5.0	5.0
Weighted average fair value of awards	$ 14.71	$ 7.34	$ 11.08

The period of time an equity-based award is expected to be outstanding. An equity-based award's expected term is generally determined based on, among other factors, the instrument's contractual term and the effects of employees' expected exercise and post-vesting employment termination behavior.

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The estimated measure of the percentage by which a share price is expected to fluctuate during a period. Volatility also may be defined as a probability-weighted measure of the dispersion of returns about the mean. The volatility of a share price is the standard deviation of the continuously compounded rates of return on the share over a specified period. That is the same as the standard deviation of the differences in the natural logarithms of the stock prices plus dividends, if any, over the period.

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