Contingencies MSA and Other State Settlement Agreements (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended			9 Months Ended		9 Months Ended	1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	25 Months Ended			9 Months Ended		12 Months Ended	78 Months Ended				9 Months Ended									12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014 Liggett and Vector Tobacco [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Liggett Vector Brands [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Putney, Tullo, Calloway, Buchanan, Cohen and Rizzuto [Member] Liggett [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Damages From Cigarette Smoking MSA and Other State Settlement Agreements [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Damages From Cigarette Smoking MSA and Other State Settlement Agreements [Member] Liggett and Vector Tobacco [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Damages From Cigarette Smoking MSA and Other State Settlement Agreements [Member] Liggett and Vector Tobacco [Member]	Nov. 30, 1998 Damages From Cigarette Smoking MSA and Other State Settlement Agreements [Member] Liggett [Member] state	Mar. 31, 1998 Damages From Cigarette Smoking MSA and Other State Settlement Agreements [Member] Liggett [Member] state	Sep. 30, 2014 Damages From Cigarette Smoking MSA and Other State Settlement Agreements [Member] Liggett [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Damages From Cigarette Smoking MSA and Other State Settlement Agreements [Member] Vector Tobacco [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Master Settlement Agreement [Member]	Nov. 30, 1998 Master Settlement Agreement [Member] Liggett [Member] state	Dec. 31, 2003 NPM Adjustment [Member] state	Sep. 30, 2012 NPM Adjustment [Member] state	Sep. 30, 2014 NPM Adjustment [Member] state	Dec. 17, 2012 NPM Adjustment [Member] state	Nov. 30, 2011 NPM Adjustment [Member] state	Sep. 30, 2013 NPM Adjustment [Member] Liggett and Vector Tobacco [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 NPM Adjustment [Member] Liggett and Vector Tobacco [Member]	Apr. 15, 2014 NPM Adjustment [Member] Liggett and Vector Tobacco [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 NPM Adjustment [Member] Liggett [Member]	Apr. 30, 2014 NPM Adjustment [Member] Liggett [Member]	Apr. 15, 2014 NPM Adjustment [Member] Liggett [Member]	Apr. 02, 2014 NPM Adjustment [Member] Liggett [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 NPM Adjustment [Member] Liggett [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Gross Versus Net Dispute [Member] Liggett [Member]	Dec. 31, 2003 Minnesota Settlement [Member] Liggett [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Florida Settlement [Member] Liggett [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Florida Settlement [Member] Liggett [Member] year	Feb. 29, 2012 Mississippi Settlement [Member] Liggett [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Minimum [Member] Florida Settlement [Member] Liggett [Member] year	Sep. 30, 2014 Maximum [Member] Master Settlement Agreement [Member] sponsorship	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member] Gross Versus Net Dispute [Member] Liggett [Member]	Sep. 30, 2014 Maximum [Member] Florida Settlement [Member] Liggett [Member] year
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Number of States											46	45
Number of brand name sponsorships allowed																																				1
Brand name sponsorship period															12 months
Annual payment requirement								$ 9,000,000,000																							$ 100,000	$ 250,000
MSA payment obligations													0	0
Percentage of Total Cigarettes Sold That Exceeds Market Share Exemption													1.65%	0.28%																1.25%							1.645%
Total cigarettes sold					3.30%
Settlement payment									(95,000,000)																							(1,200,000)
Settlement Accruals										16,300,000
Aggregate number of settling states																		49
Amounts not expensed by the Company																	1,200,000,000
Courts that did not rule																	1
Courts that decided the issue																	48
Settling states																	45
Allocable share of settling states																	90.00%
Reduction of any Potential 2003 NPM Adjustment																	20.00%
Number of settling states with diligent enforcement not contested																				20	16
Non-settling states																			15
Non-settling states that did not diligently enforce escrow statutes																			6
Settlement adjustment credit																								1,733,000	1,400,000	521,000	5,152,000	6,441,000	5,987,000
Loss Contingency, Settlement Adjustment Credit, Disputed Entitled Amount																											1,315,000
Gain (loss) related to litigation settlement																						6,947,000
Accrued expense for this matter																							25,809,000							8,500,000
Amount remaining in disputed payment accounts																							24,400,000
Maximum loss exposure						500,000	27,926,000
Number of states not included in settlement agreement																4
Years annual payments required																																	21
Years annual payments required that are subject to inflation adjustment																																			12			21
Term of notice from state																																		60 days
Letter of credit						100,000
Agreed additional amount funded						400,000
Litigation settlement and judgment expense	225,000	87,913,000	1,725,000	87,913,000		83,000
Agreed additional amount funded adjusted						$ 317,000