 Within this ruling, it was noted that “defendants altered the chemical form of nicotine delivered in mainstream cigarette smoke for the purpose of improving nicotine transfer efficiency and increasing the speed with which nicotine is absorbed by smokers.“ This was done by manipulating smoke pH with ammonia.Adding ammonia increases the smoke pH, in a process called “freebasing” which causes smokers to be “exposed to higher internal nicotine doses and become more addicted to the product.”

On March 30, 2007, Altria's 88.1% stake in Kraft Foods was spun off, through a distribution of the remaining stake of shares (88.1%) to Altria shareholders.That same year, Altria began selling all its shares of Philip Morris International to Altria stockholders, a spin-off that was completed on March 28, 2008.