TPB Takes Stake in Hemp Cigarettes

Turning Point Brands (TPB) has acquired a 20 percent stake in Wild Hempettes, a leading manufacturer of hemp cigarettes under the WildHemp and Hempettes brands, with options to increase its stake to a 100 percent ownership position based on certain milestones.

As part of the transaction, the Wild Hempettes joint venture was spun off from Crown Distributing and formed as a vehicle for TPB to be the exclusive distributor of Hempettes to U.S. brick-and-mortar retailers under a profit-sharing arrangement.

Wild Hemp was an early entrant into the hemp CBD smoking market with its Hempettes branded cigarette, the leading 20-count pack hemp smoking product in the U.S. The product is currently available in three popular styles: original, sweet and pineapple blaze. An additional menthol SKU will be added to the brand lineup by the end of 2020.

“The combination of our Hempettes product along with TPB’s distribution presence in over 210,000 outlets in North America provides tremendous growth potential,” said Zain Meghani, Wild Hempettes CEO in a statement.