(Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive)
22nd Century Group has started producing a new private label premium cigarette brand, Pinnacle, under a new manufacturing agreement. Pinnacle is for sale at a leading U.S. gas station convenience store chain comprising almost 1,700 stores in 27 states.
“We are excited to launch a new store-brand product with one of the largest convenience store chains in the country and one of the highest volume cigarette points of sale per outlet square foot,” said John Miller, president of tobacco products at 22nd Century Group, in a statement.
“We believe that working with premier retailers on conventional products like Pinnacle offers value to current adult smokers as we aggressively expand our flagship product, FDA [Food and Drug Administration]-authorized VLN reduced-nicotine cigarettes designed specifically to help adult smokers to smoke less,” said Miller.
22nd Century Group provided the trademarked brand name and predicate tobacco blend for the new Pinnacle product, which is produced at its manufacturing operations in North Carolina. Pinnacle is approved in 22 states to date where the retail partner has stores and is available in approximately half of eligible stores to date as availability continues to expand.
“Pinnacle represents a key opportunity to further scale our revenue and margins, advancing 22nd Century toward its goal of cash positive operations,” said 22nd Century Group CEO James A. Mish.
“The rollout of this new brand into such a large number of stores across more than two dozen states also demonstrates how we expect to benefit from expanded utilization of our new national scale distribution relationships for our VLN products, supporting placement into a broader range of well-known retail points of sale for both our conventional cigarette products and our new VLN 95 percent reduced-nicotine content products designed specifically for adult smokers who want to smoke less,” Mish said.