Tag: VLN

  • 22nd Century & Smoker Friendly Expand Partnership

    22nd Century & Smoker Friendly Expand Partnership

    22nd Century Group, Inc. and Smoker Friendly have signed a new five-year agreement to expand their collaboration. The deal includes manufacturing 11 existing Smoker Friendly cigarette brands and launching eight new premium products. These additions aim to strengthen Smoker Friendly’s market position by tapping into the growing demand for natural tobacco products.

    The agreement deepens a decade-long partnership between the two companies and secures a significant production volume for 22nd Century’s North Carolina manufacturing facility. The new premium Smoker Friendly brands are expected to occupy a higher-tier market segment, broadening Smoker Friendly’s customer base and increasing sales opportunities for both companies.

    A key aspect of the partnership is the potential introduction of reduced nicotine content products, which align with 22nd Century’s VLN line of non-addictive cigarettes. These products, designed to help smokers control their nicotine intake, represent a growing category in the tobacco market. The companies plan to expand their collaboration further, integrating additional products like filtered cigars and companion VLN brands.

    “Our next focus will be to expand the range of products covered under this agreement as well as our projects currently underway to add VLN companion brands that will help to build out a new category of reduced nicotine content products, creating greater visibility and sales reach for products that use our proprietary tobacco strains containing 95% less nicotine – a level considered to be non-addictive and shown in clinical studies to reduce smoking activity among adult smokers,” said Keelan Gallagher, Vice President Operations at Smoker Friendly.

  • VLN Relaunch in Korea

    VLN Relaunch in Korea

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    22nd Century Group announced a new agreement for full-scale commercial rollout of its VLN reduced-nicotine content cigarettes in South Korea. The new agreement with 22nd Century’s local partner, Nico-Tech Korea Inc., follows an initial test launch conducted in 2022 that identified product updates needed to align with local South Korean cigarette characteristics and appeal to the specific preferences of adult smokers in Korea.

    “South Korea is a unique market characterized by high smoking rates and a corresponding high commitment from its government to reduce the harms of smoking,” said Larry Firestone, chairman and CEO, in a statement. “Based on the pilot launch in 2022, we made key product modifications to better align with specific characteristics of combusted cigarettes preferred by South Korea’s adult smokers. We have made those changes and are now ready to fully enter the market with VLN export shipments to South Korea anticipated to begin later this year.

    “This relaunch with our original partner, Nico-Tech, demonstrates their commitment to smoking harm reduction and making VLN products a key part of the South Korean market through the diverse array of local retail channels they serve. We are working with Nico-Tech to plan a full launch event for the fall of 2024, including on-site support.”

    South Korea represents an estimated $1.6 billion tobacco market and was the first international market to commence sales of VLN reduced-nicotine content cigarettes. While tobacco product use has declined since signing into law the 1995 National Health Promotion Act and subsequent government actions, the prevalence of smoking remains high in certain segments of the South Korean population. It is estimated that one in three adult men in South Korea are smokers, and an estimated 6 percent of adult women smoke.

    Nico-Tech will be responsible for all local marketing activities to generate consumer demand and awareness in South Korea. The new agreement includes minimum order quantities to support the initial stocking and restocking needs of the planned South Korean distribution.

  • 22nd Century Increases VLN Availability

    22nd Century Increases VLN Availability

    22nd Century Group’s VLN reduced-nicotine content cigarettes are now available at more than 1,200 drug store locations across Texas, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Georgia. With this most recent addition, VLN is available in more than 4,000 stores across 16 states compared with approximately 1,100 stores on July 1.

    “We are excited to launch the first drug store chain selling our FDA [Food and Drug Administration]-authorized VLN tobacco harm reduction products, adding 1,200 stores across five key state markets to our growing roster of convenience store points of sale,” said John Miller, interim CEO of 22nd Century Group, in a statement. “VLN offers a new, clinically researched solution helping adult smokers reduce their smoking rate and the associated harms of smoking over time.”

    “VLN users continue to report an overwhelmingly positive experience in our market research, and most say it has helped them reduce consumption of their regular cigarette brand,” said Miller. “Research with VLN users indicates that while most nonprescription methods of quitting or reducing smoking are strongly disliked, more than 75 percent of VLN users say they like their experience with the product. As a result of using VLN, 80 percent of adult consumers report a reduction in usage of their regular brand, and many want to share their positive experience with other adult smokers.”

    VLN is the first and only FDA-authorized combustible cigarette labeled as a tobacco harm reduction product.

  • VLN Launched in California

    VLN Launched in California

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    22nd Century Group launched VLN King cigarettes in the California market. Starting July 17, VLN cigarettes will be available in California at more than 275 sites of the No. 1 convenience store in the U.S. in addition to numerous other convenience stores across California.

    “We see our VLN product offering Californians who smoke a tremendous new option because VLN cigarettes are specifically designed to help smokers smoke less, increase their number of smoke-free days and reduce their nicotine exposure and dependence,” said John Miller, 22nd Century Group president of the tobacco division, in a statement. “Our goal with VLN is to meet California consumers where they are with a combustible product that helps people smoke less.”

  • 22nd Century Produces Homogenized Leaf

    22nd Century Produces Homogenized Leaf

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    22nd Century Group has successfully produced homogenized tobacco leaf (HTL) sheet using VLN reduced-nicotine content tobacco, demonstrating a reduced-nicotine content pathway for additional large markets, such as heat-not-burn products, and as the binder or wrapper for machine-made cigars.

    “It’s time for the industry to offer adult smokers a true alternative to highly addictive nicotine products in every format,” said John Miller, president of tobacco products for the company, in a statement. “HTL is critical to the fast-growing heat-not-burn product category, where a VLN 95 percent reduced-nicotine content HTL would be a compelling alternative to the nicotine-laden tobaccos commonly used in these products. HTL is also commonly used as the binder and wrapper in the high-volume cigar market due to its greater mechanical resistance and uniformity as compared to whole tobacco leaves.”

    “Conventional tobacco products still seek to create and sustain nicotine addiction to generate sales,” said James A. Mish, CEO. “Even alternatives to conventional smoking products, such as vaping and e-cigarettes, perpetuate sales through nicotine addiction rather than giving consumers a real choice. 22nd Century wants to provide a true alternative that allows users to take control of their consumption habit once and for all by breaking the chains of nicotine addiction.”

    VLN HTL sheet product could be manufactured and sold as a raw material input or produced under license for companies interested in offering reduced-nicotine content and nonaddictive products.

  • VLN Debuts in “Four Corners” States

    VLN Debuts in “Four Corners” States

    Photo: 22nd Century Group

    22nd Century Group is launching its VLN reduced-nicotine content in the “Four Corners” states—Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. The company will leverage both existing partners and new distribution networks. VLN was previously introduced in Colorado and Illinois.

    “With the addition of three more states, we are moving ahead with our plans to rapidly make our innovative products available to a much larger portion of the adult smoker population in the United States,” said John J. Miller, president of 22nd Century’s tobacco business, in a statement.

    “This is a massive market in need of new solutions to help adult smokers smoke less. Every 1 percent share of the U.S. market equates to approximately $800 million in sales at the register, which is about $500 million in revenue to a premium cigarette manufacturer.

    “These four states will demonstrate our scalable and repeatable state launch blueprint for VLN, which we are now leveraging to rapidly put our product in front of an ever-growing population of adult smokers looking for a way to smoke less.

    “Additionally, we have the benefit of favorable MRTP excise tax structures for tobacco products sold in Utah and New Mexico, similar to the beneficial programs in Colorado, that can assist us in getting the word out to adults who can benefit from our products.

    22nd Century Group’s proprietary VLN cigarettes smoke, smell and taste like a cigarette but contain approximately 95 percent less nicotine than conventional cigarettes, a level shown to be nonaddictive, according to 22nd Century Group.

  • 22nd Century Partners With Eagle Rock

    22nd Century Partners With Eagle Rock

    Photo: 22nd Century

    22nd Century Group will start placing its VLN reduced-nicotine cigarettes in thousands of stores across Colorado with Eagle Rock Distributing Co. With more than 90 years of history, Eagle Rock Distributing Co. is a leading beverage distributor of premium alcoholic beverages servicing license retailers across Georgia and Colorado.

    “We’re thrilled to partner with Eagle Rock as we open VLN sales across Colorado. In addition to our existing retail partnerships from our Chicago pilot, we now have access to nearly 7,000 prospective new locations through Eagle Rock’s network, to include both on-premise and off-premise locations,” said John J. Miller, president of 22nd Century’s tobacco business, in a statement.

    “We are excited to partner with 22nd Century Group to market VLN across the state of Colorado,” said Michael Economos, president of Eagle Rock Distributing Co. “We want Colorado to be the first state to have a combustible cigarette brand that meets the U.S. Food and Drug Administration[‘s]

    and Biden administration’s proposed nicotine cap broadly available to adult smokers across the state to truly help them smoke less. We have had similar ‘nonalcoholic’ adult beverage offerings for decades, and we are way overdue for adult cigarette smokers to have an analogous option.”

    22nd Century also partners with Circle K, one of the largest convenience chains in North America, and Smoker Friendly, a leading pioneer in the cigarette and tobacco store category with more than 800 independently owned and operated retail stores.

  • 22nd Pilots its Low-Nicotine Brand in Illinois

    22nd Pilots its Low-Nicotine Brand in Illinois

    Photo: 22nd Century Group

    22nd Century Group’s VLN cigarettes are now available through a national pilot in select Chicagoland Circle K stores, the company announced in a press release.

    Containing 95 percent less nicotine than conventional cigarettes, VLN cigarettes in December 2021 became the first combustible cigarettes to receive authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be marketed as modified-risk tobacco products.

    When choosing Chicagoland for the pilot, 22nd Century noted smokers are found within every segment of the population, many of whom are looking for alternatives. The Centers for Disease Control estimates 15.5 percent of Illinois adults aged 18 years or older smoke cigarettes, higher than the national average of 12.5 percent, according to 2018 state and 2020 national statistics.

    A pack of VLN cigarettes will be similarly priced to full nicotine premium brands, approximately between $9 and $12, depending on tax. Illinois is the second most expensive cigarette retail market in the United States.

    The three- to six-month pilot will be the first U.S. sales of VLN King and VLN Menthol King cigarettes. 22nd Century is also launching VLN cigarettes in South Korea, its first international market. Following the pilot, 22nd Century and Circle K intend to expand sales nationwide to more than 7,000 stores in 48 states.

    On April 4, 2022, the Illinois Attorney General’s Tobacco Enforcement Bureau added 22nd Century Group’s VLN cigarettes to the Illinois Directory of Participating Manufacturers listing. The registration was the final step before 22nd Century could begin distribution.

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