XXII 22nd Century Group Inc

22nd Century Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: XXII), a tobacco products company that is leading the fight against nicotine by offering smokers a choice about their nicotine consumption, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Smoker Friendly, one of its largest customers, to launch Smoker Friendly VLN branded reduced nicotine content cigarette products that will become the first VLN partner brand.

The introduction of Smoker Friendly VLN and 22nd Century VLN in Smoker Friendly outlets will be one of the first presentations of gold and menthol SKU’s that introduce the new VLN branding.

The addition of Smoker Friendly branded VLN and 22nd Century Group’s VLN products builds on a customer relationship of over 10 years, as does the recent addition of the Smoker Friendly Black Label style cigarette. The Companies are currently obtaining state approvals for these products and expect to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2025.

Larry Firestone, Chief Executive Officer of 22nd Century, said, “We are very excited to have Smoker Friendly adopt our first VLN partner brand and also add our newly rebranded VLN products to the Smoker Friendly product offerings in their stores. This is a foundational building block to advancing VLN in the market, and will be a staged rollout as we garner state approvals. Equally important to expanding distribution will be measuring rate of sale once VLN is on the shelf.”

Terry Gallagher, President and Chief Executive, Smoker Friendly said, “We are excited to expand our relationship and product portfolio to include the VLN lineup under our brand as well as the updated 22nd Century VLN brand products. This is an important step for the future of our partnership.”

About The Cigarette Store LLC dba Smoker Friendly

Boulder, Colorado based Smoker Friendly operates 344 stores in 13 states. The stores are a mix of tobacco stores, cigar lounges, liquor stores, and fueling locations under the names Smoker Friendly, Tobacco Depot, Smoke ‘N Go, Havana Manor, and Gasamat.

The Smoker Friendly team also manages the Smoker Friendly Authorized Dealer program. This program provides a total tobacco private label portfolio, industry expertise, a well-known name, and geographic exclusivity to tobacco retailers desiring an alternative to the contracts offered by big tobacco.

About 22nd Century Group, Inc.

22nd Century Group is the pioneering nicotine harm reduction company in the tobacco industry enabling smokers to take control of their nicotine consumption. 

We created our flagship product, the VLN® cigarette, to give traditional cigarette smokers an authentic and familiar alternative that helps them take control of their nicotine consumption. VLN® cigarettes have 95% less nicotine than the traditional cigarette and have been proven to greatly reduce nicotine consumption. Instead of offering new ways of delivering nicotine to addicted smokers, we offer smokers the option to take control of their nicotine consumption and make informed and more productive choices, including the choice to avoid addictive levels of nicotine altogether. 

Our wholly owned subsidiaries include a leading cigarette manufacturer that produces all VLN® products and provides turnkey contract manufacturing for other tobacco brands both domestically and internationally. The 60,000 square foot facility in Mocksville, North Carolina has the capacity to produce more than 45 million cartons of combustible tobacco products annually with additional space for expansion. 

Our proprietary reduced nicotine tobacco blends are made possible by comprehensive and patented technologies that regulate nicotine biosynthesis activities in the tobacco plant, resulting in full flavor and high yield with 95% less nicotine. Our extensive patent portfolio has been developed to ensure we have the only low nicotine combustible cigarette in the United States and critical international markets.

VLN® is a registered trademark of 22nd Century Limited LLC.

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Learn more about VLN® at tryvln.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements, including but not limited to our full year business outlook. Forward-looking statements typically contain terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “consider,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “explore,” “foresee,” “goal,” “guidance,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “preliminary,” “probable,” “project,” “promising,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding (i) our cost reduction initiatives, (ii) our expectations regarding regulatory enforcement, including our ability to receive an exemption from new regulations, (iii) our financial and operating performance and (iv) our expectations for our business interruption insurance claim. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are set forth in “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 28, 2024, and in the Company’s Quarterly Reports filed on May 15, 2024, August 13, 2024, and November 11, 2024. All information provided in this release is as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Investor Relations & Media ContactMatt KrepsInvestor Relations22nd Century Groupmkreps@xxiicentury.com214-597-8200