22nd Century Group Rolls Out Private Label Cigarettes

Biotech firm 22nd Century Group has reached an agreement to sell what the company says is a private label premium cigarette brand to one of the nation’s largest convenience store chains. 

The line will be offered under the Pinnacle private brand to a retailer that 22nd Century did not identify. The Buffalo, NY-based company did say the chain operates approximately 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. "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 authorized VLN reduced nicotine cigarettes designed specifically to help adult smokers to smoke less."

According to the company, 22nd Century holds multiple patents that allow it to control the nicotine biosynthesis in the tobacco plant and has developed proprietary reduced nicotine content (RNC) tobacco plants and cigarettes. These products have become the cornerstone of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Comprehensive Plan to address the widespread death and disease caused by smoking. 

In 2021, the company received the first and only FDA Modified Risk Tobacco Product (MRTP) authorization of a combustible cigarette in December 2021. In tobacco, hemp/cannabis and hop plants, 22nd Century said it uses plant breeding technologies, including genetic engineering, gene-editing, and molecular breeding to deliver solutions for the life science and consumer products industries. 

The result is new, proprietary plants with optimized alkaloid and flavonoid profiles as well as improved yields and valuable agronomic traits, the company added. Products in the line are manufactured in North Carolina.