MOCKSVILLE, N.C., April 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 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 execution of two new agreements from former customers to supply their filtered cigar products.

As part of our expanding customer partnerships, 22nd Century Group is increasing production of filtered cigars. Initial shipments are expected in the second quarter of 2025, with volumes anticipated to be 500,000 cartons or more on an annual basis.

“Over the past six months, we’ve been working to lock in new opportunities and expand our core CMO business with our legacy filtered cigar customers,” said Larry Firestone, CEO of 22nd Century Group. “Today, we’re excited to share that we’ve secured two new customer agreements, each priced appropriately to provide gross margin and consistent volume. 

These agreements build on the momentum that began in Q3 2024, when we signed an agreement with a new filtered cigar customer. This filtered cigar volume reinforces the strength of our CMO platform and supports our broader growth strategy. More importantly, it creates a potential path to expand the footprint of VLN^® through trusted partner brands and established retail channels.”

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 20, 2025. 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 Contact
Matt Kreps
Investor Relations
22nd Century Group
mkreps@xxiicentury.com
214-597-8200