22nd Century Group (Nasdaq: XXII) VLN® Reduced Nicotine Content Cigarettes Awarded Best New Product by Convenience Store News

VLN^® King and VLN^® Menthol King is the Most Important Innovation in the Cigarette Category in Decades

Highlights Consumer Desire for an Alternative to Addictive Conventional Cigarettes

BUFFALO, N.Y., Aug. 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- 22nd Century Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: XXII), a leading agricultural biotechnology company dedicated to improving human health with reduced nicotine tobacco, hemp/cannabis, and hops advanced plant technologies, today announced that VLN^® King and VLN^® Menthol King reduced nicotine content cigarettes have been awarded Best New Product in the cigarette category by Convenience Store News.

Now in its 26^th year, the Best New Products Awards recognize the most innovative, high-quality products introduced into the convenience channel to meet consumer's evolving needs and fit a convenience store's value proposition. There has never been an award in the cigarette category. The award to VLN^® reflects the consumer desire for and interest in a reduced nicotine content cigarette that "helps you smoke less".

"We are honored and excited that VLN^® was recognized with the best new product award in the cigarette category by Convenience Store News. VLN^® is truly a gamechanger and this award confirms the market's interest in VLN^® and their interest in new tools to help adult smokers smoke less. Our VLN^® pilot has exceeded expectations in Chicago, and we are now expanding our VLN^® launch statewide in Colorado as we work to broaden availability of this important new product," said John J. Miller, President of 22nd Century's Tobacco Business.

The Best New Products Awards are judged by a panel of consumers on value, convenience, appearance, and packaging, along with attributes such as taste and ingredients. Judging was supervised and tallied by Past Times Marketing, a New York based consumer research and product testing firm.

About 22nd Century Group, Inc.
22nd Century Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: XXII) is a leading agricultural biotechnology company focused on tobacco harm reduction, reduced nicotine tobacco and improving health and wellness through plant science. With dozens of patents allowing it to control nicotine biosynthesis in the tobacco plant, the Company has developed proprietary reduced nicotine content (RNC) tobacco plants and cigarettes, which have become the cornerstone of the FDA's Comprehensive Plan to address the widespread death and disease caused by smoking. The Company received the first and only FDA MRTP authorization of a combustible cigarette in December 2021. In tobacco, hemp/cannabis, and hop plants, 22nd Century uses modern plant breeding technologies, including genetic engineering, gene-editing, and molecular breeding to deliver solutions for the life science and consumer products industries by creating new, proprietary plants with optimized alkaloid and flavonoid profiles as well as improved yields and valuable agronomic traits.

Learn more at xxiicentury.com, on Twitter, on LinkedIn, and on YouTube.

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. 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. 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 1, 2022, and in the Company's Quarterly Report filed on August 9, 2022. 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
Mei Kuo
22nd Century Group, Inc.
Director, Communications & Investor Relations
[email protected]

Darrow Associates Investor Relations
Matt Kreps
T: 214-597-8200
[email protected]