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Hemp plants maturing under Virginia’s warm summer sun. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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Cherokee 100s softpack. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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Cherokee KS hardbox. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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Palmetto 100s softpack. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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Cherokee KS Menthol. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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pure ice, the mentholated hemp cigarette variety offered by JEB International. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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pure premium is among the 6 flavor and aroma varieties of “hemp smokes” offered by JEB International Tobacco. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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JEB International Tobacco’s hemp cigarettes are 100% organically grown. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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Budding hemp plants welcoming a new day in the morning haze. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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JEB International Tobacco presently harvests about 500,000 pounds of hemp annually. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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Michael Zercher, president and c.o.o., 22nd Century Group. 22nd Century Group, Inc.
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John Pritchard, vp regulatory science, 22nd Century Group. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
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John Pritchard, vp regulatory science, 22nd Century Group. Credit: JEB International Tobacco Co. LLC
As hemp liberation commences in great strides, some companies have begun supplementing their tobacco portfolios with a wholly new product category.
For years, conventional tobacco growers and manufacturers have experienced continually declining demand due to stricter regulations, steep tax hikes, and sometimes rather hostile anti-tobacco campaigns. And the meteoric rise of vaping technology and heated tobacco products (HTPs) put them under additional pressure. But then something remarkable happened quite recently: the so-called “hemp liberation”.
Only a decade ago, the mainstream press – not to mention politicians and anti-vice advocates – would have torn to shreds any established tobacco company that announced it intended to add hemp to its product portfolio. Then, almost overnight (metaphorically speaking), attitudes towards hemp began to change. Several US states have legalized cannabis, and more and more countries elsewhere are softening their stance against the plant itself and the products derived from it, too.
The magic catalyst was of course the hype surrounding CBD (cannabidiol), a substance contained in hemp that was suddenly praised for its various health benefits. Even THC (tetrahydrocannabiol), the well-known psychoactive chemical concentrated in the plant’s buds and flowers, started to be recognized as beneficial when taken in moderation and under medical supervision.
JEB International Tobacco
The Conservative Traditionalist
What is today JEB International Tobacco Co. Inc. began as a humble, family-owned tobacco farm in the late 1800s, according to company c.e.o., Jay Barker. “I am the fifth generation and we produce air-cured burley, conventional, and organic flue-cured virginia,” he said. Over the past decades, JEB greatly expanded beyond the family operation, of course, nowadays contracting growers in the US and Brazil but also sourcing tobaccos from Greece, Turkey, Uganda, India, and Zimbabwe.
JEB International also supplies its tobaccos to a subsidiary, Firebird Manufacturing LLC, the exclusive manufacturer of Cherokee cigarettes and pipe tobacco, as well as Palmetto cigarettes. Marketed through yet another sister company, Cherokee Tobacco Co. LLC, Cherokee was launched in 1995, followed by Palmetto in 2008. While the US remains the sole market for Cherokee, Palmetto has in the meantime become available in some Middle Eastern countries, too.
In 2017, JEB took its big leap, moving into hemp cultivation under a university research license granted by Virginia Technical College. “By 2018, we began growing hemp commercially in both Virginia and North Carolina, harvesting 50,000 pounds in our first year,” recalled Barker. “This has now increased ten-fold to over 500,000 pounds annually.”
After having acquired grower licenses in both mentioned states, as well as holding processor and dealer licenses in Virginia, the company currently plants the hemp varieties Berry Blossom, Baox, T1, and “some pure CBG [cannabigerol, another non-psychoactive compound] strains,” according to Barker. “All of our hemp varieties are fully compliant [with relevant laws] with a maximum total THC content of 0.3% and CBD at around 12%, while our CBG varieties contain under 0.2% THC but up to 20% CBG.”
After venturing into hemp growing, it was only a logical next step for JEB to eventually also create its own “hemp smokes”. “We are now a full-service hemp company and have been offering 100% organic hemp cigarettes commercially since July of 2018. We branded them pure and they are available in six different varieties, including a mentholated one,” Barker told Tobacco Asia. Manufactured at an organic, food grade, and CGMP certified factory, Barker asserted that all of them are law-compliant in every respect.
But, there is a caveat nevertheless: at least in the US, a hemp cigarette blend must not contain any tobacco, hence Barker’s repeated stress that his “hemp smokes” are “100% pure” not only by brand name but also regarding content. And while non-combustible CBD products are now legal everywhere in the US, there is a small handful of states where Barker’s hemp cigarettes can at this point not be marketed. But, looking abroad, he is “at the moment” exploring the viability of “targeting offshore markets in Europe and Asia, but also South Africa.” Talk about trying to get a foot in the door...
22nd Century Group
The Vanguard Bioscientist
Headquartered in Buffalo, New York, 22nd Century Group Inc. is not your typical tobacco company. Far from it. Instead, president and c.o.o. Michael Zercher described it as “a leading agricultural biotechnology and intellectual property company focused on improving global health and wellness through plant science.” And that “plant science” also includes tobacco, hemp and, more recently, hops.
About a decade ago, the company made worldwide headlines when it succeeded in creating genetically engineered tobacco plants that naturally developed a considerably lower nicotine content in its leaves than conventionally farmed varieties. John Pritchard, the company’s vice president for regulatory science, explained, “22nd Century is a global leader in the genetic advancement of tobacco plants using a variety of technologies and breeding practices. We have a significant intellectual property portfolio of issued and pending patent applications around the world related to the biosynthesis of nicotine in the tobacco plant.” Based on these patents, 22nd Century is able to grow tobacco plants that yield just 0.5mg nicotine per gram of cured leaf. To put that into perspective, a cigarette made solely with 22nd Century’s modified tobacco contains about 95% less nicotine than a conventional one.
22nd Century foremost defines itself as a “supplier of plants and plant extracts to consumer product and life science companies.” However, in 2011 the company also launched a line of variable nicotine “research cigarettes” that used its biogenetically engineered tobacco. These products were (and still are) made exclusively available to bona-fide independent clinical research projects by academia and public health. “Studies have shown that reduced-nicotine cigarettes help smokers decrease their consumption by 50% on average, increase their quit attempts and the number of days they go without smoking – all with minimal to no withdrawal symptoms or compensatory smoking,” explained Pritchard. “We’re very excited about how much [our reduced-nicotine cigarettes] can help smokers to change their relationship with smoking for the better.”
Encouraging study results paired with the US FDA’s impending plan to require all cigarettes sold in the US in the future to be “minimally addictive or non-addictive,” prompted 22nd Century to file a premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) with FDA “to bring our reduced nicotine content cigarettes to market with MRTP [modified risk tobacco product] claims.” The brand specifically created for that purpose was named VLN.
Procedures dragged on until 2019, when the FDA finally authorized the commercial sale of 22nd Century’s product after a rigorous science-based review of the application had determined that it was “appropriate for the protection of public health.” “It’s important to remember that this is a combustible cigarette, so [the application success] was a very big deal and an accomplishment of which we are very proud,” said Pritchard. Michael Zercher added that “at the time of writing we are one of only three companies to have secured a PMTA authorization from FDA – and ours is the only combustible tobacco product.”
However, a successful PMTA application does not automatically tag along with MRTP recognition. 22nd Century is still pursuing that extremely complex authorization pathway, but anticipates it to come through very shortly. “Once we have it, we would bring the product to market with a headline claim of ‘95% less nicotine’ on the pack and in our advertising,” Zercher said. “We plan to launch VLN within 90 days [of MRTP approval] in pilot markets in the US, and we are also working on launches in several markets outside the US beginning in the first quarter next year.”
In addition to its bioengineered tobacco franchise, 22nd Century Group has also turned its attention to the hemp market. “Our mission in that space is to develop and commercialize proprietary hemp plants with valuable cannabinoid profiles and desirable agronomic traits to enable the seismic growth projected for the cannabis industry,” said Michael Zercher. He added that the cannabis industry presently relies on plant varieties that were bred using traditional methods. However, Zercher affirmed that these conventional strains are not optimized for large-scale growing, particularly outdoors. “Without the science [that we can offer], the industry will stumble along with the costly, non-scalable genetics and growing technologies used today,” he said.
Over the past two years, 22nd Century has therefore engaged in building a network of strategic partnerships to maximize and support each component in the upstream value chain. These components include plant profiling to tailor the development of specific plant traits to the needs of customers; genetics to deliver differentiated traits to maximize yield of a specific cannabinoid or deliver a specific taste or fragrance; and commercialscale plant breeding and cultivation. “Thanks to these partnerships, we now control the most comprehensive and innovative upstream cannabinoid value chain and expect to start generating revenue from hemp by the end of 2021,” Zercher elaborated. “Keep your eyes on 22nd Century Group! We are here to innovate while helping our customers and consumers along the way!”
“Low Yield” Vs. “Low Content”
Even seasoned tobacco industry professionals occasionally confuse the terms “low nicotine yield” and “low nicotine content”; or even use them interchangeably. While there are indeed a number of “low nicotine yield” cigarettes available, not one single “low nicotine content” cigarette is presently marketed anywhere in the world. The distinct difference between “yield” and “content” is therefore important to understand.
“Yield is the amount of nicotine in tobacco smoke as measured in a lab, using standard protocols,” 22nd Century Group’s John Pritchard explained to Tobacco Asia. “However, the tobaccos used in ‘low yield’ and ‘high yield’ cigarettes alike are basically the same.” Due to their particular construction, low yield products may have less nicotine per puff to enter the body, although filter vent blocking can increase yield even in so called low yield products. Substantially lower yields can lead to often observed “compensatory smoking”, i.e. when a smoker consumes more “light” cigarettes than they would “regular” ones over the course of a day to maintain the nicotine level their body craves.
By contrast, a “low nicotine content” cigarette indicates the actual concentration of nicotine in the tobacco itself; not in the smoke. And if that nicotine content is low enough it does not lead to compensatory smoking, according to Pritchard. “Independent science has found time and again that if the nicotine content is lowered by at least 90-95%, overall cigarette consumption will reduce rapidly. There is simply not enough nicotine in the products for compensatory behaviors, such as blocking filter ventilation or increasing puffing intensity to affect a higher nicotine yield, which smokers quickly realize during product use. The result is reduced consumption and increased quit attempts, providing clear benefits to smokers and public health,” Pritchard said.