22nd Century Group Obtains Cigarette Distribution Licenses in New York State

nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE MKT:

), a leader in tobacco harm reduction, announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Goodrich Tobacco Company, LLC, has been granted both a New York State Cigarette Stamping Agent license and a New York State Wholesale Cigarette Dealer license. With these licenses, the Company gains the ability to distribute its RED SUN cigarettes across New York State without the need to use a middle-man distributor. In addition, 22nd Century has secured approval for RED SUN to be sold in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. Few of the nation's small, independent cigarette makers – commonly referred to as "microsmokes" – can claim to have such complete coverage. Gaining nationwide approval is especially impressive given that it has been only 10 months since 22nd Century became the first company in more than six years to be approved as a new signatory to the Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and the 46 Settling States (as a result of the Company's strategic acquisition of NASCO Products, LLC). "The New York State Stamping Agent and Wholesale Dealer licenses give us the flexibility to supply New York retail stores directly," said Karen Delaney, 22nd Century Group's Tax Compliance Manager. "Though we consider our relationships with other New York distributors very important, by securing our own licenses in New York, we gain control over distribution of our products in a key strategic region for our Company." The acquisition of licenses and state directory listings highlights the rapid expansion of RED SUN availability across the United States. After launching RED SUN in January 2015, 22nd Century has grown its retail store count to well over 300, including hundreds of stores specifically listed on its www.redsuncigarettes.com website. Retail stores in the Portland, Oregon region – a part of the Rich & Rhine distribution network – are also coming online quickly and should increase the store count to more than 500. Other distributors, currently ramping up stock and training their sales representatives, could double the RED SUN store count to more than 1,000 retail locations by the end of the third quarter. "Securing approval for RED SUN in all 50 states is an important milestone for the Company," remarked Henry Sicignano III, President and Chief Executive Officer. "I am extremely pleased with the rapid growth of our retail network and look forward to achieving 1,000 RED SUN retail stores very soon."