Cigars may not be firing up the backbar, but steady sales are bracing the segment ahead of possible flavor bans. Manufacturing and distribution slowdowns during the first few years of COVID-19 impacted many product lines, but none in the tobacco/nicotine category was targeted to the extent that cigars experienced. Convenience stores throughout the country struggled…
Tiered Trends Shake Up Cigarette Sales
Inflation is adding another challenge to c-stores’ cigarette category. Cigarettes pulled in nearly $55 billion for convenience stores in 2022, per IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm. That total once again qualifies the segment as the undeniable top tobacco/nicotine category performer. But slipping unit sales, down 8.1% for the year, also show that the category…
Brooks Bolsters Success at Nouria
What started as a part-time position at a gas station in high school turned into a successful and vital role as a category manager at Worcester, Mass.-based Nouria Energy for Ben Brooks, whose convenience store/petroleum industry career spans roughly 25 years. As Nouria’s category manager of cigarettes, other tobacco products (OTP), automotive, lottery and store…
Sheppard Enhances the Tobacco Backbar
2022 and the beginning of 2023 have been challenging for the tobacco and cannabidiol (CBD) categories. From flavored tobacco bans to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) trying to find a new way to regulate the use of CBD in food and supplements, these two categories can’t seem to catch a break. However, Victoria Sheppard,…
Altria Makes Exchange With JUUL, Acquires NJOY
Altria Group Inc. has made two big announcements. The company has exchanged its entire minority economic investment in JUUL Labs and has agreed to acquire NJOY Holdings. Altria exchanged its minority stake in JUUL for a non-exclusive, irrevocable global license to certain of JUUL’s heated tobacco intellectual property. “We believe exchanging our JUUL ownership for…
Tobacco: New Year, Old Battles, Different Outcomes?
In many regards, the 2022 election set the stage for 2023 tobacco and nicotine sales in convenience stores. On the one hand, voters chose more regulation. For example, California’s Proposition 31 passed with 76% of the ballots, approving a statewide ban of almost all flavored tobacco products, including menthol. Only premium cigars and hookahs remain…
Elfbar Manufacturer Banned from Marketing E-Cigarettes
According to LAW360, the maker of Elfbar vape products was ordered by a Florida federal judge on Feb. 23 to stop marketing Elfbar e-cigarettes anywhere in the U.S. The judge found that VPR Brands LP, which makes and sells “Elf” brand vapes, is likely to succeed on its claims that the Elfbar vapes infringe its…
Banking-Themed Cigars
Inspired by the modern world of banking, Altadis U.S.A announced the release of a new cigar — H. Upmann The Banker Daytrader. With this cigar scheduled to hit stores around Tax Day, the brand is coining the collection of three vitolas as “a new money release.” The Banker Daytrader logo used on the product’s primary and […]
What Can Thomas Edison Tell Us About New Ideas?
Disruption paves the way for new ideas, whether we’re talking about the invention of the light bulb or the way flavor regulations are leading to innovation in and around the tobacco category. Thomas Edison invented the first commercially successful light bulb in 1879. It changed the way we live. Bright indoor lighting allowed people to…
FDA Files Complaints Against Four E-Cigarette Product Manufacturers
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has filed civil money penalty (CMP) complaints against four tobacco product manufacturers. The complaints were for manufacturing and selling e-liquids without marketing authorization. This is the first time the FDA has filed CMP complaints against tobacco product manufacturers to enforce the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act’s…