LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Turning Point Brands Inc.—a marketer, manufacturer and distributor of branded products including rolling papers, smokeless and vapor products and more—acquired a 20% stake in Wild Hempettes LLC.
Wild Hempettes makes hemp cigarettes under the Wild Hemp and Hempettes brands. If Turning Point Brands meets certain milestones, it may increase its stake to 100% ownership, the Louisville, Ky.-based company said.
As part of the deal, the Wild Hempettes joint venture was spun off from Crown Distributing LLC and Turning Point Brands will be the exclusive distributor of Hempettes to U.S. brick-and-mortar retail stores under a profit sharing agreement, the company said.
“As consumer adoption of CBD and smoking alternatives including hemp-CBD increases, we are well positioned to drive growth with a wide assortment of products catering to different customer preferences,” Larry Wexler, Turning Point Brands president and CEO, said.
Dallas-based Wild Hemp’s Hempette-branded cigarette is a 20-count pack smoking product available in Original, Sweet and Pineapple Blaze. The company will add a menthol flavor by the end of 2020.
“We are excited to have the ideal partner in Turning Point Brands to significantly scale our business,” said Zain Meghani, CEO of Wild Hempettes. “The combination of our Hempettes product along with TPB’s distribution presence in over 210,000 outlets in North America provides tremendous growth potential.”
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