Turning Point Brands, Inc. (TPB) Business

Item 1. Business

Overview

Turning Point Brands, Inc. (the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is a leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of branded consumer products. We sell a wide range of products to adult consumers consisting of staple products with our iconic brands Zig-Zag® and Stoker’s®. We primarily compete in the alternative smoking accessories and Other Tobacco Products (“OTP”) industries, among other markets. The alternative smoking accessories market is a dynamic market experiencing robust secular growth driven by cannabinoid legalization in the U.S. and Canada, and positively evolving consumer perception and acceptance in North America. The OTP industry, which consists of non-cigarette tobacco products, exhibited steady consumer unit annualized volumes during the full year period ended 2025 as reported by Management Science Associates, Inc. (“MSAi”) a third-party analytics and information company. Our segments are led by our core proprietary and iconic brands: Zig-Zag® in the Zig-Zag products segment, and Stoker’s® along with FRE®, Beech-Nut® and Trophy® in the Stoker’s products segment. Our businesses generate meaningful cash flow which we use to further invest in our business, introduce new product lines, finance acquisitions, increase brand support, expand our distribution infrastructure, and strengthen our capital position. We currently ship to approximately 900 distributors with an additional 600 secondary, indirect wholesalers in the U.S. that carry and sell our products. Under the leadership of a senior management team with extensive experience in the consumer products, alternative smoking accessories and tobacco industries, we have grown and diversified our business through new product launches, category expansions, and acquisitions while concurrently improving operational efficiency.

We believe there are meaningful opportunities to grow by investing in organic growth, acquisitions and joint ventures across all product categories. As of December 31, 2025, our products were available in approximately 220,000 retail locations in North America. Our sales team targets widespread distribution to all traditional retail channels, including convenience stores, and we have a growing e-commerce business.

Discontinued Operations

On January 2, 2025, the Company contributed 100% of its interest in South Beach Brands LLC (“SBB”), the subsidiary that owned and operated the Company’s former Creative Distribution Solutions (“CDS”) reportable segment, to General Wireless Operations, Inc. (“GWO”) in exchange for 49% of the issued and outstanding GWO common stock. GWO is majority owned by Standard General, LP.

The assets and liabilities associated with the CDS segment were classified as held for sale as of December 31, 2024, and its financial results were classified as discontinued operations and are reported separately for all periods presented herein until its disposition on January 2, 2025. With the classification of the CDS reportable segment to discontinued operations, the Company now has two reportable segments. Unless otherwise noted, the description of business in this Annual Report on Form 10-K relates solely to the continuing operations, comprised of the Zig-Zag and Stoker’s segments.

Products

Zig-Zag Products

In our Zig-Zag products (“Zig-Zag”) segment, we principally market and distribute (i) rolling papers, tubes, and related products; (ii) finished cigars and make-your-own (“MYO”) cigar wraps; and (iii) other accessories. In addition, we have a majority stake in 10233625 Canada Corp. ("Turning Point Brands Canada"), a specialty marketing and distribution firm focused on building brands in the Canadian cannabis accessories, tobacco and alternative products categories. The strength of the Zig-Zag® brand drives our leadership position in both the rolling papers and MYO cigar wrap markets. Zig-Zag® is the #1 premium and #1 overall rolling paper in the U.S. with approximately 33% total market share according to MSAi.1 Management estimates that Zig-Zag® is also the #1 brand in the Canadian market. Rolling paper operations are aided by our sourcing relationship with Republic Technology International SAS (“RTI”). See “Distribution and Supply Agreements” below for our discussion of the Zig-Zag® distribution agreement.

In MYO cigar wraps, the Zig-Zag® brand remains the market leader and continues to innovate in novel ways through additional product introductions. For instance, we introduced Zig-Zag® ‘Rillo sized wraps, which are similar in size to cigarillos, the most popular and fastest growing type of machine-made cigars. In June 2020, we purchased certain assets from our long-term commercial partner Durfort Holdings S.R.L (‘‘Durfort’’) which included the co-ownership in the intellectual property rights for all of our MYO Homogenized Tobacco Leaf (“HTL”) cigar wraps products. In late 2021, we extended our MYO cigar wraps offering with entries into the growing hemp wraps and natural leaf wraps markets.

In July 2019, to extend our reach in Canada, we made a minority investment in Turning Point Brands Canada that we increased to a 65% ownership stake by July 2021. Our majority ownership stake leverages Turning Point Brands Canada’s significant expertise in marketing and distributing cannabis accessories and tobacco products throughout Canada. The remainder of Turning Point Brands Canada is owned by its management.

1 Brand ranking and market share percentages obtained from MSAi for the 52-week period ended December 27, 2025.

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In July 2021, we acquired certain assets of Unitabac, LLC (“Unitabac”), a marketer of mass-market cigars. In the acquisition, we acquired a robust portfolio of cigarillo products and all related intellectual property, including Cigarillo Non-Tip (NT) HTL products and Rolled Leaf and Natural Leaf Cigarillo products that we are using to re-introduce the Zig-Zag® brand into a large and growing cigarillo market.

We have continued to reposition this segment with growth initiatives focused on new product introductions and new channel expansions that are better aligned with the growing market trends.

Stoker’s Products

In our Stoker’s products (“Stoker’s”) segment, we (i) manufacture and market moist snuff tobacco (“MST”), (ii) contract for and market FRE® and ALP®, our modern oral products, and (iii) contract for and market loose-leaf chewing tobacco products. Stoker’s® is our focus brand in both MST and chewing tobacco. In MST, Stoker’s® remains among the fastest growing brands and holds a 12.4% share in the stores that carry our products and a 8.1% share of the total U.S. MST non-pouch market. Stoker’s® is a pioneer in the MST industry.1 It was first to introduce the large 12 oz. tub packaging format and is manufactured using a proprietary process that we believe results in a superior product. Starting in 2015, we extended the Stoker’s® MST franchise to include traditional 12oz. cans to broaden retail availability. Our proprietary manufacturing process is conducted at our Dresden, Tennessee plant and packaged in both our Dresden, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, facilities.

Stoker’s® chewing tobacco has grown its market share considerably over the last several years becoming the largest brand family in the industry and is presently the #1 discount and #1 overall brand in the industry, with approximately a 34.1% market share.1 Our status in the chewing tobacco market is further strengthened by Beech-Nut®, the #3 premium brand and #7 overall, as well as Trophy®, Durango® and the five Wind River Brands. Collectively, the Company is the #1 marketer of chewing tobacco with approximately 38.0% market share.1 Our chewing tobacco operations are facilitated through our long-standing relationship with Swedish Match (a division of Philip Morris International Inc.), the manufacturer of our loose-leaf chewing tobaccos.

In September 2024, one of the Company's wholly-owned subsidiaries acquired a 50% stake in ALP Supply Co., LLC (“ALP”).  ALP is a joint venture established with Last Country Ventures, LLC for the purpose of selling and distributing tobacco-free white pouch nicotine products in 3, 6 and 9 mg strengths. In 2026, ALP intends to broaden its portfolio, including with the introduction of 12 mg strength. Pursuant to the joint venture agreement, the Company's subsidiary is responsible for selling products to ALP and providing warehousing and shipping services on its behalf.

Competitive Strengths

We believe our competitive strengths include the following:

Large, Leading Brands with Significant Scale

We have built a portfolio of leading brands with significant scale that are well recognized by consumers, retailers, and wholesalers. Our Zig-Zag® and Stoker’s® brands are each well established and date back 146 and 85 years, respectively.

1 Brand rankings and market share percentages obtained from MSAi for the 52-week period ended December 27, 2025.

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Zig-Zag® is an iconic brand and has strong, enduring brand recognition among a wide audience of consumers. The Stoker’s® brand is seen as an innovator in both the moist snuff and loose-leaf chewing tobacco markets.

Exposure to Growing Cannabinoid Consumption Trends

We believe that the cannabinoid market will continue to grow over the coming years as cannabinoid use becomes increasingly accepted by the U.S. public. Our product offerings, particularly those in our Zig-Zag Products segment, are ideally positioned to benefit from continued growth in consumer consumption.

The legal cannabis market in the U.S. is projected to grow from approximately $30 billion in 2024 to approximately $39 billion by 2029 according to an October 2025 report of BDSA, a market research firm focused on the legal cannabis market. With flower being the leading form factor for cannabis consumption among consumers, we believe our product offerings provide us with significant opportunity to expand the number of retail channels we reach. A recent Gallup poll showed 64% Americans now support legalizing cannabis nationwide, approximately twice the amount as twenty years ago. As of the end of 2025, 24 U.S. states and the District of Columbia had legalized cannabis for adult recreational use and a vast majority of states now have comprehensive public medical cannabis programs.  In addition, a growing number of U.S. states and foreign jurisdictions have authorized the sale of hemp-derived THC products, further broadening consumer access to intoxicating cannabinoid products outside of the traditional state-licensed cannabis channels.

Successful Track Record of New Product Launches and Category Expansions

We have successfully launched new products and entered new product categories by leveraging the strength of our brands and methodically targeting markets which we believe have significant growth potential:

We strategically target product categories that we believe demonstrate significant growth potential and for which the value of our brands is likely to have a meaningful impact. We believe that our track record and existing portfolio of brands provide competitive advantages as we continue to evaluate opportunities to extend our product lines and expand into new categories.

Extensive Distribution Network and Data Driven Sales Organization

We have taken important steps to enhance our selling and distribution network and consumer marketing capabilities that allow us to grow our business while keeping our capital expenditure requirements relatively low. We have long-standing relationships in the core convenience store channel and wholesale distribution network with access to more than 220,000 retail outlets in North America. We are also increasing brand presence through non-traditional channels including headshops, dispensaries, and B2B e-commerce and are expanding our sales team dedicated to these channels. We have added brand dedicated platforms including ZigZag.com to facilitate our e-commerce brand presence and are selling our products on Amazon and other e-commerce sites.

1 Brand ranking and market share percentages obtained from MSAi for the 52-week period ended December 27, 2025.

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We service our customer base with an experienced sales and marketing organization of approximately 257 professionals who possess in-depth knowledge of the OTP market. We extensively use data supported by leading technology, enabling our salesforce to analyze changing trends and effectively identify evolving consumer preferences at the store level and respond efficiently. We subscribe to a sales tracking system provided by MSAi that measures OTP product shipments by all market participants, on a weekly basis, from approximately 600 wholesalers to over 265,000 traditional retail stores in the U.S. This system enables us to understand share and volume trends across multiple categories at the store level, allowing us to allocate field salesforce coverage to the highest opportunity stores, thereby enhancing the value of new store placements and sales activity. Within our Stoker’s segment, we continue to see a positive correlation between the frequency of store calls by our salesforce and our retail market share.

Asset-light Business Model that Generates Resilient Free Cash Flow

We have a lean, asset-light manufacturing and sourcing model which leverages outsourced supplier relationships and requires low capital expenditures. We believe our asset-light model provides marketplace flexibility, allows us to achieve favorable margins and generates high free cash flow conversion.

As part of our asset-light operating model, we built long-standing and extensive relationships with leading, high-quality producers from whom we source products including loose-leaf chewing tobacco and cigarette paper, among others.

By outsourcing the production of certain products to a select group of suppliers with whom we have strong relationships, we are able to maintain low overhead costs and minimal capital expenditures. Our supplier relationships allow us to increase the breadth of our product offerings and quickly enter new markets as management is able to focus on brand building and innovation. In 2025, approximately 75% of our net sales were derived from outsourced production operations and our capital expenditures have ranged between $4.6 million and $13.5 million per year over the previous three years.

The stability of our cash flows is enhanced by the resilience of our Zig-Zag Products and Stoker’s Products business segments which we believe have recession-resistant end-markets. These products are primarily staples that are small ticket purchases for repeat consumers. In addition, we believe the secular shift to the value category in the Stoker’s Products segment will benefit the long-term resilience of our brands.

We do not outsource our MST production as a result of our proprietary manufacturing processes which are substantively different than those of our competitors.

Expertise to Succeed in Dynamic Regulatory Environments

We operate in a highly regulated environment involving many different government agencies. In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) was given jurisdiction over cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, which expanded in 2016 to include cigars and all other tobacco products. This was further expanded in 2022 to cover non-tobacco nicotine products. We believe we have a competitive advantage due to our management team’s experience navigating the relevant regulatory environment. We have increased our investments in teams of professionals including regulatory lawyers, scientists and quality assurance processes to ensure we maintain a competitive advantage in this area.

The FDA has implemented a premarket review process, referred to as the PMTA, or the Premarket Tobacco Application process, which requires all tobacco products introduced or changed since 2007 to submit an application to the FDA and receive marketing authorization prior to entering the market. For products already on the market when these requirements became effective, the FDA required applications for those products to be on file by certain dates depending on whether the products were originally regulated under the Family Smoking Prevention Tobacco Control Act (“TCA”), whether they were later “deemed” tobacco products, or whether they contain non-tobacco nicotine and were not otherwise exempt from the TCA. The PMTA process is a very expensive and resource-intensive process and there are currently hundreds of competitors in the market but very few have the capability or the resources to get their products successfully through this process. In the years since, the FDA has rejected millions of applications.

To date, we have spent approximately $34.8 million in order to file and supplement applications covering a broad portfolio of noncombustible products, including novel oral nicotine products. By developing and submitting for FDA marketing authorization a deep suite of noncombustible products and leveraging our distribution platform, we believe that we have the opportunity to grow as consumers look toward potentially lower-risk product offerings. We believe this is a transformational event for the industry with potential for us to realize substantial benefits over time as the FDA accelerates enforcement thereby creating significant barriers for new entrants as well as significant difficulties for existing companies who may not have the infrastructure needed to comply with these regulatory requirements. See “Risks Related to Legal, Tax and Regulatory Matters” under Item 1A “Risk Factors” for additional information.

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In addition, we have been building and expanding an alternative logistics infrastructure across the U.S. to comply with the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (“PACT Act”) which was recently extended to prohibit the use of the U.S. Postal Service to mail e-cigarette and related products directly to consumers and requires other common carriers to obtain adult signature on delivery.

Experienced Management Team

With extensive experience in consumer products, alternative smoking accessories and tobacco markets, our senior management team has enabled us to grow and diversify our business while improving operational efficiency. Members of management have previous experience at other leading tobacco companies. Given the professional experience of our senior management team, we are able to analyze risks and opportunities from a variety of perspectives. Our senior leadership has embraced a collaborative culture which leverages experience, analytical rigor and creativity to assess opportunities and deliver products that satisfy consumers’ demands. Our management team also brings a proven track record of patient and selective capital deployment into value-enhancing transactions.

Growth Strategies

We are focused on building sustainable margins, expanding the availability of our products, developing innovative new products and enhancing overall operating efficiencies with the goal of improving margins and cash flow. We adopted the following strategies to drive growth in our business and build stockholder value:

Grow Share of Existing Product Lines, Domestically and Internationally

We intend to remain a consumer centered organization with an innovative view and understanding of the alternative smoking accessories and OTP markets. We believe we have strong tailwinds for growth within our existing product lines. Within our Zig-Zag products segment, we are benefitting from secular growth trends in the industry, driving market share gains in our traditional convenience store channel and expanding our presence into non-traditional channels including headshops, dispensaries and e-commerce. Within our Stoker’s products segment, there is ample runway to gain market share driven by same store sales growth and further distribution gains as Stoker’s® MST continues to outperform in the category.

In 2025, less than 10% of our revenues were generated outside of the U.S. We believe international sales represent a meaningful growth opportunity. Having established a strong infrastructure and negotiated relationships across multiple segments and products, we are pursuing an international growth strategy to broaden sales and strengthen margins. Our goals include expanding our presence in the worldwide OTP industry on a targeted basis.

Expand into Adjacent Categories through Innovation and New Partnerships

We continually evaluate opportunities to expand into adjacent product categories by leveraging our current portfolio and distribution platform, as well as by forming new partnerships. We believe there are meaningful opportunities for growth within the alternative smoking accessories. We maintain a robust product pipeline and plan to strategically introduce new products in attractive, growing markets, both domestically and internationally, with specific focus on our papers and MYO wraps businesses. The strength of the Zig-Zag® brand provides a highly-leverageable platform to expand our portfolio with complementary products such as our launch and expansion of hemp papers, paper cones, hemp wraps and natural leaf wraps. As we have done successfully in the past, we will leverage our existing sales infrastructure to drive distribution of new products and are investing to expand our e-commerce distribution capabilities.

We have identified a number of new opportunities and we intend to leverage our existing brands and partnerships to continue the process of commercializing winning products that satisfy consumer needs.

Accelerate Growth Through National Distribution Network

Our business is built around a powerful sales and distribution infrastructure that currently reaches an estimated 220,000 retail outlets in North America. We have a strong presence in independent convenience stores and now service most of the leading chain accounts. Through our e-commerce platforms we have alternative avenues through which we sell third-party products and an increasing amount of our proprietary products. This strategy allows new products to be tested with lower risk before we incorporate them into our wider brick and mortar distribution system.

Combining our different platforms, we have an expansive multi-channel distribution infrastructure that gives us a competitive advantage when we introduce new products or acquire companies that we can integrate into our network. We believe our experienced salesforce, expansive distribution network and leading market analytics put us in a strong position to swiftly execute new product launches in response to evolving consumer and market preferences.

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Strategically Pursue Acquisitions

We believe there are meaningful acquisition opportunities in our fragmented markets. We regularly evaluate acquisition opportunities across our industries. In evaluating acquisition opportunities, our focus is on identifying acquisitions that would leverage our distribution platform, regulatory infrastructure and product offerings or enable category expansion in areas with high growth potential to drive profit generation.

The vast majority of our 2025 U.S. gross profit was derived from sales of products currently regulated by the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. We have significant experience in complying with the FDA regulatory regime with a compliance infrastructure composed of legal and scientific professionals. We believe many smaller manufacturers currently lack this infrastructure, which is necessary for complying with the broad scope of FDA regulations. We believe our regulatory compliance infrastructure, combined with our skilled management and strong distribution platform, position us to act as a consolidator within the OTP industry.

We have a strong track record of enhancing our OTP business with strategic and accretive acquisitions. The Company itself was built through acquisitions that were subsequently grown through distribution gains, market share growth and brand extensions into new product categories. This is a playbook that we have drawn on over time with a consistent track record of success. We acquired the U.S. and Canadian rolling papers distribution rights for Zig-Zag® in 1997 and extended our product offerings including our entry into the MYO cigar wraps category in 2009. In 2003, we acquired the Stoker’s® brand. We have since built the brand to the #1 position in the chewing tobacco industry while successfully leveraging the brand’s value through our MST expansion where it remains among the fastest growing MST brands. Our investment in Turning Point Brands Canada in 2019 is accelerating Zig-Zag®’s growth through alternative channel penetration. In 2020, we acquired certain assets from Durfort, including co-ownership of the intellectual property rights for our MYO cigar wraps products. The transaction increased our share of the economics in a MYO cigar wraps business that was benefitting from secular growth tailwinds. In 2021, we also acquired certain assets from Unitabac, providing a platform to re-enter the large cigarillo category.

Raw Materials, Product Supply, and Inventory Management

We source our products through a series of longstanding, highly valued relationships which allow us to conduct our business on an asset-light, distribution-focused basis.

The components of inventories were as follows as of the dates indicated (in thousands):

Zig-Zag® Products

Pursuant to the Zig-Zag® distribution agreements, we are required to purchase from RTI all cigarette papers, cigarette tubes and cigarette injecting machines that we sell, subject to RTI fulfilling its obligations under the Zig-Zag® distribution agreements. See “Distribution and Supply Agreements” below for a discussion of the Zig-Zag® distribution agreements. If RTI is unable or unwilling to perform its obligations or ceases its cigarette paper manufacturing operations, in each case, as set forth in the Distribution Agreements, we may seek third-party suppliers and continue the use of the Zig-Zag® trademark to market these products. To ensure we have a steady supply of premium cigarette paper products, as well as cigarette tubes and injectors, RTI is required to maintain, at its expense, a two-month supply of inventory in a bonded, public warehouse in the U.S.

We obtain our MYO cigar wraps from our supplier in the Dominican Republic. We also obtain our Zig-Zag® branded cigar products from the Dominican Republic.

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Stoker’s Products

We produce our moist snuff and loose-leaf chewing tobaccos from air-cured and fire-cured leaf tobacco, respectively. We utilize recognized suppliers that generally maintain 12- to 24-month supplies of our various types of tobacco at their facilities. We do not believe we are dependent on any single country or supplier source for tobacco and, if needed, there are dependable alternative supply opportunities as noted below. We generally maintain up to a two-month supply of finished, moist snuff and loose-leaf chewing tobacco on hand. This supply is maintained at our Louisville, Kentucky, facility and in two regional public warehouses to facilitate distribution. In December 2023, a third-party warehouse used by the company was damaged by a tornado, leading to a loss of some of our leaf tobacco inventory. We believe the losses will be fully covered by insurance. See Item 1A. “Risk Factors – Our business may be damaged by events outside of our or our suppliers’ control, such as the impact of epidemics or pandemics, political upheavals, or natural disasters.”

Distribution and Supply Agreements

The Zig-Zag Distribution and License Agreements

In 1992, we entered into two long-term exclusive distribution agreements with respect to sales of Zig-Zag® cigarette papers, cigarette tubes, and cigarette injector machines in the U.S. and Canada (collectively, the “Distribution Agreements”). The Distribution Agreements had an initial twenty-year term, which automatically renews for successive twenty-year terms unless terminated in accordance with the terms of the Distribution Agreements. The Distribution Agreements renewed for their second twenty-year term in November 2012.

Under the Distribution Agreements, we are required to purchase cigarette papers, cigarette tubes, and cigarette injector machines from the licensor; however, our licensor must provide us with sufficient quantities consistent with specific order-to-delivery timelines outlined in the Distribution Agreements. Our product supply is further protected by additional safeguards, including the right to seek third-party suppliers in certain circumstances and a two-month safety stock inventory to be kept in the U.S. at the licensor’s expense. The Distribution Agreements also provide shared responsibility for duties, insurance, shipping, and taxes. The import duties and taxes in the U.S. and Canada are our responsibility, while the licensor is responsible for insurance, export duties, and shipping costs.

Each of the Distribution Agreements contains customary termination provisions, including failure to meet performance obligations, the assignment of the agreement or the consummation of a change of control, in each case, without consent of the licensor, upon certain material breaches, including our agreement not to promote, directly or indirectly, cigarette paper or cigarette paper booklets of a competitor, or upon our bankruptcy, insolvency, liquidation, or other similar event. The licensor also may terminate the Distribution Agreements if a competitor acquires a significant amount of our common stock or if one of our significant stockholders acquires a significant amount of one of our competitors. In the event of a termination, we have agreed that for a period of five years after the termination we will not engage, directly or indirectly, in the manufacturing, selling, distributing, marketing, or otherwise promoting, in the U.S. and Canada, of cigarette paper or cigarette paper booklets of a competitor without consent. There are certain de minimis exceptions to these provisions. For further details, see Item 1A. “Risk Factors – We depend on a small number of key third-party suppliers and producers for our products.”

The Distribution Agreements and the License Agreements were initially entered into with Bolloré S.A. (“Bolloré”). In November 2020, Bolloré assigned the Distribution Agreements and the License Agreements to RTI. For a number of years, RTI has been the outsourced manufacturer of cigarette papers, cigarette tubes, cigarette injector machines and certain other products bearing the Zig-Zag® name.

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Swedish Match Manufacturing Agreement

In 2008, we entered into a manufacturing and distribution agreement with Swedish Match whereby Swedish Match became the exclusive manufacturer of our loose-leaf chewing tobacco. Under the agreement, production of our loose-leaf chewing tobacco products was completely transitioned to Swedish Match’s plant located in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 2009. We source all of the tobacco Swedish Match uses to manufacture our products along with certain proprietary flavorings and retain all marketing, design, formula, and trademark rights over our loose-leaf products. We also have the right to approve all product modifications and are solely responsible for decisions related to package design and branding of the loose-leaf tobacco produced for us. Responsibilities related to process control, manufacturing activities, and inventory management with respect to our loose-leaf products are allocated between us and Swedish Match as specified in the agreement. We also have rights to monitor production and quality control processes on an ongoing basis.

The agreement had an initial ten-year term and will automatically be renewed for five successive ten-year terms unless either party provides at least 180 days’ notice prior to a renewal term of its intent to terminate the agreement, or unless otherwise terminated by mutual agreement of the parties in accordance with the provisions of the agreement. If a notice of non-renewal is delivered, the contract will expire two years after the date on which the agreement would have otherwise been renewed. The terms allow the agreement to be assumed by a buyer, terminated for uncured material breach, or terminated by us subject to a buyout. We also hold a right of first refusal to acquire the manufacturing plant as well as Swedish Match’s chewing tobacco unit. The agreement was automatically renewed for the first of five 10-year renewal periods in September 2018.

Production and Quality Control

We primarily outsource our manufacturing and production processes and focus on packaging, marketing, and distribution. We currently manufacture less than 25% of our products as measured by net sales. Our in-house manufacturing operations are principally limited to (i) the manufacturing of our moist snuff products, which occurs at our facility in Dresden, Tennessee; and (ii) the packaging of our moist snuff products at our facilities in Dresden, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky. Our MST products are processed in-house, rather than outsourced, as a result of our proprietary manufacturing processes which are substantively different than those of our competitors.

We use proprietary production processes and techniques, including strict quality controls. Our quality control group routinely tests the quality of the tobacco, flavorings, application of flavorings, premium cigarette papers, tubes and injectors, cigars, MYO cigar wraps, liquid nicotine products, and packaging materials. We utilize sophisticated quality controls to test and closely monitor the quality of our products. The high quality of our tobacco products is largely the result of using high-grade tobacco leaf and food-grade flavorings and, on an ongoing basis, analyzing the tobacco cut, flavorings, and moisture content together with strict specifications for sourced products.

Given the importance of contract manufacturing to our business, our quality control group ensures that established, written procedures and standards are adhered to by each of our contract manufacturers. Responsibilities related to process control, manufacturing activities, quality control, and inventory management with respect to our loose-leaf products are allocated between us and Swedish Match under the manufacturing agreement.

Sales and Marketing

We have grown the size and capacity of our salesforce and intend to continue strengthening the organization to advance our ability to deepen and broaden the retail availability of our products and brands.

As of December 31, 2025, we had a nationwide sales and marketing organization of approximately 276 professionals. Our sales and marketing group focuses on priority markets and sales channels and seeks to operate with a high level of efficiency. In 2025, our Zig-Zag and Stoker’s Products sales and marketing efforts enabled our products to reach an estimated 220,000 retail outlets in North America and over 900 direct wholesale customers with an additional 600 secondary, indirect wholesalers in the U.S.

Our Zig-Zag and Stoker’s Products sales efforts are focused on wholesale distributors and retail merchants in the independent and chain convenience store, tobacco outlet, food store, mass merchandising, drug store, and non-traditional retail channels. For Zig-Zag Products, we have also developed a growing e-commerce business along with a sales team focused on serving alternative channels such as headshops and dispensaries. We have expanded, and intend to continue to expand, the sales of our products into previously underdeveloped geographic markets and retail channels. In 2025, we derived more than 90% of our net sales from sales in the U.S., with the remainder primarily from sales in Canada.

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We subscribe to a sales tracking system from MSAi that records all traditional OTP product shipments (ours as well as those of our competitors) from approximately 600 wholesalers to over 265,000 traditional retail stores in the U.S. This system enables us to understand individual product share and volume trends across multiple categories down to the individual retail store level, allowing us to allocate field salesforce coverage to the highest opportunity stores. Additionally, the ability to select from a range of parameters and to achieve this level of granularity means we can analyze marketplace trends in a timely manner and swiftly evolve our business planning to meet market opportunities.

We employ marketing activities to grow awareness, trial, and sales including selective trade advertising to expand wholesale availability, point-of-sale advertising and merchandising and permanent and temporary displays to improve consumer visibility, and social media. We comply with all regulations relating to the marketing of tobacco products, such as directing marketing efforts to adult consumers, and are committed to full legal compliance in the sales and marketing of our products. To date, we have neither relied upon, nor conducted, any substantial advertising in consumer media for our tobacco products.

For the year ended December 31, 2025, we did not have any customers that accounted for 10% or more of our net sales for the year. We had one customer that accounted for 10.2% of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2024, and did not have any customers that accounted for 10% or more of our net sales for the year ended December 31, 2023. Our customers use an open purchase order system to buy our products and are not obligated to do so pursuant to ongoing contractual obligations. We perform periodic credit evaluations of our customers and generally do not require collateral on trade receivables. Historically, we have not experienced material credit losses, and we do not believe it is a material risk given the short duration of payment cycles.

Competition

We believe our ability to effectively compete and maintain strong market positions in our principal product lines are due to the high recognition of our brand names, the perceived quality of each of our products, and the efforts of our sales, marketing, and distribution teams. Many of our competitors are better capitalized than we are and have greater resources, financial and otherwise. We compete against “big tobacco,” including Altria Group, Inc.; British American Tobacco p.l.c.; Swedish Match; Swisher International, Inc.; and manufacturers including U.K. based Imperial Brands, PLC, across our segments. “Big tobacco” has substantial resources and a customer base that has historically demonstrated loyalty to their brands.

Competition in the OTP market is based upon not only brand quality and positioning but also on price, packaging, promotion, and retail availability and visibility. Given the decreasing prevalence of cigarette consumption, the “big tobacco” companies continue to demonstrate an increased interest and participation in a number of OTP markets.

Zig-Zag Products

Our principal competitors for premium rolling paper sales are Republic Tobacco, L.P. and HBI International. Our major competitors in MYO cigar wraps are Good Times USA, LLC and New Image Global, Inc. We believe MYO cigar wrap products are used interchangeably with both rolling papers and finished cigar products by many consumers.

Stoker’s Products

Our four principal competitors in the moist snuff category are Swedish Match, the American Snuff Company, LLC (a unit of British American Tobacco p.l.c.), Swisher International Group, Inc. and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (a division of Altria Group, Inc.). In the loose-leaf chewing tobacco market, our three principal competitors are Swedish Match, the American Snuff Company, LLC, and Swisher International Group, Inc. We believe moist snuff products are used interchangeably with loose-leaf products by many consumers. For modern oral nicotine products, our four principal competitors are Swedish Match, Modoral Brands Inc. (a unit of British American Tobacco p.l.c.), Swisher International Group, Inc. and Helix Innovations, LLC (a division of Altria Group, Inc.).

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Patents, Trademarks, and Trade Secrets

We have numerous registered trademarks relating to our products, including: Beech-Nut®, Trophy®, Havana Blossom®, Durango®, Stoker’s®, Tequila Sunrise®, Fred’s Choice®, Old Hillside®, Our Pride®, Red Cap®, Tennessee Chew®, Big Mountain®, Springfield Standard®, Snake River® and FRE®. The registered trademarks, which are significant to our business, expire periodically and are renewable for additional 10-year terms upon expiration. Flavor and blend formula trade secrets relating to our tobacco products, which are key assets of our businesses, are maintained under strict secrecy.

The Zig-Zag® trade dress trademark for premium cigarette papers and related products are owned by RTI and have been exclusively licensed to us in the U.S. and Canada. We own the Zig-Zag® trademark with respect to its use in connection with products made with tobacco including, without limitation, cigarettes, cigars and MYO cigar wraps in the U.S. See "--The Zig-Zag Distribution and License Agreements" above.

Research and Development and Quality Assurance

We have a research and development and quality assurance function that tests raw materials and finished products in order to maintain a high level of product quality and consistency. Research and development largely bases its new product development efforts on our high-tech data systems. We spent approximately $0.9 million, $1.3 million, and $0.6 million dollars on research and development and quality control efforts for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024, and 2023, respectively.

Human Capital

As of December 31, 2025, we employed 484 full-time and part-time employees. None of our employees are represented by unions. We believe we have a positive relationship with our employees.

We believe that our success is driven by our employees. Our human capital strategy, which is developed and overseen by our Chief People Officer (“CPO”), focuses on the health and safety of our employees, development and retention of current employees, and talent attraction. The Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and CPO regularly update the board of directors and its committees on human capital management, as well as the implementation of new initiatives.

Health and Safety: Our health and safety programs are designed to address applicable regulations as well as the specific hazards and work environments of each of our facilities. We regularly conduct safety reviews and training at each of our locations to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and all policies and procedures. We maintain safety committees that meet regularly to discuss and address any potential issues in our warehouse and manufacturing facilities. In addition, we conduct quarterly Motor Vehicle Safety training and annual Motor Vehicle Records checks for those assigned to company vehicles or who are daily drivers. We utilize a number of metrics to assess the performance of our health and safety policies, procedures and initiatives, including lost workdays and any recordable or reportable incidents.

Employee Engagement: We are dedicated to enhancing employee engagement through initiatives that foster connection, transparency, and well-being. Our quarterly town halls provide a forum for leadership to share business updates, recognize achievements, and address employee questions, reinforcing our commitment to communication and alignment. Additionally, our wellness challenges encourage employees to prioritize their physical and mental health, fostering a culture of well-being and teamwork. These efforts reflect our commitment to creating a workplace where employees feel informed, supported, and empowered to succeed.

Training and Talent Development: We provide technical and leadership training to employees at both the officer and non-officer levels. In 2025, the Company launched a Training and Development program, which consists of online and in person training and development tools used by management and employees. We believe effective training and development for our employees is essential to maintain the strength and profitability of the Company, generally, and each brand, specifically. The Company posts its openings internally to allow current employees to apply. In 2025, we had 89 internal promotions within the organization.

Retaining Talent: During the year ended December 31, 2025, our employee voluntary turnover rate was 13.3%, compared to 16.6% in 2024. To retain our employees, we believe it is critical to continually focus on ensuring employees are highly engaged and feel valued. We address these retention efforts in a number of ways from formal surveys and quarterly business updates to regular informal discussions with employees that enable us to listen to, understand and address their concerns.

Employee Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit programs to our employees that provides them with, among other things, medical, dental, and vision healthcare; 401(k) matching contributions; paid parental leave; tuition assistance; paid holidays; and paid vacation time, paid wellbeing time and other competitive ancillary benefits.

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Engaging in our Communities

We believe that focusing on our consumers and customers, while proactively and productively addressing the environment, our employees, our community, and society at large, is the key to driving value for all stakeholders. Our operating principles focus on winning with accountability, integrity, and responsibility. We believe that we will maximize shareholder returns by implementing strategies and establishing goals to address public health concerns and display responsible behaviors to suppliers, customers, members of the organization and most of all to our consumers. Our Nominating and Governance Committee manages oversight of these efforts. As discussed below, our initiatives are led by our Nominating and Governance Executive Committee, as well as subordinate committees that focus on specific initiatives.

Public Health

One key aspect of our program is our distinct focus on our role in public health. We market and sell products intended for adult use only, many containing nicotine. As a result, public health plays a central role in all our product initiatives. We believe in, and work diligently to apply, harm reduction principles to all our products, from development through distribution and marketing. Our vision is built upon the idea that adult consumers, when presented with responsibly marketed and high-quality options, will, in large part, prefer products with a lower risk profile than others. This idea of moving adult consumers down the continuum of risk is a key driver of our future for sustainable growth. We intend to accomplish this by developing low-risk alternatives according to good product stewardship and manufacturing principles in order to increase adult consumer availability of and access to high-quality products that deliver satisfaction but at a lower risk to the user. We will continue to focus our research and development, scientific, policy, and product resources to increase the number of consumers choosing products that are lower risk.

In September 2020 and again in May 2022, we submitted to the FDA PMTA covering several noncombustible products, including novel oral nicotine products. This is an important and necessary step to allow us to offer adult consumers an extensive portfolio of products that serve as alternatives to combustible cigarettes and satisfy a wide variety of consumer preferences. The filings provide detailed scientific data that we believe demonstrates that the products are “appropriate for the protection of public health,” as required by law. Studies to support the applications were performed and included pharmacokinetics studies, a likelihood of use study, and a patterns of use study, in addition to a toxicological review. We also provided a detailed marketing plan to illustrate how we will continue to prevent youth exposure to the products. See “Risks Related to Legal, Tax and Regulatory Matters” under Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Prevention of Youth Access

Our vision is a world where only adult consumers purchase and use products that are not intended for youth. As a seller of products intended for adult-use only, society demands a higher burden of responsibility from us, and we are committed to proactively preventing the underage appeal of and access to those products. We are dedicated to the responsible marketing of our adult use products and are fully committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations governing them. We target marketing activities to both male and female current nicotine, cannabinoid, and other active consumers that are 21 years of age and older. The marketing of our adult use products does not include content directed toward minors, including child-oriented images or other themes where such imagery is reasonably understood to resonate with minors. We plan to continue to engage in appropriately targeted marketing activity, consistent with all legal requirements, industry standards, and best practices.

Preventing youth access and use of our adult-use products is a key to our continued success. All of our adult-use products are intended to be sold to and used by adults 21 years of age and older, and we are proactive in implementing programs to prevent youth access. For our own online retail (B2C) sales, we display our policies related to age to purchase and shipping restrictions. Additionally, we verify B2B customers using business licenses in order to further prevent bulk sales to consumers, which we believe contributes to social sourcing by youth.

Corporate Governance and Community Leadership

Good corporate governance is critical to our operating principles of winning with accountability, integrity, and responsibility. Acting with accountability, integrity and responsibility is at the core of our business conduct policy. We train all employees on our business conduct policies. We have established meaningful measures for our governance program and our targets and actions will allow us to achieve our goals in this area.

We focus our efforts on fostering a supportive and safe work environment for our team. Our efforts are evidenced through programs like our veterans and women focused business inclusion groups. Our goal is to provide an injury-free workplace where every employee has a safe work environment and feels empowered to speak up. We regularly monitor and provide training as part of our safety program and have active safety committees at each of our sites dedicated to implementing best practices.

Being good stewards of the planet will support our business success. Our major areas of focus are lowering vehicle emissions produced by our fleet, incorporating energy savings initiatives at our facilities, reducing water consumption in our operations, and increasing our recycling efforts.  Within each of these categories we are concentrating on developing and measuring progress with an aim to define metrics against which we can track our efforts

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In 2025, we continued to integrate these principles into our business practices. Our Nominating and Governance committees report to the Nominating and Governance Executive Committee, comprised of the President and CEO, CFO, and General Counsel, who in turn work with the Board’s Nominating and Governance Committee to enhance and execute our core principles. The following committees report to the Nominating and Governance Executive Committee:

Further information related to our efforts can be found on our website.

Available Information

More information about Turning Point Brands is available on the Company’s website at www.turningpointbrands.com. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) maintains a website at https://www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. On the investor relations portion of our website, www.turningpointbrands.com/investor-relations, we provide a link to our electronic filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, our current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to these reports. We make all such filings available free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after filing. The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report we file with or furnish to the SEC.