Company News
Backwoods and White Owl Secure Top 2026 Convenience-Store New-Product Awards
Two of the trade press's biggest new-product contests have now weighed in on the 2026 cigarillo class, and the results point at brands adult tobacco consumers already know well. On September 24, CSP Daily News named Backwoods Irish Cream the winner of the Tobacco: Cigars category in its 23rd annual Retailer's Choice Best New Products Contest, beating finalists from Good Times, Game, and White Owl.
Five weeks earlier, on August 14, CStore Decisions handed its 2026 Hot New Products award for cigars to White Owl Red, White & Berry, with Al Capone's maker and Game sharing the runner-up spot.
How the CSP Contest Works
The Retailer's Choice contest is decided by the people who stock the shelves. According to CSP, its editors picked finalists in 29 product segments from nominations submitted by the convenience-store industry, then opened voting to c-store retailers from late June through August 7. Eligible products had to launch between May 2025 and May 2026. Winners were published in late September, and CSP said the awards will be handed out at the NACS Show in Las Vegas, which runs October 6 to 9.
The Tobacco: Cigars field was a compact snapshot of where mass-market cigars are heading:
- Backwoods Irish Cream (ITG Brands), winner: ITG describes it as a machine-made cigar built on natural tobacco with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and a mellow blend infused with a creamy, lightly sweet Irish cream flavor.
- Good Times Sweet Woods 2ct Dark Sweet: A darker, sweeter entry in the Good Times Sweet Woods line, sold in pre-priced two-count pouches.
- Game Leaf 3 Pack (Swedish Match Cigars): A three-stick pack format for Swedish Match's rolled-leaf Game Leaf line.
- White Owl Red, White & Berry (Swedish Match Cigars): The limited-edition blue raspberry cigarillo that also won at CStore Decisions.
In the neighboring Tobacco: OTP category, the retailer vote went to NYKD USA's nicotine pouches over a field that included ITG's Zone Jalapeño Lime pouch and Turning Point Brands' Stoker's moist snuff.
The CStore Decisions Verdict
CStore Decisions runs its Hot New Products Contest differently. A panel of retailer judges scored each submission on a point system that weighs innovation, appearance and packaging, and overall potential for success, across 17 categories. In cigars, the judges chose White Owl Red, White & Berry as the winner.
In a September 28 product write-up, the magazine described it as a sweet, berry-forward limited edition with a bold blue raspberry flavor, red, white and blue packaging, and point-of-sale signage built to drive trial.
The runners-up tied: the Blues Cigarillos 2-Pack from Inter Continental Cigar Corp., the company behind Al Capone, and Swedish Match's Game Summer Blend. CStore Decisions said the two-pack is meant as an accessible entry point to the natural-leaf Blues line, with the goal of moving buyers up to the established 10-pack.
What It Means for Adult Shoppers
Trade awards are not taste tests, and they are voted on by retailers rather than smokers. What they do measure is which new products moved through convenience stores well enough that store operators wanted more of them. That makes this year's results a useful shortlist for anyone browsing the natural leaf cigarillo aisle:
- Backwoods remains the most-recognized natural-leaf cigarillo in the country. The Backwoods Irish Cream joins a crowded run of 2026 limited editions alongside core blends like Honey and Sweet Aromatic.
- Good Times Sweet Woods is the value play in the same natural-leaf space. The Dark Sweet blend that made the CSP final is part of a broad lineup including Banana and Russian Cream.
- Game Leaf continues to expand its footprint, with the brand currently offering more than ten flavors ranging from Cognac to White Chocolate.
- White Owl remains a dominant force in the market, with the Blue Raspberry cigarillo serving as the year-round staple closest to the award-winning limited edition.
Two caveats worth keeping in mind. Limited editions like Irish Cream and Red, White & Berry are produced in finite runs, so what wins an award in September may be gone by winter. Additionally, flavored tobacco rules differ by geography; for instance, California and Massachusetts restrict flavored tobacco sales, affecting shipping availability.
The Bottom Line
Between them, the two contests crowned two limited-edition cigarillos and shortlisted four more products from major industry brands. For ITG Brands, the CSP win gives Backwoods a retailer-endorsed hit at the same time the company undergoes leadership changes. For Swedish Match, a win at one contest and three finalist slots across both suggest its Game and White Owl limited-edition strategy is landing with store operators. Whether those products land with smokers is the part no award can decide.