Tobacco Asia

38 tobaccoasia Issue 6, 2026 November / December During 2Firsts' presentation, heated tobacco was described as moving "from technical prepa- ration toward market-entry conditions." The firm said the category would operate within China's to- bacco-monopoly system, though important ques- tions about the commercial model remain unre- solved. Zhao believes that preparation could lead to a mass-market heated-tobacco product launch in 2027. "It's more likely the heated tobacco will launch into mass market next year, maybe the sec- ond half of next year," he said. That is Zhao's forecast, not an announced STMA or CNTC launch date. Pouches are earlier, but moving Nicotine pouches are still behind, but they are in- creasingly visible across the China Tobacco sys- tem. "The strongest signal is not scale. It is speci- ficity," Zhao said. Shanghai Tobacco Group has procured dedicated experimental research equipment for nicotine pouches, with a budget of approximate- ly RMB1.23 million. China Tobacco Jiangsu has disclosed trial equipment for nicotine pouches, and a functional-additive supplier pool in Shang- hai explicitly covers heated tobacco and nicotine pouches. "This tells us that nicotine pouches are no longer just a generic research topic inside the China tobacco system," Zhao said. "They are be- coming an identifiable product and process devel- opment track." However, public procurement evidence re- mains concentrated upstream. "We do not yet see the same depth of dedi- cated production-grade equipment, recurring pouch materials, finished product packaging, pro- duction outsourcing, or logistics that we see in heated tobacco products," he said. The regulatory direction is also becoming clearer. A mandatory national product standard for nicotine pouches is under development, but Zhao said that key commercial arrangements have not yet taken shape and that there is no official timetable for a domestic launch. Even within the industry, expectations vary sharply. The more optimistic case presented by Zhao is that pouches could become an important new category for China Tobacco because of their relatively simple product form, rapid international growth in the category, and potential as a new oral-nicotine platform. The more cautious view is that China's do- mestic opportunity may remain limited because of a weak existing consumption base, unclear posi- tioning, and the potentially decisive role of taxa- tion and pricing. "The debate is still open," Zhao concluded. Patent activity offers another perspective. 2Firsts identified 36 distinct patent profiles in its monitoring dataset, including 14 related to heated tobacco. The remainder cover nicotine pouches, modern oral products, other nicotine-delivery sys- tems, and cross-category technologies. The patent work suggests that research is moving well beyond basic product formulations. China Tobacco entities are researching nicotine salts, pH-responsive materials, staged-release par- ticles, and multilayer pouch structures. Hubei Chi- na Tobacco has disclosed a dual-chamber pouch concept, with one chamber containing ingredients intended to protect or soothe oral tissue and the other delivering nicotine. Another patent uses saliva to form a dy- namic internal membrane that controls nicotine release. "The engineering question is changing," Zhao said. "It's no longer simply about what we put inside the pouch. It's increasingly about how we control when, where, and how nicotine is de- livered." The research extends beyond pouches. Zhao and his team identified patents for a tooth- attached nicotine patch, a directional oral film, a dry-powder oral spray, a soft candy, a pressure- triggered oral product, and a transdermal gel. The patent landscape also includes test- ing and analytical capabilities, including work on heated-tobacco safety and chemistry, modern-oral safety, and simulated oral-use testing. That matters because the research signal extends beyond the products themselves. As the presenters put it, part of the emerging capabil- ity is the ability to measure, compare, and evalu- ate those products. "Patents don't tell us which products will make it to market," Zhao conclud- ed. "They tell us which technical problems are being worked on." Three broad signals emerged from the pat- ent analysis: increasingly diverse heating technolo- gies, more sophisticated engineered nicotine-deliv- ery systems, and a growing research infrastructure focused on safety, analytical chemistry, and prod- uct evaluation. Combustible cigarettes remain the dominant tobacco product in China, the world's largest cigarette market. Credit: Peter Griffin, CC0. "It's no longer simply about what we put inside the pouch. It's increasingly about how we control when, where, and how nicotine is delivered."

• Cover