Tobacco Asia

Volume 18, Number 5

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22 tobaccoasia TOBACCO PRODUCTS 产品新闻 UK BAT markets new inhaler British American Tobacco (BAT) recently announced its first ever venture into the field of nicotine inhalers called Voke. The new product has already received a medical license from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). This marks the first time a product sold by a large tobacco company has been licensed by a medical agency anywhere in the world. Voke looks remarkably like an electronic cigarette, but the company stresses that it is a completely different device. Its use involves no heat, electron- ics, or batteries. It contains a canister of 20 pressurized refills of pharmaceutical- grade nicotine activated by a breath-con- trolled micro-valve. BAT's new inhaler product delivers precise doses of nicotine with every inhalation. Voke is shaped like a cigarette and comes in a case that also looks like a portable charging case used by many e-cigarette products. Voke was designed to compete with existing electronic cigarettes as well as other nicotine inhalers, but it offers a completely different experience than tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes. The new product is expected to become available in stores and pharma- cies in the first half of 2015. Although it cannot be considered as direct competi- tion for electronic cigarettes, Voke is, nonetheless, the only e-cigarette-type device approved as a medicinal product, which could make a huge difference, since the new product will essentially escape any regulations that are likely to be imposed on electronic cigarettes in the near future. Japan/Italy PMI iQOS device Phillip Morris International (PMI) launched its new iQOS smokeless device and Marlboro HeatSticks in Nagoya, Japan and Milan, Italy in November. PMI's iQOS device, seen as a hybrid between traditional cigarettes and e-cigarettes, has a battery- operated system that heats tobacco rather than burn it, thus avoiding carcinogens that are inhaled through burning tobacco in traditional cigarettes. The iQOS looks like a hollowed-out fountain pen. Marlboro HeatSticks, which are small tubes of tobacco, are inserted into the iQOS device and heated. The ensuing smoking aerosol provides iQOS smokers the taste of a traditional tobacco cigarette. In Japan the iQOS kit retails at 6,980 yen (US$59.31) while the Marlboro HeatSticks sell for 460 yen per pack, each pack containing 20 sticks. In Italy, the iQOS kit is €70 (US$87.87), due to higher taxes, and the Marlboro Heat- sticks is €5 per pack of 20. USA Pipes come back Pipe sales have been heating up again in the US as pipe smoking has made a comeback. Recovering from the perceived stereotype of belonging to the 'grandfather' generation or pretentious men putting on airs, pipe smoking is the new, hip thing gaining increasing popularity with the young crowd aged 20-35, particularly those who enjoy the finer things in life such as microbrew beers, specialized coffees, and artisanal cheese. According to Jeff Moran, spokes- person for the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association, this is the first time in decades that the sales of pipes and pipe tobacco have not gone down. Pat Callahan, who has been operat- ing Jon's Pipe Shop in Champagne, Ill. for 40 years, said that before the 1970s, his business was probably 75% pipe tobacco and 25% cigars. Those figures flipped during the 1990s, and have leveled out 50-50 today. Reasons for pipe smoking's resurgence vary. Some believe the growing popularity of shisha pipes has made tobacco pipes more acceptable while others feel it has more to do with good taste and a general interest in high-quality products. Pipe prices average US$50-100, with some even costing more than US$1,000. Estate pipes, which are reconditioned used pipes, however, can cost much more at around US$6,000-10,000, some even being sold to collectors for as much as US$ 70,000. Worldwide No m&a for JT According to Japan Tobacco Inc president and chief executive Mitsuomi Koizumi, his company is not exploring any further acquisitions of vaporizers or e-cigarette brands. Japan Tobacco, the world's third- biggest tobacco company, is in the final stage of a takeover of Zandera, the UK-based manufacturer of the E-Lites e-cigarette brand. It also has a stake in Ploom, a US maker of electronic pipe tobacco products or vaporisers with which it has a deal to sell the devices outside the country. In Russia, its biggest and most lucrative overseas market, tobacco cigarette sales are likely to shrink by about 10% in 2014. "With Ploom and E-Lites, we have the know-how and technology to get things started," said Koizumi in an interview with Reuters. The company also has no plans to introduce e-ciga- rettes to Japan, Koizumi said. The United States is the world's biggest market for e-cigarettes. Last month, the world's fourth largest tobacco firm Imperial Tobacco Group Plc said it would buy a string of US brands including Lorillard Inc's blu e-cigarette unit. Pakistan Domestic consumption Pakistan's State Bank's recent Statistical Bulletin Report revealed that more than 64 billion cigarettes were consumed by Pakistanis during the Fiscal Year (FY) 2014, estimated to be worth Rs250 billion. The reported figures are based on official sales records, though there is no mention of smokeless tobacco including gutka, naswar, and paan. Statistics from the Pakistan Demo- graphic Health Survey show that 46% men and 5.7% women smoke tobacco, and 15.9% adult Pakistanis are known to smoke every day.

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