Smokeless smoking devices - and tobacco companies are looking forward to it
Manufacturers are reoriented to products that do not burn and at least according to their first studies are less harmful than traditional cigarettes
Several centuries ago, Napoleon III noted that smoking brings 100 million francs annually to the Treasury, and would have banned it immediately if such a lucrative virtue was presented to him. Since then, world governments seem to continue to hesitate between the battle for public health and budget revenues.
In the 21st century, however, consumers are changing - looking for a healthier lifestyle and higher-quality and quality services. This means that industries are changing as well. Including the most forbidden World Health Organization - the cigarette, with its annual turnover of over $ 800 billion.
Major changes in the age-old industry
The first version of the change was more than 10 years ago and began with the production of electronic cigarettes with liquid nicotine patented by the Chinese doctor Hon Lik . About 12 million of the 1 billion smokers worldwide are currently using electronic cigarettes and the trend is to grow. Simultaneously with the research that e-cigarettes are much more harmless than tobacco, governments have introduced a number of restrictions on their tobacco equivalents on a recommendation from the World Health Organization: a ban on indoor smoking, health warnings on cigarette packs that are getting bigger and are horrifyingly naturalistic in their attempt to deny smokers their habit, prohibiting advertising, setting up venues, increasing excise duty.
In developed countries, the decrease in the consumption of tobacco cigarettes at the expense of their electronic counterparts is visible. That is why the cigarette industry is trying to synchronize with the trend for a healthier lifestyle - to produce products that pose less risk but to give smokers the feelings they are used to with tobacco smoke - smoke, smoke, nicotine ....
According to British American Tobacco, the world's largest cigarette company, following the acquisition of Reynolds American, over the past five years, it has invested more than $ 1 billion in new-generation products. It is powered by a battery and uses tobacco heating with a tobacco stick cartridge and flavored nicotine fluid.
The other cigarette giant, Philip Morris, has invested over $ 3 billion in research and development, with studies lasting for 10 years. The IQOS product is new and detailed data about the size of the business is not yet available. But for example, Philip Morris's nine-month report shows that the number of classic cigarettes sold dropped by 7.6 percent to 566 billion units, and new smoke grew at times from 3.7 billion units in 2016 to 20.5 billion in the nine months of this year. Philip Morris says that more than 400 scientists - geneticists, biochemists and engineers, as well as 60 Swiss start-ups - participated in the IQOS project.
By the end of 2018, the third giant in the sector, Japan Tobacco, plans to invest $ 500 million in expanding the production capacity of its smokeless Ploom Tech. His product in November will also offer a Korean cigarette company.
Euromonitor's market forecast shows that the non-refillable cigarette sector will reach $ 15.4 billion in 2021, representing 45% of the alternative tobacco market, with a 17% share now. Last year their sales were estimated at 2 billion dollars, 96% of which from the Japanese market. The optimism of everyone in the industry comes from the example of the Asian side.
