Tobacco Trend Watch: Heat Sticks

The iQOS heat sticks by Phillip Morris produce a vapor, but no second-hand smoke.

August 30, 2016

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that technology combining features of electronic cigarettes with sticks of tobacco may attract smokers who are looking for a healthier alternative.

Developed by Philip Morris International, the iQOS (pronounced eye-cos) technology was first sold in Japan in 2015. The battery and heating system within the iQOS heats tobacco rather than nicotine-laced liquid. Smokers insert what looks like a miniature cigarette—a Marlboro HeatStick—into its tube, and the device heats the stick to about 350 degrees, which is hot enough to produce a vapor, but no second-hand smoke. The device needs to be recharged after each pack of 20 sticks.

"When you heat it short of combustion, the toxins are reduced by about 95%," Mark Hilgendorf, director of equity research and portfolio manager at Associated Trust Co., told the news source.

Hilgendorf said that excise taxes and public smoking bans have not stopped people from smoking, but the iQOS could give them a lower-risk alternative. “I think tobacco companies, rather than all the legislation, have the best shot at reducing the harm of cigarette smoking,” he said.

Bloomberg wrote in March 2016 that Phillip Morris has spent more than $2 billion developing smoking alternatives. The company does not claim iQOS is healthier than smoking and sells it with a warning that the safest option is to avoid tobacco altogether. In Japan more than 100,000 smokers have switched to iQOS, and Philip Morris says HeatSticks accounted for 2.4% of the Tokyo cigarette market in January 2016.

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