Jody Begley, president and general manager of Nu Mark, a subsidiary of Altria, said the company made a minority investment in Avail Vapor, one of the largest vape store chains in the U.S. with more than 100 company-owned stores.
Richmond, Virginia-based Avail sells more than 100 premium Avail-branded liquids and a wide range of predominantly open-system devices. The company manufactures its own liquids in a state-of-the-art ISO-certified clean room and has a full-service analytical science laboratory to support regulatory compliance.
According to Begley, the investment is already paying off. “We’ve gained a better understanding of the vape store channel and adult open-system vapers, and have access to extensive data around adult vaper purchasing patterns,” he says. “Through their retail stores, we’ve also learned a great deal about educating adult tobacco consumers about new products—insights Altria’s companies can apply to other areas of their reduced-risk portfolios going forward.”
The US Food and Drug Administration has published a Federal Register notice announcing a meeting of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) to discuss modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) applications submitted by Philip Morris Products (PMP).
The meeting, which is scheduled for January 24-25 at the FDA’s White Oak campus, was the subject of a Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) press note.
The committee is due to discuss scientific issues related to the MRTP applications submitted by PMP for its iQOS system and several Marlboro HeatSticks products, which are currently under scientific review by the FDA.
Requests for the presentation of oral comments at the TPSAC meeting have to be submitted by December 27.
Written comments have to be submitted by January 4.
More information is available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/11/09/2017-24379/tobacco-products-scientific-advisory-committee-notice-of-meeting
Tobacco sticks for heat-not-burn devices are due to become more expensive in South Korea after lawmakers there passed a bill yesterday to increase taxes on them, according to a story in The Korea JoongAng Daily.
Currently, the tax on a pack of 20 tobacco sticks is 126 won ($0.11), while the tax on combustible cigarettes is 594 won.
But under the revised law, the consumption tax for sticks will rise to 529 won.
When combined with other taxes, such as the regional education tax and value-added tax, the total tax on sticks currently add up to 1,739 won, but that is set to rise to 2,990 won.
By comparison, the total tax on combustible cigarettes is 3,323 won.
The effect on the retail price is expected to be a 700 won increase on a 20-stick pack, taking it from 4,300 won to 5,000 won.
The bill passed with overwhelming support. Of the 239 lawmakers who voted, 230 were in favor, one was opposed and eight abstained.
Having unleashed a monster when it hiked taxes on combustible cigarettes at the beginning of 2015, the government is taking steps to curb bulk buying and hoarding ahead of the imposition of the latest tax increase.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance is restricting the amount of tobacco sticks that manufacturers can supply to the market to 110 percent of the average supply during the past three months.
Any retailers who commit profiteering could face up to two years in prison or a 50 million won fine, the ministry said.
US vape stores are enjoying renewed optimism about the future following the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to postpone key regulatory deadlines, a recent survey has shown.
The independent survey of more than 1,000 US vape stores was conducted by electronic-cigarette industry data provider ECigIntelligence.
The responses showed a 31 percent increase in vape store operators having a positive outlook on the future of the vaping market in the US, ECigIntelligence said in a press note.
Before the FDA announcement in July, most vape stores had arrested expansion plans and cut back on general spending, but since the announcement, many retailers were planning the expansion of business or stock levels.
Seventy seven percent of retailers were feeling some industry optimism, while more than 10 percent had no plans to take any action as yet and were awaiting further regulations before deciding.
‘Average monthly revenue per store shows no change compared with 2016, at around $27,000,’ the note said. ‘While the ratio of mods and starter kits have increased, the e-liquid share of revenue has decreased, which reflects the increasing price pressure on e-liquids and the growing popularity of larger bottle sizes.
‘Also, the number of stores that offer in-house e-liquid has increased from last year. For those that offer both in-house and third-party brands, in-house e-liquids on average account for more than half of their e-liquid revenue.’
The American E-Liquid Manufacturing Standards Association (AEMSA) voted to expand the organization’s membership categories during a recent meeting. In addition to e-liquid manufacturing businesses, AEMSA will now allow liquid component and hardware manufacturers, as well as vapor products distributors and retailers to join, according to a press note. The separate sectors will develop sector-specific standards to ensure good manufacturing practices, ingredient quality control and consumer safety, according to the release.
“AEMSA was created to ensure that the e-liquids consumers vape are manufactured in a professional, responsible manner with inspections and certifications to provide consumers with confidence that our members’ products are manufactured with quality, accuracy, safety, and verifiable standards.” AEMSA president Scott Eley stated. “The vast majority of our suppliers and customers have the same business mindset. It’s time that the industry adopts standards across-the-board and demonstrates that we all adhere to them. Consumers deserve that.”
Mike Runshe, founder and owner of Giant Vapes, an online vapor retailer, recently accepted an invitation to serve as an AEMSA subject matter expert to help organize the organization’s Retail Operations Membership category. “With the recent changes AEMSA is making, they are positioning themselves to evolve with the industry, grow with the industry, and improve industry standards across not only the e-liquid manufacturing space, but all facets of the vapor industry. I’m excited to get involved on the ground floor and help them drive this growth and evolution” Runshe stated in the release.
British American Tobacco says that toxicant levels in vapor from its heat-not-burn (HNB) tobacco product, glo™, have been found to be about 90 percent lower than the levels in traditional-cigarette smoke.
In heating rather than burning tobacco, glo operated at much lower temperatures than did a cigarette: about 240̊C versus 900̊C, BAT said in a press note issued to coincide with the publication in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology of the results of a BAT study.
“Our studies on glo reveal that this product produces significantly lower levels of harmful or potentially harmful components compared to a cigarette,” Dr. James Murphy, head of reduced risk substantiation at BAT was quoted as saying. “The vapor produced was found to have significantly reduced numbers and lower levels of toxicants compared to cigarette smoke, and so it should in principle expose consumers to much less toxicants,” he says.
‘It is the toxicants in smoke that cause most smoking-related diseases,’ said BAT in its note.
‘Scientists at British American Tobacco analysed and compared the vapor from glo™ – a commercially available tobacco heating product (THP) – and smoke from a reference cigarette (3R4F) and found substantial reductions in the glo™ emissions for all smoke toxicant groups measured. Most cigarette smoke toxicants could not be detected in the glo™ vapor.’
“This comprehensive chemical assessment is part of a science-based approach that we have developed to demonstrate the reduced-risk potential of THPs and other next generation products relative to smoking cigarettes,” said Murphy. “We believe that such an approach is essential to communicating to consumers and regulators that the available information on our products is based on sound, evidence-based science.”
‘The scientists set out to measure 126 substances, including toxicants that have been identified by Health Canada, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg) as harmful or potentially harmful to health, and other compounds produced by burning tobacco,’ the note said.
‘A smoking robot was used to generate smoke or vapor in the laboratory in a way that mimics realistic use of the products. Air samples were also produced with which to compare the smoke and vapor.
‘An analysis of the emissions showed that glo™ produces a much simpler aerosol than cigarettes. glo™ emitted over 95 percent less, on average, of 102 of 126 compounds that could be measured, compared to smoke. For the nine toxicants that the WHO proposes for lowering in cigarette smoke, the overall average reduction was 97.1 percent, while for the 18 requiring mandatory reporting by the FDA, it was 97.5 percent. Twenty-four substances could not be detected/quantified in the glo™ emissions, smoke or both.
‘The findings add to a body of evidence that could be used to support glo™ as a potential reduced-risk product compared to conventional cigarettes.’
A study by scientists based in Glasgow, Scotland, suggests that one of the chemicals in e-liquids kills off bugs that make people ill, according to a story by Mark Howarth for the Sunday Post.
A report of the study published in the journal Medical Hypotheses suggests that breathing in the fumes of propylene glycol could help destroy even long-term infections.
The new research describes the case of a woman who had suffered tonsillitis for nine years and whose symptoms vanished within weeks of taking up vaping.
The 26-year-old computer scientist, who had never smoked, had come to accept there was no medical treatment for her condition and had stopped seeking help.
She took up vaping when her partner quit smoking for e-cigarettes and, within about three months, realized that her symptoms had disappeared.
‘She has now been vaping for eight months and her tonsillitis has not recurred,’ the report says. ‘She has not suffered a single respiratory infection or common cold.’
“As this is a never-smoker, the improvements cannot be attributed to smoking cessation,” said lead author Dr. Joanna Astrid Miler, of the Glasgow-based Centre for Substance Use Research. “One possible explanation is that the improvement was due to antimicrobial properties of propylene glycol.
“A trial of vaping zero-nicotine e-cigarettes in patients with recurrent throat infections could clarify whether this is an effect that could benefit others.”
Previous research has found that propylene glycol, which is a synthetic compound of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, is effective in tackling bacteria linked to the onset of colds and sore throats, such as Streptococcus and Staphylococcus.
The latest study was produced in conjunction with Queen Mary University, London.
The Science and Technology Committee of the UK Parliament has launched a public consultation to ‘examine the impact of electronic cigarettes on human health (including their effectiveness as a stop-smoking tool), the suitability of regulations guiding their use, and the financial implications of a growing market on both business and the NHS’, according to a Bloomberg News story relayed by the TMA, and a report by Sarah Knapton for telegraph.co.uk.
The chair of the committee, Norman Lamb MP, said that almost three million people in the UK now used e-cigarettes, but that there were still significant gaps in the research guiding their regulation and sale.
“They are seen by some as valuable tools that will reduce the number of people smoking ‘conventional’ cigarettes, and seen by others as ‘re-normalising’ smoking for the younger generation,” Lamb said.
“We want to understand where the gaps are in the evidence base, the impact of the regulations, and the implications of this growing industry on NHS costs and the UK’s public finances.”
Written submissions will be accepted until December 8.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco is attempting to start a new chapter with its Eclipse heat-not-burn product, according to a story by Richard Craver for the Winston-Salem Journal.
Craver said that Eclipse’s technology was considered to be ‘ahead of its time’ when developed in the 1990s, but that it had struggled to gain traction with smokers.
But in July, Reynolds entered the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory system with a substantial-equivalence application, according to an investor presentation on Wednesday by parent company British American Tobacco.
A substantial-equivalence filing is for products that either have the same characteristics as those marketed on/before February 15, 2007, or have different characteristics but do not raise different questions of public health.
“Our application is for an improved version of Eclipse based on the grandfathered version of the product,” Reynolds spokesman David Howard said.
Howard said the improvements targeted the “sensory characteristics and ease of lighting” of Eclipse.
“There is no definitive timetable for [FDA] review, but we are optimistic it will be completed in the near future,” he said.
In the case of Eclipse, smokers light a carbon tip that heats air that, as it is inhaled, passes over a tobacco blend, picking up the flavors of that blend.
The people of the UK are overwhelmingly opposed to a ban on smoking at home, according to a new poll published yesterday.
The survey, conducted by Populus for the smokers’ group Forest, found that 76 percent of adults were in favor of people being allowed to smoke in their own homes, while 20 percent were against.
The online poll of 2,101 adults was commissioned after anti-smoking campaigners called for a debate about smoking in the home. “As a nation, I think we need to have a debate on why we currently think it acceptable to expose non-smokers, including children, to second-hand tobacco smoke within indoor spaces,” Dr. Sean Semple, an academic at Aberdeen University, told the Sunday Times Scotland earlier this month. “I think that debate needs to include smoking in the home.”
The Times reported also that the chief executive of the anti-smoking group ASH Scotland was seeking a meeting with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations to discuss the possibility of a smoking ban.
In May, it was reported that council housing tenants in England could be banned from smoking in their own homes under new rules being considered by some councils. “Housing associations and councils are looking at smoke-free housing buildings,” Professor John Middleton, president of the Faculty of Public Health, told the Times. “Where children are involved I think there is a real case for it.”
But Simon Clark (pictured), director of Forest, said the poll was a reminder that most people didn’t support an extreme anti-smoking agenda.
“The public understands that punishing adults for smoking in their own home would represent a gross invasion of privacy,” he said.
“They know too that a ban could only be enforced if neighbours and family members were encouraged to report one another. For most people that’s a deeply disturbing prospect.”
Clark dismissed claims that anti-smoking groups did not support a ban on smoking at home.
“I’ve no doubt at all that one of the long-term goals of the tobacco control industry is a ban on smoking in the home, starting with social housing,” he said.
“Prohibition is part of their DNA. The only way they can hope to achieve their ambition of a smoke free world is to persecute smokers into submission.”
