Author: Timothy Donahue

Vapor Well-Represented at Golden Leaf Awards

Announcing the 2024 recipients of the Golden Leaf Awards
TR Staff Report
Tobacco Reporter presented its 2024 Golden Leaf Awards Sept. 25 during a festive ceremony at the Agora Riviera Restaurant in Kavouri, near the site of this year’s Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum in Athens. Sponsored exclusively by paper and packaging solution provider BMJ of Indonesia, the Golden Leaf Awards recognize excellence in the nicotine sector in the midst of our industry’s unprecedented transition.

Photos: Timothy Donahue
ARAC received a Golden Leaf Award for its outstanding service to the industry. Renowned for its expertise in social and behavioral sciences, the company specializes in data-driven research and analysis, providing customized solutions to manufacturers, public health advocates, regulatory agencies and industry consultants globally.
ARAC’s comprehensive services include surveys, interviews, focus groups, label development, usability studies and clinical behavioral studies, all aimed at advancing tobacco harm reduction.
The company has transformed from a consultancy to a fully staffed contract research firm. The expanded team brings unmatched expertise to every project, ensuring comprehensive and impactful results. ARAC’s internal team of psychologists, statisticians, behavioral scientists and business development specialists boast over a half-century of industry expertise.
The in-house survey methodologist and medical monitoring team enhances its standardization and facility training with on-site clinical assessments and proper sample distribution.
ARAC assists clients worldwide in product development and consumer research supporting innovation and next-generation products, with a focused expertise on the regulatory sciences for U.S. applications, including premarket tobacco product applications, modified-risk tobacco product applications and substantial equivalence procedures.

Greentank was recognized for its Quantum Vape, a state-of-the-art heating chip that replaces traditional cotton wick and ceramic heating elements. The technology outperforms other leading atomization products on key safety metrics, including harmful and potentially harmful constituents (HPHCs) and metals. It also delivers superior flavor and a consistent consumer experience.
The Quantum Vape represents a breakthrough in inhalation science with the potential to catapult the industry beyond the current generation of atomization technology. Whereas most developments in recent years have amounted to tweaks of substrates and print materials, Greentank’s is the first in years to explore an entirely new foundation.
Among other benefits, the heating chip eliminates the risk of thermal cycling, therefore ensuring unprecedented levels of flavor consistency. Innovative assembly technologies ensure the heating chip emits no ceramic particle emissions and contains the lowest levels of HPHCs. While it’s not possible to claim complete absence, third-party testing and rigorous chemical analysis have found HPHCs to be at undetectable levels.
With its Quantum Vape, Greentank aims to lead the market toward a safer and better future.

Koerber took home the BMJ Most Committed to Quality Golden Leaf Award for its unwavering support of the nicotine business for nearly 80 years. Since its creation, the Hamburg-based company has consistently pushed the envelope with groundbreaking technologies, enabling the nicotine industry to produce ever more efficiently without compromising quality.
Koerber’s filter machines continue to set the global standard while its legendary Protos cigarette making machines lead the market worldwide. Over the years, the company has added, organically and through acquisitions, many competences, including in physical measuring, foreign matter detection and smoke analysis, along with primary machinery, recon equipment and flavors.
As the nicotine business moves to its next chapter, Koerber is again at the forefront, developing equipment for the manufacture of cigarette alternatives such as tobacco-heating products.
In creating the technology to manufacture tomorrow’s products, the company leverages not only the expertise developed in the traditional tobacco business but also the pioneering mindset that has kept it at the cutting edge of nicotine technology for more than three quarters of a century.

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
The Kutsaga Tobacco Research Board was recognized for its efforts to promote sustainable growth. Eager to capture more value from its tobacco business, Zimbabwe aims to build a $5 billion industry by 2025 by expanding cultivation and moving up the value chain. With seed sales of more than 1 million grams as of Aug. 1, according to The Herald, the nation is poised to set new production records in the upcoming growing season.
To promote farmer viability and minimize the environmental impact of growth, Zimbabwe aims to increase production without laying claim to significantly more farmland. Kutsaga has contributed to those goals by developing seed varieties that are not only more productive but also more resilient, helping farmers cope with challenges such as pests and climate change.
In addition, the research board has been helping growers become more productive by reducing post-harvest losses. Zimbabwean tobacco production is dominated by smallholders who use wood as a fuel for tobacco growing. To address deforestation, Kutsaga has been developing sustainable wood sources and more efficient curing methods.

Photo: SindiTabaco
SindiTabaco received a Golden Leaf Award for its role in coordinating relief efforts after Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state in May suffered the worst floods in living memory. In all, the deluge impacted 1,929 rural properties in 75 municipalities. Candelaria was worst impacted, with 214 tobacco farmers suffering losses.
As one of the world’s leading tobacco-growing areas, Rio Grande do Sul plays a key role in global leaf supply. To help flood victims, SindiTabaco and its member companies donated basic food items, cleaning supplies, hygiene kits and furniture. They also provided personal loans for reconstruction and offered mental support from psychologists. In addition, tobacco companies and associations made available power generators and water tanks as well as boats and vehicles to rescue stranded people and animals.
The efforts helped many tobacco farmers and their dependents recover from disaster. According to a survey, 96 percent of the affected farmers intend to continue producing tobacco. SindiTabaco expects tobacco production from the impacted area to remain close to the projections estimated for the 2024–2025 growing season.
September 26, 2024
On Oct. 1, Malaysia’s New Smoking Rules Take Effect

Malaysia’s new tobacco law will take effect Oct. 1, reports Malay Mail.
The law covers regulations related to the registration, sale, packaging and labeling of smoking products, along with restrictions on smoking in public places.
The new legislation also covers electronic cigarettes.
The law seeks to prohibit the sale and purchase of tobacco products, smoking materials and tobacco substitutes to minors, as well as the provision of any smoking-related services to those under the age of 18.
Health groups have repeatedly urged the government to expedite the enforcement of new law, especially following a controversial decision last year by former Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa to remove liquid nicotine from the poisons list.
September 26, 2024
Experts: Ignoring THR a ‘Death Sentence’ for Smokers

VV Archives
International health experts have warned that governments of the world are condemning millions to die if they continue to ignore the benefits of tobacco harm reduction (THR) policies.
In an open letter to delegates at the United Nations General Assembly, Delon Human of Smoke Free Sweden, along with other leading THR specialists, call for THR to be incorporated into standard tobacco control measures worldwide.
By doing so, millions of lives could be saved from smoking-related diseases, the letter states.
The experts’ letter points to real-world evidence, particularly from Sweden, which proves the success of THR policies. Through the promotion of safer alternatives like snus, nicotine pouches and vapes, Sweden has reduced its smoking rates by 55 percent over the past decade, resulting in a staggering 44 percent fewer tobacco-related deaths compared to the rest of the European Union.
“Sweden’s achievement underscores the effectiveness of harm reduction policies in not only saving lives but also reducing the strain on healthcare systems,” Human said. “Their success serves as a blueprint for other nations.”
The letter also highlights New Zealand’s progress, where the Ministry of Health endorsed vaping as a cessation tool in 2019. Since then, New Zealand’s smoking rates have nearly halved, positioning the country as another example of how THR can drive down smoking-related deaths and diseases.
While countries like Sweden and New Zealand lead the way, many other nations continue to struggle with high smoking rates while rejecting harm reduction. Countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa could witness similarly dramatic reductions in smoking-related mortality by adopting THR policies.
A recent study cited in the letter estimates that Czechia alone could save 280,000 lives over the next four decades if it adopts THR strategies. Further studies report similar potential benefits in other nations including Brazil, Bangladesh, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.
“This is not about promoting nicotine use,” Human said. “It’s about offering safer choices to individuals who would otherwise continue smoking harmful cigarettes. We are on the cusp of a public health revolution, and THR has the potential to be a game-changer in saving millions of lives.”
The letter, also signed by Derek Yach and Marewa Glover, calls on global leaders and the United Nations to prioritize THR as a crucial element of tobacco control, urging governments to act swiftly and decisively. “The evidence is clear,” the letter concludes. The time to act is now.”
September 25, 2024
California Ban on Intoxicating Hemp Now in Effect

Credit: Niro World
Emergency regulations issued by California Gov. Gavin Newsom a few weeks ago limiting the sale and production of intoxicating hemp products are now in force.
According to a records request by SFGate, the rules were enacted Monday after being approved by the state’s Office of Administrative Law. Newsom issued the restrictions on Sept. 6, which were proposed by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
Jonathan Miller, general counsel of industry trade group Hemp Roundtable, predicted the order will eliminate 90%-95% of hemp retail products.
Newsom has argued that lax rules have allowed underage youth to access intoxicating products, and he filed emergency rules earlier this month to completely ban them. However, the hemp industry has said that the Newsom administration was abusing the emergency rulemaking process to pass the hemp THC ban and that banning hemp THC would have disastrous effects on medical patients who rely on hemp to treat a wide range of health conditions.
The Office of Administrative Law agreed with Newsom, writing in the order that the emergency rules are “deemed to be an emergency situation.” The ban on hemp THC will be effective until March 25, 2025.
Newsom’s hemp ban has caused outrage in the medical cannabis community, with families “panic buying” thousands of dollars of hemp in anticipation of the rules going into effect.
September 25, 2024
Protocol to Eliminate Elicit Trade Celebrates Year Six

The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products celebrates its sixth anniversary today.
The international treaty, which currently has 69 parties, aims to eliminate all forms of illicit trade in tobacco products through a comprehensive package of measures to be implemented by countries in cooperation with each other. The protocol builds upon and complements Article 15 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which requires parties to implement measures to counter illicit trade in tobacco products, such as supply chain control measures and cooperation in law enforcement and prosecution.  
The protocol also addresses issues such as transnational organized crime, corruption, money laundering, national security, losses in government revenues, poverty and tobacco-related diseases. 
According to the World Health Organization, Illicit trade accounts for about 11 percent of total global tobacco trade, and its elimination could increase global tax revenues by an estimated $47.4 billion annually.
September 25, 2024
KT&G Releases Lil Solid 3.0 in South Korea

Image: KT&G
KT&G has released Lil Solid 3.0 in South Korea, reports Maeil Business Newspaper.
The new product is an upgrade to Reel Solid 2.0, which debuted in 2020. Lil Solid 3.0 offers two new usage settings that provide a differentiated sense of smoking. “Boost” mode delivers a rich haze volume and strong impact. Normal mode offers the same experience as Reel Solid 2.0.
A “smart-on” function heats the device instantly when the stick is inserted. The fast charging allows the user to charge the device up to 50 percent of its capacity within 40 minutes.
The recommended consumer price is KRW88,000 ($66).
“Reel Solid 3.0 is expected to provide more satisfaction to consumers with upgraded user convenience and design,” said Lim Wang-seop, head of KT&G’s next-generation products business division. “We will continue to develop innovative products that can meet domestic and foreign consumer needs based on world-class brand competitiveness.”
September 24, 2024
Firstunion Technology Recognized in Dortmund

Image: blacksalmon
Firstunion’s Alkaid Light heating technology received an HNB innovation award on Sept. 19 at the InterTabac exhibition in Dortmund, Germany, according to a company press release relayed by Vaping360.
That same evening, Firstunion hosted a launch event, showcasing how Alkaid technology addresses consumer concerns such as heating speed, flavor quality, device cleanliness, and health impacts.
Alkaid light-heating method leverages full-spectrum light waves, mimicking the natural power of sunlight to deliver rapid and uniform heating. According to Firstunion’s Alkaid light-heating technical lead Zhu Bin, this enables the device to preheat in just five seconds, offering users instant satisfaction with a smooth, seamless draw.
Firstunion claims the technology also delivers superior taste and health benefits that elevate the smoking experience beyond current standards. According to the manufacturer, Alkaid increases the nicotine release efficiency in aerosols by more than 40 percent and boosts total particulate matter by 20 percent, delivering an experience that closely mimics that offered by traditional cigarettes.
Simultaneously, the technology cuts harmful substance emissions by 20 percent, according to Firstunion. Thanks to its innovative non-contact heating design, Alkaid requires no cleaning, ensuring the device delivers consistent, fresh-tasting flavor even after 5,000 continuous uses, according to the press note.
September 23, 2024
Survey: Most Vapers Oppose Retail Display Ban

VV Archives
A recent survey by the Malaysian Vapers Alliance (MVA), a local advocacy group for vape consumers, showed that many vapers oppose the retail display ban that is expected to be implemented.
Following the survey, MVA has raised concerns over critical elements of the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Act 2024 (Act 852).
The survey, which garnered close to 500 responses, aimed at understanding consumer perspectives on the impending regulations.
The survey showed that 71.3% of respondents do not agree with the ban, citing dissatisfaction with the inability to browse through products before making a decision (39.7%) and difficulties in the purchasing process (38.3%).
The survey also uncovered that if the retail display ban occurs, consumers will likely seek illegal alternatives (47.4%) or return to smoking cigarettes (44.5%).
Only a tiny percentage (8.1%) indicated they would quit vaping altogether if faced with such restrictions.
In commenting on the findings, MVA president Khairil Azizi Khairuddin emphasized the potential dangers of pushing consumers towards unregulated products.
“The survey findings clearly show that a retail display ban is not the solution,” said Khairuddin. “Restricting consumers’ ability to see and choose legitimate products will only drive them to the black market, where the quality and safety of products are questionable.
“This is not the direction we want to go in, mainly as vaping serves as a harm-reduction tool for many who are trying to move away from smoking.”
September 23, 2024
PMI to Record £220 Million Loss on Vectura Sale

Image: Aliaksandr Marko
Philip Morris International expects to record a record loss of about £220 million ($198 million) on the sale of its inhaled-therapeutics Vectura Group unit to Molex Asia Holdings in the third quarter, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing a securities filing.
On Sept. 17, PMI’s pharmaceutical subsidiary, Vectura Fertin Pharma, announced it would sell its Vectura Group business to Molex. The company acquired Vectura Group in 2021 for $1.24 billion as part PMI’s drive to diversify beyond nicotine.
The company now says that “unwarranted opposition” to its transformation has affected Vectura Group’s engagement with the scientific community and its commercial relationships.
The remaining units of Vectura Fertin Pharma will continue to operate under a new corporate identity and develop oral consumer health and wellness offerings, as well as inhaled prescription products for pain management and cardiovascular emergencies.
September 23, 2024
Tucker Carlson to Launch Nicotine Pouch, Blasts Zyn

Photo: Andrii
Tucker Carlson plans to introduce a nicotine-pouch brand called Alp in November, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The conservative U.S. political commentator said he decided to enter the tobacco business because of the way Zyn manufacturer Philip Morris International responded to an off-color remark he made in 2023 about America’s bestselling nicotine pouch.
Until recently, Carlson styled himself as an unofficial spokesman for Zyn. He talked up the brand on frequent podcast appearances. “The truth is, Zyn is a powerful work enhancer and also a male enhancer, if you know what I mean,” Carlson told comedian Theo Von in an interview last October.
Carlson’s representatives then pitched PMI on forming a partnership with the brand. The multinational declined, citing Carlson’s commentary.
“While we understand that these may be Mr. Carlson’s views or made in jest, these statements lack a scientific foundation,” the tobacco company wrote. “Given Mr. Carlson’s popularity and reach, these statements could promote a misunderstanding and misuse of our products.”
Carlson said the message enraged him.
“Of course I wasn’t making a medical claim about their product. I was just joking,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “So I thought: ‘I’m going to launch my own product that’s not controlled by, you know, humorless, left-wing drones.’”
Last month, a Turning Point Brands subsidiary filed a trademark application for the Alp brand name and its logo, which depicts a winking man in a cowboy hat. The company currently sells a moist nicotine pouch called Fre.
Alp will come in three nicotine strengths—3 mg, 6 mg and 9 mg. Zyn in the U.S. is only available in 3 mg and 6 mg versions. Another key difference is that Alp pouches are moist while Zyn pouches are dry, like tiny tea bags, until they are tucked into the cheek, according to Carlson.
September 20, 2024