Tag: IQOS

Austin Smokers Invited to Join IQOS Wait List

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Philip Morris International will hold several events in Austin, Texas, this weekend, to mark the upcoming introduction of its IQOS tobacco heating product in the United States.
In anticipation of launch, current nicotine users who are over the age of 21 and live in designated areas of Austin will be given the opportunity to join a wait list to be among the first to try IQOS once the product becomes available.
“We believe having a portfolio of satisfying alternatives can help traditional tobacco users switch completely and walk away from cigarettes for good,” said Stacey Kennedy, CEO of PMI in the U.S. operations “Austin is a hotbed for innovators, entrepreneurs and trailblazers. Cultural trends adopted here have a ripple effect, so it was a natural place to introduce IQOS in the U.S.”

Austin is a hotbed for innovators, entrepreneurs and trailblazers. Cultural trends adopted here have a ripple effect, so it was a natural place to introduce IQOS in the U.S.
Stacey Kennedy, CEO of PMI’s U.S. business
The (re)introduction of tobacco-heating products into the U.S. has been eagerly awaited by investors and tobacco harm reduction advocates, who hope the product will help transition smokers from deadly combustible cigarettes to less-harmful heating products. Tests suggest that heating tobacco produces lower levels of harmful chemicals than burning it. IQOS has been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a modified-risk tobacco product.
In Tobacco Reporter’s October issue, Cheryl Olson reflects on how the launch of tobacco heating products may impact the U.S. market.
IQOS was briefly test-marketed by PMI’s former U.S. partner, Altria Group. In September 2021, the International Trade Commission determined that the product infringed patents owned by British American Tobacco and barred IQOS imports.
PMI and BAT subsequently resolved their intellectual property dispute, clearing the way for IQOS sales in the U.S. In October 2022, PMI reclaimed the U.S. commercialization rights to IQOS, saying Altria had failed to meet certain milestones stipulated in their agreement.
IQOS is already available in an estimated 80 countries, and since launching in Japan 10 years ago, it has helped more than 22 million people worldwide make the switch from cigarettes, according to PMI. A 2019 study by researchers at the American Cancer Society showed that cigarette sales decreased five times faster after IQOS was introduced in Japan.
IQOS is now PMI’s top revenue earner, surpassing the company’s bestselling Marlboro cigarette brand.
PMI’s latest integrated report shows that 38 percent of the company’s total net revenue now comes from its smoke-free business, which also includes the popular Zyn nicotine pouches .
“For the first time in history, smoke-free products have surpassed cigarette combustibles,” PMI CEO Jacek Olczak said at the Technovation event on Oct. 9 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, according to Malaya Business Insight.
October 19, 2024
Battery Law Forces IQOS from Kiwi Store Shelves

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Philip Morris International pulled its IQOS tobacco heating device from New Zealand store shelves after a new law took effect requiring vaping devices to have removable batteries, reports RNZ. Tobacco heating products (THPs) are classified as e-cigarettes in New Zealand.
RNZ says it has seen PMI emails sent to suppliers saying IOQS is “unavailable for purchase due to a regulatory change on 1 October 2024 affecting vaping devices.” In a statement, the multinational said it always complies with all necessary regulations, including on electronic devices.
IQOS consumables, known as Heatsticks, remain available for sale in New Zealand.
The news follows controversy about Associate Health Minister Casey Costello’s July announcement of a 50 percent cut to THP excise taxes—a move that critics say benefits only PMI, which is the sole supplier of the products in New Zealand.
Costello argues the tax cut will encourage smokers to switch to THPs, which are believed to be less harmful than combustible cigarettes. Costello’s plan is to have more than 7,000 people switch to THPs, which she sees as a tool to achieve New Zealand’s smoking reduction targets.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has backed Costello, telling RNZ the excise tax cut plan was a 12 month trial to “see how it goes” with HTPs lowering smoking rates.
Health advocates have accused the ruling coalition of caving to pressure from tobacco lobbyists. In late 2023, the government scrapped the country’s controversial generational tobacco ban, which would have prohibited tobacco products for people born after 2009.
In a briefing published Jan. 31 by the Public Health Communications Center, three University of Otago public health academics highlight links between government members of parliament and the tobacco industry.
October 2, 2024
PMI Lobbies Nevada Lawmakers for Lower IQOS Tax

Credit: Aidman
Representatives from Philip Morris International (PMI) have begun pitching the benefits of its IQOS heated tobacco device to Nevada state lawmakers. The cigarette maker hopes Silver State legislators will pass a bill next year to tax heated tobacco at a lower rate than traditional cigarettes.
PMI is preparing to launch IQOS in the United States. As part of those efforts, PMI has hired lobbyists in multiple states, including Nevada, according to media reports. The company has postponed the test launch of IQOS in the U.S. to the fourth quarter. The company declined to say why. The pilot was earlier scheduled to run in Austin, Texas, in the second quarter.
Anti-tobacco activists have been seeking to derail the U.S. introduction of IQOS, arguing among other things that PMI exaggerates the number of people who have quit smoking regulator cigarettes using IQOS.
PMI director of Scientific Engagement Brian Erkkila explained how IQOS works in a presentation on Tuesday to Nevada’s Joint Interim Standing Committee on Revenue. While no specific legislative asks were made Tuesday, Eddie Ableser of Tri-Strategies — the Nevada-based government affairs firm working with PMI — told lawmakers the company is looking to start a conversation about how the product should be taxed.
“The intent is not a complete absolution of harm,” he told the lawmakers. “It’s harm reduction. How do we move and target the current cigarette smokers in Nevada? How can we move them onto a harm reduction product that helps them?”
He added, “We develop tax policy generally to motivate consumers one way or the other.”
Nevada tax policy does not consider heated tobacco products such as IQOS as other tobacco products (OTPs), which includes vaping devices, and they are taxed at 30 percent of the wholesale price. However, most tax codes generally consider heated tobacco products to be traditional cigarettes.
In Nevada, cigarettes are taxed the equivalent of $1.80 per pack. According to the anti-nicotine nonprofit Truth Initiative, Nevada is in the middle of the pack (25th highest) when it comes to tax rates for cigarettes.
According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, PMI has successfully lobbied at least 10 countries to tax heated tobacco products at a lower rate than traditional cigarettes, using the argument that the product is far less harmful and less worthy of any kind of “sin tax.”
PMI launched IQOS in Japan a decade ago and has since expanded into dozens of other countries. According to Alexandra Wich, a senior manager of state regulatory and public policy at PMI, intellectual property litigation has kept the product out of the U.S. market, but those issues have been resolved.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave PMI permission to market their products as reducing exposure to the harmful chemicals produced by combustible cigarettes, concluding that “the net population-level benefits to adult smokers outweigh the risks to youth.”
September 1, 2024
Activists Slam IQOS Maker for Cellulose Heat Sticks

Photo: Kuznyechova Yevgenia
Anti-tobacco activists contend Philip Morris International is trying to circumvent the Dutch ban on flavored tobacco and vape products with its Levia heat sticks, reports Dutch News.
Made with cellulose rather than tobacco, Levia heat sticks are considered an herbal product and are thus not covered by country’s tobacco legislation. The sticks retail online for €6.60 ($7.21) per pack of 20 and are sold in two flavors—”island beat,” which is menthol, and berry-flavored “electro-rouge.”
The Netherlands banned menthol in cigarettes in May 2020 and outlawed flavored vape products in early 2024.
Campaign group Rookvrije Generatie says Levia “a trick” to keep on selling smoking products with flavor. “They might not contain tobacco but they are packed with addictive nicotine,” spokesman Dave Krajenbrink was quoted as saying.
Legislators are reportedly considering an amendment that would extend the flavor ban to tobacco-free nicotine products.
August 6, 2024
PMI Mysteriously Postpones U.S. Launch of IQOS

Credit: F Armstrong Photo
Philip Morris International has postponed the test launch of its IQOS heated tobacco device in the U.S. to the fourth quarter, reports Reuters. The company declined to say why.
The pilot was earlier scheduled to run in Austin, Texas, in the second quarter, for which the company reported results on the day.
Anti-tobacco activists have been seeking to derail the U.S. introduction of IQOS, arguing among other things that PMI exaggerates the number of people who have quit smoking regulator cigarettes using IQOS.
In a joint letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration dated June 27, six health groups cited yet-to-be published independent studies contradicting PMI’s findings about how many IQOS users completely switch to the device from cigarettes.
Meanwhile, PMI said the impact of the EU ban on flavored heated tobacco in the European Union has had a “slightly greater” impact on IQOS sales than previously assumed.
This led the company to temper its expectations for volume growth in the heated tobacco category to around 13 percent for the full year, down from between 14 percent and 16 percent expected earlier.
July 24, 2024
Health Groups Contest IQOS Quit-Rate Data

Photo: Arkadiusz Fajer
Anti-tobacco activists are questioning Philip Morris International’s figures on the number of people who have quit smoking using the company’s bestselling heat-not-burn device, IQOS, reports Reuters.
The move comes as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering PMI’s application for renewal of its IQOS3 exposure modification order, along with the company’s premarket tobacco product applications for IQOS Iluma and request for permission to make reduced exposure claims for that product.
In a joint letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, dated June 27, six health groups, including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Lung Association, cited yet-to-be published independent studies contradicting PMI’s findings about how many IQOS users completely switch to the device from cigarettes.
According to letter writers, the International Tobacco Control Project (ITC) at Canada’s University of Waterloo found a far lower rate of IQOS users had quit smoking in Japan and Korea than estimates from PMI.
PMI estimates more than seven out of 10 of its registered IQOS customers globally have quit cigarettes. A 2023 PMI application to the FDA emphasized that the majority of IQOS users were using IQOS exclusively.
However, the ITC’s researchers put the percentage of all IQOS users that had quit smoking at just 15 percent in Japan and 30 percent in Korea in 2021.
Users most commonly used IQOS and cigarettes simultaneously, often leading to an overall increase in tobacco consumption, the ITC researchers found.
PMI pointed to a 2019 Japanese government health survey, where 75 percent of respondents who reported using heated tobacco said they did not smoke.
However, a paper published this year, led by researchers from Georgetown University, highlighted flaws in the government’s survey, including changes to the question format that can lead to under-reporting of smoking.
Other surveys have also found higher rates of dual use than the government, it said.
In addition to questioning the smoking cessation rates quoted by PMI, the health groups accused the multinational of making deceptive statements wrongly suggesting that the FDA has found IQOS reduced the risk of disease, citing examples of such statements in the U.S., Kazakhstan, the Philippines and Mexico.
A PMI spokesperson told Reuters the language flagged by campaigners was, in the company’s view, compatible with the FDA’s orders.
“Wherever we discuss our science and our products, we do so in accordance with all applicable laws,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
July 16, 2024
IQOS MRTP Renewal Application Filed for Review
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on May 9 filed for scientific review modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) renewal applications submitted by Philip Morris Products for the following IQOS products:
IQOS 2.4 System Holder and Charger
IQOS 3.0 System Holder and Charger
Marlboro Amber HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro HeatSticks)
Marlboro Green Menthol HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro Smooth Menthol HeatSticks)
Marlboro Blue Menthol HeatSticks (formerly named Marlboro Fresh Menthol HeatSticks)
In 2020 and 2022, the FDA issued modified risk granted orders for products. These orders are valid for a fixed time period. To continue marketing the MRTPs after the authorized term, the company submitted MRTP renewal applications to FDA.
Starting May 10, 2024, people may submit public comments on these applications on regulations.gov to docket FDA-2021-N-0408 for the IQOS 3.0 device and docket FDA-2017-D-3001 for the IQOS 2.4 device and the Marlboro HeatSticks products.
The FDA will post application documents, including amendments; given that the documents will need to be redacted for any confidential information, they will be posted on the Center for Tobacco Products’ website on a rolling basis.
Once all materials for these MRTP applications, including amendments, have been made publicly available, FDA will announce a closing date for the comment period. The closing date will be no earlier than 180 days from the date of the Federal Register notice and at least 30 days from the date FDA posts the last application materials.
May 10, 2024
U.S. Market Poised for Disruption With IQOS Debut

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The American tobacco market is poised for disruption as Altria Group’s exclusive U.S. distribution rights to Philip Morris International’s IQOS heat-not-burn product expires on April 30, reports The Wall Street Journal. After this date, PMI will be free to compete in the U.S. with its top noncigarette brand.
PMI hopes IQOS can help it grab a 10 percent share of the lucrative U.S. cigarette and heated-tobacco market by roughly 2030, representing an additional $2.2 billion in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to Stifel analysts.
Altria, with its 50 percent share of the American cigarette market, has a lot to lose if PMI can persuade more smokers to switch to noncombustible alternatives.
In recent years, U.S. smokers have become more receptive to alternative nicotine delivery methods. Last year, 40 percent of all nicotine products sold in the U.S. were smoke-free offerings such as e-cigarettes and oral nicotine pouches. The share of traditional cigarettes, meanwhile, declined to 60 percent last year from 80 percent in 2018.
If the trend continues, Americans will be more likely to reach for a vape or nicotine pouch than a cigarette within three years.
Already earning some 40 percent of its net revenue from smoke-free products, PMI needs not worry about the dwindling number of U.S. smokers because it doesn’t sell cigarettes in America.
Altria, by contrast, still relies heavily on combustible cigarettes, which currently account for 85 percent of its sales. Its comparatively low exposure to the smokefree market includes brands such as On! oral nicotine pouches and Njoy e-cigarettes. The company also has a joint venture with Japan Tobacco to launch Ploom heated tobacco sticks in the U.S. and is working on its own heat-not-burn brand.
A badly timed bet on Juul Labs saddled the company with a $12.5 billion loss.
On the flipside, Altria has a strong U.S. distribution network, which it can leverage to promote its brands—a considerable advantage as the point of sale is one of the few places where tobacco companies are still allowed to advertise their products.
Altria can also harness data to defend its patch. The tobacco giant is integrated into many retailers’ loyalty programs, allowing it to monitor what shoppers are buying.
April 19, 2024
Job Ads Suggest IQOS Set to Debut in Austin, Texas

Image: Alexander
The resolution of an IP dispute with BAT has removed a major hurdle to selling the product in the U.S.
Philip Morris International is preparing to launch its IQOS heated-tobacco device in Austin, Texas, USA, reports U.S. News. The city will be a testing ground for PMI’s re-entry into the United States after the company resolved an intellectual property dispute with British American Tobacco that had prompted the International Trade Commission to ban imports of IQOS in the United States.
PMI previously announced that it planned to launch IQOS in four cities in two U.S. states beginning with one city in the second quarter before a larger rollout in 2025. The company did not, however, release details.
According to U.S. News, LinkedIn job advertisements suggest that PMI is planning to launch the product in Austin. The advertisements were posted this month and include positions such as field sales representatives, territory managers and retail sales advisors.

The U.S. would be a significant market for IQOS. Euromonitor estimates that total U.S. nicotine sales excluding nicotine-replacement therapies were $143.6 billion in 2022. Cigarettes accounted for the majority of sales, but Euromonitor predicts that their value will drop by 30 percent by 2027 and the value of smoking alternatives such as e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches, will increase by 36 percent in the same period.

Investors are waiting to see if PMI can create a heated-tobacco market in the U.S., where vaping is dominant.
According to Brett Cooper, managing partner and analyst at equity research firm Consumer Edge, Texas offers an interesting trial market due to broad demographics. He noted that diverse cities like Austin, Houston and Dallas provide access to a wide range of consumer groups.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that tobacco taxes in Texas are relatively low, with the excise tax rate on a pack of cigarettes standing at $1.41 in September 2023.
In January, Texas introduced new e-cigarette laws, banning products that resemble food or that include symbols or celebrities targeted at minors or that depict cartoon-like fictional characters.
PMI believes IQOS can capture a 10 percent share of the U.S. tobacco and heated-tobacco unit volume by 2030.

March 29, 2024
Japan: PMI Launches Latest IQOS, the Lumina i

Photo: Ned Snowman
Philip Morris International has launched IQOS Iluma i, the latest and most innovative addition to its growing portfolio of smoke-free products, in Japan. The launch marks the 10-year anniversary of IQOS, which debuted in Nagoya, Japan, in 2014.
“We leverage science, world leading brands and commercial capabilities to provide better alternatives to our consumers. This anniversary provides an opportunity to renew our smoke-free vision and our ambition for over two-thirds of our total net revenue to come from smoke-free products by 2030,” said PMI CEO Jacek Olczak in a statement.
“IQOS Iluma disrupted the category by introducing induction-heating technology that heats tobacco from within, to provide a consistent taste experience, no tobacco residue, and no need to clean the device. Today, we take IQOS to new heights, with the launch of IQOS Iluma i—the latest innovation in our smoke-free portfolio, offering a range of advanced features for a clean, seamless, and more flexible experience.”
The IQOS Iluma i series offers three devices in Japan: IQOS Iluma i PRIME, IQOS Iluma i and IQOS Iluma i ONE. All three devices bring a range of adaptable new features.
The new touch screen on the device’s holder allows users to see experience-relevant information quickly and easily. To personalize the experience, IQOS Iluma i introduces a new pause mode. By swiping up or down on the touch screen, users can pause and resume their consumption according to their preferences.
The new IQOS Iluma i also includes smart features that help prolong the lifespan of the holder’s battery. Furthermore, the door for IQOS Iluma i is made from aluminum produced with renewable energy and the inner textile layer of IQOS Iluma i’s Prime leather-like wrap is made of 100 percent recycled plastic.
“IQOS Iluma i is our most innovative offering to date and the new flagship in our portfolio of scientifically substantiated, heat-not-burn smoke-free systems,” said Bertrand Bonvin, president heat-not-burn platforms at PMI. “Like previous IQOS devices, it emits, on average, 95 percent lower levels of harmful chemicals compared with cigarettes. We are proud that consumer feedback continuously fuels our innovation, and IQOS Iluma i is a testament to that.”
March 13, 2024