Japan Tobacco Releases 2020 Second Quarter Results On July 31, 2020, Japan Tobacco, the maker of Ploom, released its 2020 Second Quarter results.HIGHLIGHTSRevenue fell by 2.7% - it is believed that COVID-19, which had a detrimental affect on the global economy, was a factor in this decreaseOperating profits fell by 19.1%Japan Tobacco is offering an interim dividend of 77 JPYForecasts for the 2020 year have had to be revised due to the economic effects of COVID-19Japan Tobacco is planning on... Read more
BAT Releases 2020 Half-Year Report On July 31, 2020, British American Tobacco (BAT), the maker of GLO, released its 2020 Half-Year report. HIGHLIGHTS Revenue rose by 0.8% Operating profits rose by 16.4% Jack Bowles, Chief Executive at BAT, addressed the issue of COVID by stating "We expect the coming months to bring continued uncertainty. Nevertheless, we will continue to invest in accelerating our strategy." GLO HIGHLIGHTS 10% of revenue is generated by non-combustible... Read more
PMI Releases 2020 Second-Quarter Report On July 21, 2020, Philip Morris International (PMI), the maker of IQOS, released its 2020 Second Quarter report. HIGHLIGHTS Net revenue decreased by 13.6% Operating profits decreased by 14.3% The report states that "PMI does not currently anticipate out-of-stock situations in any major operating income markets and generally expects consumers to have adequate access to its products" IQOS HIGHLIGHTS Market share for IQOS rose by 1.8 points... Read more
FDA Allows IQOS to be Marketed as Reduced-Risk TODAY'S RULING Another huge victory for Heat-not-Burn and harm reduction, as today the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the marketing of IQOS as a modified-risk tobacco product (MRTP). MRTP are tobacco products that are deemed to pose "significantly lower risks to individual users and benefits the population as a whole." So what today's ruling means is that, within the United States, IQOS can now be marketed as less... Read more
PMI Releases 2019 Integrated Report Today Philip Morris International (PMI), the maker of IQOS, released their first ever Integrated Report. The Integrated Report is "a comprehensive overview of the company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and its progress toward delivering a smoke-free future." HIGHLIGHTS In 2019, PMI heavily invested in the research, development, and commercialization of smoke-free products, like IQOS 98% of research and development... Read more
Japan Tobacco Announces July Release of Ploom S 2.0 Lots of exciting news from Japan Tobacco recently. The company, which last week announced the launch of the new heated tobacco device Ploom Model S, has now announced the release of another device called Ploom S 2.0. Ploom S 2.0 will become available on July 2nd, 2020 across Japan.As well as having general improvements, such as reduced charging time and increased number of consecutive uses, Ploom S 2.0 will also have a unique heating mode... Read more
Japan Tobacco Releases Ploom Model S Earlier this week in Moscow, Russia, Japan Tobacco International launched Ploom Model S, the newest addition to the Ploom product line. Ploom Model S is a heated tobacco (Heat-not-Burn) device that the manufacturer claims “provides high efficiency without generating smoke smell.”The manufacturer also released 4 new HeatSticks designed especially for Ploom Model S. These HeatSticks contain an innovative new blend of ingredients, called ActivBlendTM,... Read more
HiTaste Releases P8 On Saturday May 23rd, 2020 a new device called HiTaste P8 appeared on the HiTaste website. P8 is advertised as having many of the same features as previous HiTaste devices including; temperature adjustment, length of cycle adjustment, self-cleaning, and over-temperature protection. From promotional photos it also appears that HiTaste P8 is also equipped with a usage record counter, meaning that the device records how many cycles it has completed.Without testing the... Read more
Study Shows Potential for Harm in Ploom Tech Users Only Slightly Higher than in Never Smokers Japan Tobacco has released the results of a clinical study that compares the biomarkers of potential harm traditional cigarette users, Ploom Tech users, and never-smokers face. The study was conducted by JT Science in conjunction with a medical adviser from Kitasato Clinical Research Center. The study shows that “the values of BoPH in PT users were significantly different from those in CC... Read more
PMI Temporarily Closes HEETS Factory in Italy Due to COVID-19 PMI announced Monday that, as a result of the dire COVID-19 situation in Italy, the company would be temporarily closing its factory in Bologna. This announcement comes one day after the Italian government mandated that all non-essential factories close. As of Monday the closure is set to only last one week, however that could change as the situation progresses.The Bologna factory, located in the North of Italy, is one of the... Read more
