By Martinne Geller
LONDON, May 6 (Reuters) - Imperial Tobacco Group is
taking a different path to its rivals as the industry searches
for the most promising technology for e-cigarettes and other
"vaping" products that could eventually outsell cigarettes.
It's rare for the top competitors in a global business to
have such contrasting visions of the future but the British
company has no taste for the tobacco heating products that
others are embracing alongside e-cigarettes as potentially less
toxic alternatives to traditional cigarettes.
"It's not something we're interested in," Matthew Phillips,
Imperial's corporate affairs director, told reporters on
Wednesday, drawing a line between his company and larger rivals
Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco
and Japan Tobacco International, who are all
betting on tobacco heating devices in addition to e-cigarettes.
Often referred to as "heat not burn" devices, they make
tobacco hot enough to create a vapour without burning it
completely. They could be key if their tobacco base makes them
more satisfying for smokers who fail to stick with e-cigarettes,
which use nicotine-laced liquid. But Imperial says they have
"fundamental challenges".
Because they are made from tobacco, Phillips said they will
be viewed and taxed like cigarettes. Marketing them as having
reduced risk is "a very, very big ask," he said, adding that
they face scientific problems as well.
"There's no difference really between those products and
traditional tobacco products," Phillips said. "It's probably
better described generically as 'heat and burn' rather than
'heat not burn'."
LIKE MILK IN A SAUCEPAN
Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which took a stake in a
tobacco vapouriser called Ploom in 2011, believes different
companies' products operate at different temperatures, making
generalisations difficult.
Ian Jones, JTI's head of regulatory and scientific affairs,
says heating tobacco is like heating milk in a saucepan.
"At low temperatures, the milk is heated, but as the
temperature increases there may be some scorching where the milk
touches the saucepan," Jones explained.
"In a similar way, whether a heated tobacco product scorches
(or burns) the tobacco will depend on the temperature at which
the tobacco is heated."
British American Tobacco plans to test a tobacco heating
product this fiscal year. With a portfolio that already includes
an e-cigarette and a medically licensed nicotine inhaler, the
world's No. 2 tobacco company is banking on a range of products
to suit different consumers' needs.
Philip Morris last year began testing a device that uses its
tobacco-laden Marlboro HeatSticks in Japan and Italy. It plans
national roll-outs there this year and expansion into additional
markets.
The world's biggest tobacco company sells HeatSticks with no
claims of reduced risk, but is currently conducting a scientific
assessment with the aim of substantiating such a claim. A
spokeswoman had no comment on the assertions by Imperial's
Phillips.
"We believe that the heat-not-burn product provides adult
smokers with the best alternative to cigarettes based on taste,
satisfaction and ritual," its chief financial officer told
analysts in March.
(Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by Susan Thomas)
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