Fight for New Cigarette Substitute Heats Up Japan: QuickTake Q&A

Big tobacco has a new hope: the fast-growing trade in heat-not-burn products. Faced with long-term declines in smoking and stricter policies on tobacco use and sales across the globe, companies have been counting on e-cigarettes to keep business up. Some consumers, however, say vaporized nicotine doesn’t deliver the satisfaction or flavor they crave. Heat-not-burn devices are designed to do just that, and like e-cigarettes, without producing the smoke and tar commonly associated with the hazards of conventional cigarettes. Japan has become a testing ground for the devices, with products from three of the biggest global tobacco companies expected to be widely available in Tokyo by July 2017.

While consumers often use the terms interchangeably, in the industry, there’s a clear distinction: heat-not-burn products contain tobacco, e-cigarettes don’t. Most heat-not-burn products work by heating a special tobacco-containing stick that releases nicotine for the user to draw out. Typically, the sticks are heated to less than 350 degrees Celsius (662 degrees Fahrenheit), whereas combustion for a smoking cigarette occurs at over 600 degrees Celsius. Electronic cigarettes work by heating and vaporizing nicotine-laced liquid. Heat-not-burn devices are said to approximate the taste and nicotine intake of traditional cigarettes better than e-cigarettes.