JT launches more smokeless products

Japan Tobacco Inc. is relaunching its Zerostyle Blue Mint and Zerostyle Bitter Leaf smokeless tobacco products.

The Zerostyle product line started life in 2010 as a non-lit, cigarette-shaped product, or “pipe,” containing a replaceable cartridge with tobacco and flavors. It had a tapered mouthpiece and removable cap.

Zerostyle is often referred to as a “snuff” and the category was recently expanded to include snus.

Zerostyle Blue Mint and Zerostyle Bitter Leaf will now be sold as Zerostyle Stix Blue Mint and Zerostyle Stix Brown Flavor, respectively.

In addition, the Zerostyle brand line will feature two new products: Zerostyle Stix Pink Flavor and Zerostyle Stix Green Mint.

The Stix descriptor seems to be a way of differentiating the original Zerostyle cigarette-shaped product from the more recent Zerostyle snus product.

The four new and relaunched products will go on sale from early November in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba and selected retail stores nationwide.

In a note posted on its website JT said there would be no change to the “flavor, aroma, or soothing straight mint taste in the transition to Zerostyle Stix Blue Mint. The flavor and aroma of Zerostyle Stix Brown Flavor, however, will be updated, resulting in a product with a subtle sweetness and a pleasant hint of bitterness,” the note said. “The new Zerostyle Stix Pink Flavor is a product that boasts a mild sweetness and light aroma. Zerostyle Stix Green Mint, the other new product, gives consumers a faintly sweet and fresh mint flavor.”

The launch and relaunch is accompanied by the introduction of five new types of “specialized colorful holders.”