JT to launch Ploom on domestic market

Japan Tobacco Inc. said today that it intended to launch the tobacco vaporizer Ploom on to its domestic market on Dec. 12. It will be sold by JT Creative Service, a subsidiary of JT, and made available at http://ploom.jp/.

The Ploom vaporizer is a pocket-sized smoking alternative device that heats tobacco contained in pods to a constant temperature, vaporizing nicotine and flavors without burning the materials or producing smoke. Each pod can be used for about 10–15 minutes.

In December 2011, Japan Tobacco International and the San Francisco-based Ploom announced that they had entered into an exclusive, long-term co-operation agreement under which JTI would commercialize Ploom’s new generation of “smoking alternative products” outside the U.S.

Ploom was launched—outside the U.S.—in Austria in May; since then JT International has introduced it also in Korea and Italy.

The product will be available in Japan in two colors, slate (black) and pearl (white), while pods, which are categorized as pipe tobacco by Japan’s Ministry of Finance, will be available in six blends: Gold, Orchard, Cooler, Lugano, Mevius and Pianissimo. Also available will be the multipack with a 12-piece assortment of two pods of each blend.