Website glitch delays Ploom launch

Technical difficulties have forced Japan Tobacco Inc. to cancel the launch of online sales of Ploom vaporizers, which, according to a Nov. 28 press note, were scheduled to start yesterday.

Sales through the Ploom Online Shop, operated by JT Creative Services, are now due to go ahead once the Internet site’s technical difficulties have been overcome.

The new launch date will be announced on the JT’s corporate website.

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.

In December 2011, Japan Tobacco International and the San Francisco-based Ploom announced that they had entered into an exclusive, long-term cooperation 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 when JT International has introduced it also in Korea and Italy.

The product is being made 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.

Each pod can be used for about 10 to 15 minutes.