Imperial shuns concept of heat-not-burn products

Imperial Tobacco is taking a different path to its multinational competitors as the industry searches for the vaping technology with the potential to replace tobacco smoking, according to a story by Martinne Geller.

Imperial is said to have no taste for the heat-not-burn tobacco products that others are embracing along with electronic cigarettes.

“It’s not something we’re interested in,” Matthew Phillips, Imperial’s corporate affairs director, was reported to have told journalists on Wednesday, when his company announced its first half results.

Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International, have or are due to include heat-not-burn products in their portfolios.

Because they are made from tobacco, Phillips predicts that these products will be viewed and taxed in the same way that cigarettes are.

And marketing them as offering a reduced risk benefit would be “a very, very big ask,” he said.

“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’.”