Author: Taco Tuinstra

Universal Buys Virtual Power

Photo: agnormark
Universal Corp. has entered into a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Clearway Energy Group for energy produced by a new solar project in Texas. Universal’s contracted portion of the project is intended to address emissions from 100 percent of Universal’s annual purchased electricity demand in the United States.
“This is a meaningful step toward meeting our science-based environmental target to reduce operational greenhouse gases emissions by 30 percent by 2030,” said George C. Freeman III, Universal’s chairman, president and CEO, in a statement.
“When the solar project is operational, we expect to hit this target for our U.S. operations ahead of schedule. Universal is proud of the steps we are taking to promote the sustainability of our operations and contribute to global sustainability goals, including supporting this project that will bring additional renewable energy to the electricity grid.”
The project, which will start construction later this year and begin delivering under the VPPA in 2026, will create an estimated 350 construction jobs and produce significant new tax revenue for the local community over the life of its operations.
Universal has made a long-term commitment through the VPPA to purchase a portion of the renewable power delivered to the grid by the large-scale solar facility while also receiving the associated renewable energy certificates.
Universal’s agreement equates to around 70,000 MWh of renewable electricity per year and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 15,000 metric tons, which is 45 percent of Universal’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions in the United States. GreenFront Energy Partners provided strategic and financial advisory services to Universal throughout the procurement process.
January 30, 2024
United Kingdom to Ban Disposable Vapes

Photo: Mikhail Reshetnikov
The U.K. will ban disposable e-cigarettes, the government announced today.
According to the government, disposable vapes have been a key driver behind the rise in youth vaping, with the proportion of 11 to 17-year-old vapers using disposables increasing almost ninefold in the last two years.   
As part of the package, the government will also acquire new powers to regulate vape flavors, e-cigarette packaging and product presentation in stores to ensure that they don’t appeal to underage users. Additionally, the government will bring in new fines for shops in England and Wales that sell vapes illegally to children. Vaping alternatives, such as nicotine pouches, will also be outlawed for underage consumers.
In its announcement of the new measures, the government also reiterated its commitment to a generational tobacco ban. To help implement the new rules, government agencies such as the Border Force, Revenue and Customs and Trading Standers will receive £30 million ($38.1 million) in new funding a year.
 “As prime minister I have an obligation to do what I think is the right thing for our country in the long term. That is why I am taking bold action to ban disposable vapes—which have driven the rise in youth vaping—and bring forward new powers to restrict vape flavors, introduce plain packaging and change how vapes are displayed in shops,” said ,” said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“Alongside our commitment to stop children who turn 15 this year or younger from ever legally being sold cigarettes, these changes will leave a lasting legacy by protecting our children’s health for the long term.”

While action to prevent youth access to vaping is critical, this move smacks more of a desperate attempt by the government to sacrifice vapers for votes ahead of the upcoming general election.
John Dunne, director-general, UKVIA
Public health officials welcomed the government’s decision. “We’re delighted that the Westminster government has heard our calls and is rightly prioritizing the health and well-being of our children and the planet,” said Mike McKean, vice president for policy at the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health. “Bold action was always needed to curb youth vaping and banning disposables is a meaningful step in the right direction. I’m also extremely pleased to see further much needed restrictions on flavors, packaging and marketing of vapes.”
Representatives of the vape industry, by contrast, were dismayed, pointing to significant role disposable vapes have played in bringing the U.K.’s smoking rates down to a record low.
“While action to prevent youth access to vaping is critical, this move smacks more of a desperate attempt by the government to sacrifice vapers for votes ahead of the upcoming general election,” said John Dunne, director general of the U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), in a statement.
“If the government thinks banning disposables will help protect young people, they are completely misguided. This counterproductive legislation will sooner put children at greater risk by turbo-charging the black market and, in turn, making it easier for them to access illicit and noncompliant vapes.”
Pointing to recent research from University College London, the UKVIA said the answer to youth vaping doesn’t lie in counterproductive bans and restrictions, but rather in effective and proactive enforcement of the law which states that it is illegal for vapes to be sold to minors.

We can’t have a two-tier society in which some adults are permitted to buy tobacco and others are denied the same opportunity.
Simon Clark, director, Forest
The government’s continued commitment to a generational tobacco ban, meanwhile, prompted a strong response from smokers’ rights activists, who said the plan infantilizes adults.
A new poll for the smokers’ lobby group Forest found that almost two thirds (64 percent) of adults in Britain say that when people are 18 and legally an adult, they should be allowed to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products.
“As soon as you are legally an adult you should be treated like one and allowed to buy tobacco, if that’s your choice,” said Simon Clark, director of Forest.
“We can’t have a two-tier society in which some adults are permitted to buy tobacco and others are denied the same opportunity.”
Urging Downing Street to step back from the policy, he added: “Law-abiding retailers will have the difficult job of enforcing this absurd policy that also drives a stake into the heart of traditional Conservative values such as freedom of choice and personal responsibility.”

January 29, 2024
Disposables Ban Could Thwart Cessation: Study

Image: Viktoria Ostroushko
A ban on disposable vapes, currently being considered by the U.K. government, could discourage the use of e-cigarettes among people who are trying to quit smoking, according to a new study led by researchers from University College London (UCL) and funded by Cancer Research U.K.
Published in the journal Public Health, the study looked at survey responses from 69,973 adults in England, Wales and Scotland between January 2021 and August 2023.
The researchers found the proportion of adults using disposable e-cigarettes rose from 0.1 percent to 4.9 percent during that period. The increase was particularly pronounced among 18- to 24-year-olds, with 14.4 percent using disposable vapes in 2023, as well as among smokers (16.3 percent) and people who had stopped smoking in the past year (18.2 percent).
Use among people who had never regularly smoked was relatively rare (1.5 percent) but was higher among 18- to 24-year-olds, of whom 7.1 percent used disposable e-cigarettes and had never regularly smoked tobacco.
“Our study suggests a ban on disposable e-cigarettes would affect an estimated 2.6 million people in England, Wales and Scotland,” said lead author Sarah Jackson, of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, in a statement.
“This group includes about 316,000 18- to 24-year-olds who currently use disposables but who have never regularly smoked tobacco. However, it also includes 1.2 million people who currently smoke and would benefit from switching to e-cigarettes completely, and a further 744,000 who previously smoked and may be at risk of relapse.
“While banning disposables might seem like a straightforward solution to reduce youth vaping, it could have substantial unintended consequences for people who smoke.
“In the event of a ban, it would be important to encourage current and ex-smokers who use disposables to switch to other types of e-cigarettes rather than going back to just smoking tobacco.
“In addition, we found disposable use to be particularly prevalent among recent ex-smokers with a history of mental health conditions. This group may require targeted support to help them avoid relapse.”

While banning disposables might seem like a straightforward solution to reduce youth vaping, it could have substantial unintended consequences for people who smoke.
Lead author Sarah Jackson, UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care
The research team used data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, in which a different sample of 2,450 adults in Great Britain (who are representative of the general population) are interviewed each month.
They found disposable e-cigarette use was significantly higher among adults living in England than Wales or Scotland (5.3 percent vs. 2 percent and 2.8 percent at the end of the study period) and among those from less (vs. more) advantaged social grades (6.1 percent vs. 4.0 percent), those with (vs. without) children (6.4 percent vs. 4.4 percent), and those with (vs. without) a history of mental health conditions (9.3 percent vs. 3.1 percent).
Until recently, the researchers noted, very few adult vapers in Great Britain used disposables, but in 2021 new disposable e-cigarettes entered the market with designs and branding that appealed to young people, causing use of disposables to quickly rise in the U.K. and elsewhere. These products are available widely, for instance in corner shops, and are sometimes promoted via colorful in-store displays.
While they are convenient to use, with a very low upfront cost, they have also become an environmental problem, with millions of the devices reportedly thrown away in the U.K. each week.
A ban may discourage use of e-cigarettes among people trying to quit smoking and may induce relapse among those who have already used disposables to quit.
Senior author Jamie Brown, UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care

“There is a need for action to reduce disposable vaping among young people who have never smoked,” said senior author Jamie Brown, a professor at the UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care. “However, trade-offs need to be carefully considered. A ban may discourage use of e-cigarettes among people trying to quit smoking and may induce relapse among those who have already used disposables to quit. Cigarettes are far more harmful to our health and are not currently banned and a ban on disposable e-cigarettes may signal to large numbers of people that these products are worse for our health or that their harm is comparable to that caused by smoking tobacco. I favor a range of alternative policies, in the first instance, allied with rapid evaluation to judge whether these are sufficient to achieve reductions in youth vaping.”
In the paper, the researchers outlined other measures to strengthen the regulation of disposable vapes that had a reduced risk of unintended consequences, such as causing relapse among ex-smokers.
These included prohibiting branding with appeal to children (e.g., bright colors, sweet names and cartoon characters), prohibiting promotion of e-cigarettes in shops, putting e-cigarettes out of sight and reach of children, and putting an excise tax on disposables to raise the price to the same level as the cheapest reusable e-cigarettes. Defining disposables may prove problematic so a minimum unit price may be more a straightforward alternative to reduce their affordability and is something that could be implemented quickly.
The researchers noted that their data might underestimate prevalence of disposable vape use. This is because survey respondents were asked which type of e-cigarette they mainly used, so people who used disposables as a secondary product were not captured.
In addition to Cancer Research UK, the study received support from the U.K. Prevention Research Partnership.
January 28, 2024
Activists Protests ‘Misguided’ Zyn Probe

Photo: Swedish Match
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s call on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission to investigate the marketing practices and health effects of Philip Morris International’s Zyn nicotine pouch brand provoked a backlash among advocates of tobacco harm reduction.
“The American people have seen this movie before with less harmful e-cigarettes,” said Tony Abboud, executive director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA).
“Congressional leaders yell at unelected bureaucrats at the FDA who scurry to remove products from the market that offend their sensibilities—even though those products are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, and have been proven to help people quit smoking deadly cigarettes altogether.
“These misguided actions deprive American adults of less harmful, non-combustible, and non-tobacco nicotine products that are a proven alternative to combustible cigarettes and that the largest clinical trial in the U.S. has found to cause them to quit smoking even if they have no intention to quit cigarettes.
“There is already a de-facto ban on e-cigarettes. Sen. Schumer simply wants this ban extended to other products he and the Washington establishment deem undesirable.
“As with e-cigarettes, Sen. Schumer falsely asserted that Zyn products are popular with younger users. Yet, the National Youth Tobacco Survey data demonstrates that only 1.5 percent of youth have even tried nicotine pouches. When will the federal government stop hiding behind an excuse that has been disproven by their own data?
“VTA stands with Zyn, and the makers of modern oral nicotine pouches, in the fight against arbitrary and capricious government action. Because cigarettes remain the No. 1 cause of preventable death and disease in the U.S., VTA insists on broad access to a wide variety of non-combustible products to preserve freedom of choice for adults who want to use nicotine – and to provide access to proven harm-reduction and smoking-cessation options essential for saving American lives.”
Earlier, Schumer’s call for an investigation prompted PMI to publish a video clarifying its marketing practices.
January 28, 2024
Kiwi Tax Freeze Proposal Gets Backlash

Image: Comugnero Silvana
A proposal to freeze tobacco excise taxes for three years has triggered a fierce backlash in New Zealand, according to Radio New Zealand.
Associate health minister Casey Costello came under heavy political fire after she suggested temporarily halting tobacco tax increases in consideration of smokers’ socioeconomic backgrounds. Smokers tend to earn lower wages than the population at large.
Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chairperson Boyd Swinburn said such a move would make tobacco products more accessible.
“This proposal from Costello to put a three-year freeze on this inflation-adjusted excise tax is essentially meaning that tobacco is going to get relatively cheaper over the next three years, because it won’t be keeping pace with the rest of inflation,” he said.
Swinburn called on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to take action.
“The Health Coalition is calling for [Costello] to be replaced as an associate minister of health, given all these policies she’s come out with which are really supporting the tobacco industry’s position.”
Action on Smoking and Health Director Ben Youden said the Costello’s proposal did not make much sense.
“Given the finance minister has stated last year that tobacco tax is an important revenue, it seems odd that a freeze on excise tax would be on the table.”
Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ chief executive Letitia Harding called Costello’s proposal “outrageous,” adding that it amounted to another win for the tobacco industry.
The current coalition government has been criticized for tobacco-friendly policies. One of the first actions upon taking power in late 2023 was to ditch the country’s controversial generational tobacco ban.
January 26, 2024
Support for Indonesian Vape Tax

Image: Deacon docs
The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) expressed support for a recently implemented tax on e-cigarettes, reports Tempo.
The new tax took effect Jan. 1 and aims, in part, to discourage e-cigarette use. Vaping prevalence in Indonesia increased from 0.3 percent in 2011 to 3 percent in 2021, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey. The prevalence of cigarette smoking among adolescents aged 13-15 years increased by 19.2 percent over the same period.
Previously, the Indonesian National Vape Association (Pavenas) asked the Finance Ministry to postpone the implementation of the tax on e-cigarettes. Secretary General of the Indonesian Personal Vaporizer Association (APVI), Garindra Kartasasmita, said that the combination of the tax and the excise tax hike would be a heavy blow to entrepreneurs, consumers and industry players.
“This needs to take into consideration that the e-cigarette industry is a relatively new industry, and most of the industry players are from communities and MSMEs [Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises],” Garindra said in a statement published ahead of the tax.
YLKI chairman Tulus Abadi rejected industry assertions that vaping can help smokers give up of conventional cigarettes. “On the contrary, people will get double health burden due to the use of electronic cigarettes,” he said.
January 26, 2024
Industry Sounds Alarm About Illicit Trade

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
Tobacco industry officials are sounding the alarm over an influx of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes into Pakistan, reports Pakistan Today.
From July 2023 to November 2023, the industry’s output declined by 40 percent, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Officials of BAT subsidiary Pakistan Tobacco Co. (PTC) attributed the decrease largely to an increase in illegal tobacco products.
PTC Senior Business Development Manager Qasim Tariq says that around 850 million counterfeit cigarette sticks are currently being sold across Pakistan, causing the government to miss out on PKR5.7 billion in tax collections.
While they together control only 60 percent of the domestic tobacco market, PTC and its competitor, Philip Morris Pakistan, pay 98 percent of the country’s tobacco taxes. The remaining 52 tobacco companies, by contrast, paid only PKR2 billion in taxes during fiscal 2022, while accounting for 40 percent of cigarette market.
A 2019 report by the Federal Board of Revenue report suggested that illicit cigarette trade has a market share of more than 36.2 percent in Pakistan.
Qasim underscored that revenue collections have declined between 2012 and 2016, following the government’s switch to a new tax structure.
On Jan. 13, officers of the Inland Revenue Service Officers conducted a seized 13.77 million non-duty paid cigarettes.
January 25, 2024
Activists Criticize COP10 Tactics

Photo: Alexey Novikov
The Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) today issued a sharp critique of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for its exclusion of consumer groups and harm reduction advocates from the 10th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP10).
“CAPHRA argues that this exclusionary practice is in stark contrast to the successful, pragmatic approaches of countries like New Zealand, the Philippines and Malaysia, which have embraced vaping as a harm reduction tool,” said Nancy Loucas, a public health policy expert and passionate advocate for tobacco harm reduction and executive coordinator of CAPHRA.
The press release condemns the COP10 meetings for silencing the voices of those who advocate for harm reduction strategies, such as vaping, which have been shown to significantly reduce smoking prevalence in countries where they are available and regulated.
CAPHRA points out that the prohibitionist approach of countries like Australia, which recently banned vaping products, is not in the best interest of public health.
“CAPHRA calls on FCTC officials to open their minds to harm reduction and to consider the evidence from countries like New Zealand, where smoking rates have decreased due to the availability of regulated vaping products,” said Loucas.
The organization stresses the importance of including consumer groups in the decisionmaking process, as they provide essential insights into the needs of smokers and how alternative products can be used effectively.
January 25, 2024
Ploom X Advanced Named Product of Year

Image: JTI
Japan Tobacco International’ s Ploom X Advanced device has been named the best product available in the heated tobacco category at the U.K. Product of The Year Awards 2024.
Product of the Year is the U.K.’s largest consumer survey of product innovation. Every year over 10,000 shoppers vote to crown the winning products in each category, giving retailers a picture of what customers think about the products they stock.
Launched in September 2023, the Ploom X Advanced is the latest heated tobacco device from JTI, featuring an optimized heating system, with higher vapor volume during initial puffs offering an enhanced user experience, and faster charging, now taking less than 90 minutes to achieve a full
“Just a few months after the launch, we are thrilled that Ploom X Advanced has come out on top in the Product of the Year awards 2024,” said JTI UK Marketing Director Mark McGuinness. “In response to consumer feedback, we made some positive changes when we launched Ploom X Advanced, and the brand has gone from strength to strength with device sales doubling and EVO tobacco stick sales tripling year on year. With the Heated Tobacco category continuing to grow at a rapid rate, this award shows not only the success of our product, but the clear consumer interest in the category and Ploom.”
The U.K. heated tobacco category is currently worth £105 million ($133.67 million) in traditional retail and growing 20.5 percent year-on-year.
January 25, 2024
XJOY Partners with Smoore to release 1000 puffs in 2mL

XJOY has partnered with Smoore to release a single-use vape that offers more than 1,000 puffs in 2mL.
“I am very fortunate for the opportunity to showcase our latest fully automated production line, all housed in the secure dust free production rooms.” said Thalia Cheng, U.K. business director at SMOORE. “As you can see, we are working in full capacity to bring it to the U.K. to get the first taste of XJOY. We send this first batch of our newest innovation in collaboration with XJOY as our dedicated contribution to support U.K.’s smokers in their smoke-free journey.”
XJOY Bar 1000 is planned to be stocked by the first 1000 participating stores around the U.K. by February.
“Our retail partners are all very excited to take on our XJOY Bar 1000, because it provides them with a significant advantage over the other vapes. For one, it is the best and only legal single-use vape that can achieve 1,000 puffs, lasting longer, which is a big deal for our consumers especially now given the rising living costs.” explained an XJOY spokesperson.
“Consumers will appreciate that our products are competitively priced compared to other 600 puffs vapes available on the market.”
January 25, 2024