Blog - Tobacco Reporter

EU HTP Flavor Ban to Take Effect Nov. 23

The European Union on Nov. 3 published the directive officially banning flavors in heated-tobacco products throughout the union, reports TobaccoIntelligence.

The publication follows the end of the scrutiny period on Oct. 29, during which neither the European Council nor the European Parliament raised objections to the ban.

The ban, which covers all flavors except tobacco, officially takes effect Nov. 23. EU member states than have until July 23, 2023, to transpose the rule into national legislation.

In the runup to the ban, critics suggested the European Commission was overstepping its delegated powers by introducing a new legal category—of heated-tobacco products.

Some member states raised concerns over whether the commission was empowered to introduce a definition of a new category of tobacco products in a Delegated Act.

More recently, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece and Italy issued a joint statement, saying the introduction of a definition of heated-tobacco products “goes beyond the delegated power under Directive 2014/40/EU and involves essential elements reserved for the European legislators and, as such, should be submitted to the ordinary legislative review process.”

November 6, 2022

Reynolds Requests Retrial of Vuse IP Case

R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. has asked for a new trial after a U.S. District Court awarded rival Altria Client Services $95.23 million in damages related to an e-cigarette intellectual property dispute, reports the Winston-Salem Journal.

In early September, a federal jury determined that Reynolds Vapor’s Vuse Alto product infringes on three Altria patents.

In its retrial request, Reynolds Vapor stated that “Altria’s improper injection of inflammatory evidence regarding patent infringement allegations against Reynolds in other cases denied Reynolds a fair trial. Erroneous evidentiary rulings also prejudiced Reynolds’ ability to present its defense. Those errors independently, and under the cumulative error doctrine, affected the verdict such that a complete new trial is required.”

Altria said in a statement that “this was a fair trial. There is no basis for another trial, and we are pleased that the jury correctly found that Reynolds Vapor has infringed a number of our patents.”

The complaint concerns three patents awarded to Altria Client Services by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office based on filings in April 2015.

Altria alleged Reynolds Vapor violated Altria’s patents covering the pod assembly used in Vuse Alto.

Reynolds believes the lawsuit was filed in retaliation for patent infringement complaints filed by Reynolds in April 2020 for infringement by Philip Morris International’s IQOS tobacco-heating device of six Reynolds patents.

Until recently, Altria was the exclusive U.S. distributor for IQOS in the United States.

On Sept. 29, 2021, the U.S. International Trade Commission upheld an initial determination from May 2021 that Philip Morris International’s IQOS device infringes on two patents owned by Reynolds. The ruling barred Altria Group from importing IQOS products into the U.S.

November 6, 2022

Hong Kong Mulls Age-Related Tobacco Ban

Hong Kong residents who were born in 2009 or later should be banned from buying cigarettes by 2027, the Council on Smoking and Health proposed on Nov. 3, reports the South China Morning Post.

The city’s smoking population dropped to 9.5 percent last year—hitting single digits for the first time since tracking began—but Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has pledged to lower the rate to 7.8 percent in three years.

Other measures proposed include doubling the current tobacco tax by 2023–2024, which means a pack of cigarettes currently priced at HKD60 ($7.64) would rise to around HKD100. The council said the tax should be further raised in the following two years, so a pack of cigarettes would cost HKD200 by 2025–2026.

The council also recommended expanding the city’s nonsmoking areas to cover taxi and bus stands as well as spaces that fall within 10 meters of hospitals, schools and community facilities.

Hong Kong currently does not allow smoking on public transport, including its interchanges, in hospitals, schools, parks and indoor areas of restaurants, bars and malls.

Some lawmakers expressed concern about the proposed measures. Representing the wholesale and retail sectors, Shiu Ka-fai said poorer smokers would not be able to afford the product following the proposed tax increases.

He also opposed the idea of a “smoke-free generation” as the policy would limit freedom of choice.

The Long-term Tobacco Policy Concern Group, which represents smokers, opposed the tax hike, saying that consumers might buy illicit cigarettes instead of quitting and that the measure would impact the city’s economic recovery.

Council Chairman Henry Tong Sau-chai also opposed a proposal to reverse Hong Kong’s ban on the re-export smoking alternatives as a means to boost the economy.

In April, Hong Kong prohibited the import, sale or manufacture of smoking alternatives, such as e-cigarettes, heated-tobacco products and herbal cigarettes.

The legislation also prohibits smoking products from being transshipped through Hong Kong when brought in by truck or ship for transport onward overseas, although air transshipment cargo and transit cargo that stay on a plane or ship are exempt.

Tong worried that the reverse would create a “loophole” where alternative tobacco products would slip to the community.

November 6, 2022

PMI Wins Elliott Support for Swedish Match Bid

Elliott Management Corp. has decided to back Philip Morris International’s bid for Swedish Match, reports the Financial Times.

By the Nov. 4 acceptance deadline, the multinational’s offer had received more than 80 percent shareholder acceptance.

In May, PMI bid about $16 billion for Swedish Match. Swedish Match’s board of directors recommended shareholders accept the offer, but some investors, including Elliott Management Corp., objected, saying the bid undervalues their firm.

In October, PMI increased the price of its bid to SEK116 per share from the SEK106 per share offered in May. Swedish Match’s board of directors advised shareholders to accept PMI’s revised offer.

Earlier this week, Framtiden Partnerships said it would not accept PMI’s sweetened offer, according to Reuters.

In a white paper, the investor, which owns nearly 1 percent of the Swedish nicotine products manufacturer, explained it believes Swedish Match is better off as an independent company.

PMI’s bid has won approval from regulators in the EU, Brazil and the United States.

November 6, 2022

Activists Demand Removal of Cigarettes From Dutch Stores

Anti-smoking activists have demanded the removal of all cigarettes from Dutch store shelves following a court ruling on emissions, reports Dutch News.

On Nov. 4, judges in Rotterdam said there are “strong indications” that filter cigarettes on sale in the Netherlands may break EU limits on tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide.

The ruling gives the Dutch food and product safety board, NVWA, six weeks to start ensuring that the law is followed properly and that cigarettes do not exceed EU limits.

Tests carried out by the RIVM public health institute in 2018 showed the amount of tar in a cigarette can be up to 26 times the official norm and that nicotine and carbon monoxide levels are also too high in most brands.

In its tests, the RIVM covered the ventilation holes in the filter paper, a method that experts say more accurately mimics the way consumers smoke their cigarettes than the prevailing methods, which leave the ventilation holes uncovered.

Until the European Commission comes up with a measurement method that accurately reflects the emissions that smokers are inhaling, there is no guarantee that the filter cigarettes sold in the Netherlands comply with the directives, the Rotterdam court said.

Wanda de Kanter of the anti-youth smoking body Stichting Rookpreventie Jeugd said the ruling effectively ended the use of fraudulent measurements for emissions of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. “This has enabled the tobacco industry to make and keep people addicted for years, but the ruling makes it clear this practice cannot last,” she said.

“The NVWA must immediately remove all cigarettes from the shelves.”

November 5, 2022

KT&G Announces Share Buyback

KT&G plans to buy back KRW350 billion ($245.1 million) of its own shares to boost shareholder returns, reports The Korea Herald.

The firm is also considering increasing dividends per share by more than KRW200.

In November 2021, KT&G announced it would carry out a shareholder return package worth KRW2.8 trillion over the next three years, including a KRW1.8 trillion dividends payout.

Last year, the company bought back KRW350 billion of its shares and paid dividends of some KRW576 billion to shareholders.

In the third quarter, KT&G posted record sales of KRW1.62 trillion, an 8.5 percent increase compared to the comparable 2021 period, mostly driven by growth in noncombustible cigarette sales and overseas business.

“We plan to take a leap forward as a global leading company based on the heated-tobacco and health supplement business, including ginseng, ESG and compliance management,” KT&G General Director Bang Kyung-man was quoted as saying by The Korea Herald.

KT&G exports cigarette products to 124 countries and has offices in the U.S., China, Russia, Turkey, Taiwan and Indonesia.

November 4, 2022

Zimbabwe: More Than 12,500 Ha of Tobacco Planted

Zimbabwean tobacco growers have planted 2,107 ha of dryland tobacco to date this season, reports The Herald, citing data from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

According to TIMB spokesperson Chelesani Tsarwe, 133,724 farmers have registered to grow tobacco this season compared to 111,063 during the same period last year.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union President Shadreck Makombe told The Herald that tobacco planting was progressing well.

“Dry land tobacco farmers have started planting especially in those areas where the rains fell,” he said. “We will see planting activities intensifying, especially as we go forward from next week onward.”

The area put under irrigated tobacco was 10,483 ha as of Nov. 1, bringing the total hectarage under tobacco to 12,590 ha.

Despite efforts to diversify into other products, tobacco remains one of Zimbabwe’s greatest generators of foreign currency.

During the 2022 tobacco marketing season, Zimbabwe earned USD650 million from tobacco sales, up from USD589 million the previous year.

November 4, 2022

KAC Solicits Scholarship Applications

Knowledge-Action-Change (KAC), with the support of a grant from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, is looking for the sixth cohort of scholars for its Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Program (THRSP).

The application period closes on Nov. 30. Successful candidates will receive a 12-month bespoke mentoring program to undertake a THR-related project of their own design plus $10,000 in financial support. On completion of the scholarship, graduates of the THRSP potentially have access to up to a further three years of funded support from KAC.

The THRSP was launched to increase research and practice capacity in tobacco harm reduction in target locations and populations where current activities and resources are limited. The THRSP has a particular focus on low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the need for new approaches to tobacco-related harms are especially acute. It aims to introduce new thinkers, new ideas and new methods to tobacco harm reduction as well as increasing the use of social media and new technologies to disseminate accurate information about the potential for safer nicotine products to reduce the global number of smoking-related deaths, which currently total 8 million every year.

The THRSP achieves its goals in a number of ways. Applicants to the program must devise a project that will improve understanding of, or communication about, tobacco harm reduction appropriate for their country, region or personal area of expertise. Current and former scholars have published original research in peer-reviewed scientific journals, created national and international tobacco harm reduction networks, developed toolkits for smoking cessation or healthcare practitioners, and produced new media resources ranging from articles and films to radio shows and podcasts.

“The impact of the program to date has been immense,” said THRSP manager Jon Derricott. “It has helped to shape and challenge thinking, practice and policy in many areas of the world, particularly in LMICs. The biggest influence is yet to come to full fruition, but this will be a growing cohort of well-informed and highly capable THR professionals who will continue to speak up for the benefits of THR and robustly challenge misinformation wherever it occurs. This really matters because at the root of all this is people’s right to a healthy life, even if they continue to use nicotine. THR enables that goal to be an attainable reality.”

“Being part of the THRSP as a scholar, a mentor and then becoming the THR scholarship manager has been a life-changing journey,” said Chimwemwe Ngoma, a graduate of the program from Malawi. “The THRSP has opened new and exciting doors for me, and I am confident that many people have also benefited through what I have been able to offer. This has been the biggest opportunity for me to give back to the community and impact lives.”

For more information about the program, visit https://thrsp.net.

November 4, 2022

Ukraine: Illicit Tobacco Sales Hit Record High

The share of illicit tobacco products in Ukraine reached its highest level since the country’s independence in 1991, reports Interfax Ukraine.

According to an October study by the Kantar Ukraine Institute, illicit products accounted for 21.5 percent of the Ukrainian tobacco market in August 2022, up 5 percentage points over the average annual indicator for 2021.

The survey shows that Ukrainian smokers bought 8.46 billion illegal cigarettes since the beginning of 2022, equaling the volumes for the whole of 2021, and caused the government to miss UAH20.65 billion ($558.71 million) in tobacco tax payments.

Kantar Ukraine specified that fake cigarettes in Ukraine accounted for 8 percent of Ukraine’s tobacco market in August 2022 compared with 6.6 percent in August 2021.

November 4, 2022

Flavors Detected in ‘Tobacco’ Liquids

E-liquids marketed as tobacco-flavored contain higher levels of sweet and fruit-flavored chemicals today than they did a decade ago, according to a new study published on Nov. 3 in a special supplement to Tobacco Control.

This recent development coincides with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s ban on the sale of flavors other than menthol and tobacco in cartridge-based e-cigarettes.

To find out if e-cigarettes marketed as “tobacco-flavored” contained sweet and fruit flavor chemicals, researchers drew on an extensive database of e-liquid and aerosol flavor chemicals to identify any trends and changes in chemical composition and levels since 2010–2011.

They compared the number and amount of flavor chemicals in 63 “tobacco-flavored” e-cigarette refill fluids purchased between 2011 and 2019 and two popular pod-style e-cigarette brands—Juul and Puff.

They found that tobacco-flavored products purchased in 2010 and 2011 had very few flavor chemicals; overall, the levels of which were generally very low.

Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the refill fluids bought before 2019 had levels of flavor chemicals below 2 mg/mL, and most (84 percent) were below 5 mg/mL.

But the total number and level of flavor chemicals in “tobacco-flavored” refill fluids purchased in 2019 and in Puff Bar tobacco e-cigarettes were higher than expected.

Among the 13 refill products bought in 2019, more than half (54 percent) had total flavor chemical levels above 10 mg/mL. Products with total flavor chemicals of more than 10 mg/mL contained one to five dominant flavor chemicals (each more than 1 mg/mL).

The five most frequently used flavor chemicals in “tobacco-flavored” e-liquids were fruity and caramellic: ethyl maltol (sweet or caramel, 60 percent); corylone (caramellic, maple, 44 percent); menthol (33 percent); vanillin (25 percent); maltol and triacetin (fruity, creamy, 24 percent).

Nine sweet and fruit flavor chemicals, used mainly in products bought in 2016 and 2019, were at levels above 2 mg/mL.

The flavor chemical levels for Juul Classic and Juul Virginia were below 0.35 mg/mL while levels of the individual chemicals were, in most cases, equal to, or less than, 0.05 mg/mL.

Different flavor chemicals were used in the classic and Virginia products, suggesting these were added intentionally to create distinct tastes for each product, according to the researchers.

Puff “Tobacco,” on the other hand, had 27 different flavor chemicals adding up to a total of 34.3 mg/mL. Individual chemicals ranged from 0.03 mg/mL to 15 mg/mL.

Four flavor chemicals (vanillin, ethyl maltol, ethyl vanillin and corylone), which were the highest (range 2.07 mg/mL to 15 mg/mL), are typically used in sweet-flavored e-cigarette products, such as Dewberry Cream, which is popular with young vapers, noted the researchers.

For the dominant flavor chemicals found in both brands, levels of vanillin were 300 times higher in Puff than in Juul while ethyl maltol was 239 times higher and corylone was 41 times higher.

The total number of flavor chemicals used in Puff Bar tobacco was greater than those found in nearly all (94 percent) the refill fluids evaluated.

“Concern has been raised previously about the safety of flavor chemicals when inhaled at these high concentrations,” the researchers noted.

“Although these particular flavors are generally regarded as safe by the Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) for ingestion, FEMA has not evaluated them for inhalation toxicity.”

In a press note, the researchers said there were two reasons for the FDA to identify and quantify flavor chemicals before authorizing premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs). “First, flavor chemicals are often used in e-liquids without safety data at concentrations much higher than those found in other consumer products,” they wrote. “Second, our data show that e-cigarette manufacturers are manipulating e-liquid formulations apparently to circumvent flavor chemical regulations.”

November 4, 2022