Category: News This Week

U.S. Clears Malawi Imports from Premium

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has modified an existing “Withhold Release Order” on imports of tobacco from Malawi.
Effective May 21, 2021, certain tobacco imports from Premium Tobacco Malawi Limited (PTML) will be admissible at all U.S. ports of entry. This modification applies only to tobacco harvested by club growers in Malawi. CBP previously prohibited the entry of these imports into the United States based on reasonable suspicion that they were produced using forced labor.
CBP issued a Withhold Release Order on tobacco imports from Malawi in November 2019 due to information reasonably indicating that the tobacco is produced using forced labor and forced child labor. The Withhold Release Order continues to apply to imports of tobacco from Malawi by any company that has not demonstrated to CBP that its supply chain is free of forced labor.
CBP modified the November 2019 Withhold Release Order based on a rigorous evaluation of PTML’s social compliance program and efforts to identify and minimize the risks of forced labor in its supply chain. These actions produced evidence that sufficiently supports PTML’s claims that tobacco from club growers (smallholder growers that use little or no farm worker labor) is not grown and harvested using forced labor or forced child labor.
“CBP’s forced labor enforcement efforts continue to effect positive change for workers around the globe,” said John Leonard, acting executive assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade. “Eliminating forced labor from our supply chains prevents the abuse of vulnerable workers, safeguards the competitiveness of law-abiding businesses and protects consumers from unethically made products.”
This is the third time that CBP has modified the Withhold Release Order on tobacco from Malawi. The agency modified the Withhold Release Order in June 2020 to allow imports of tobacco from Alliance One International and again in August 2020 to allow imports of tobacco from Limbe Leaf Tobacco Co. Both entities fully addressed CBP’s concerns about the use of forced labor in their production processes.
May 24, 2021
Celebrating ‘Safer Choice’ on Vape Day

Photo: Aliaksandr Barouski
Consumer advocacy groups in the Asia-Pacific region under the Coalition of Asia Pacific Tobacco Harm Reduction Advocates (CAPHRA) are joining the celebration of World Vape Day on May 30, with a call on the World Health Organization (WHO) and governments around the world to provide smokers with a better choice and spare them from almost 50 percent mortality rate linked to smoking.
“The World Vape Day is a celebration of personal stories of smokers who have found a humane way out of smoking thanks to the advent of innovative smoke-free products such as e-cigarettes, heated-tobacco products and Swedish snus,” said Nancy Loucas, executive coordinator of the CAPHRA, in a statement.
This year’s World Vape Day highlights smoke-free products as “the better choice” to combustible cigarettes, which are linked to more than 8 million premature deaths each year among 1.1 billion smokers globally.
“We celebrate World Vape Day because it symbolizes hope for millions of smokers in Asia-Pacific and around the world who now have access to innovative nicotine products such as e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products that were not available in the previous decades,” said Loucas.
“Vaping is the safer choice based on our experience and on the numerous independent studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Along with heated-tobacco products, e-cigarettes are considered a part of tobacco harm reduction—a public health strategy which aims to provide alternatives to reduce risks caused by smoking cigarettes,” she said.
Loucas said these smoke-free nicotine products provide countries an opportunity to end the global problem of smoking. “We have an opportunity to save millions of lives by making the switch to better alternatives. It is also a reminder to governments and health authorities that smokers should be given the freedom of choice for their health and for their future,” she said.
Asa Saligupta, representative of Ends Cigarette Smoke Thailand, said that while World Vape Day is being celebrated in many countries, some nations like Thailand still prohibit the use of e-cigarettes and heated-tobacco products (HTPs).
“In several Asian countries, vapers continue to face imprisonment and fines for making the switch to e-cigarettes, which were found to be at least 95 percent less harmful than traditional cigarettes. It is a violation of consumer rights for safer alternative products and accurate information about e-cigarettes,” he said.
I believe that vaping can achieve what existing tobacco control policies failed to accomplish in many years—end smoking.
Peter Paul Dator, president, Vapers Philippines
“But we remain hopeful that authorities will listen to science and give tobacco harm reduction a chance to make a difference in the lives of smokers who represent a fifth of the population in Thailand,” he said.
Saligupta noted that Public Health England, in its 2018 independent evidence review, concluded that “e-cigarettes are around 95 percent safer than combustible cigarettes.”
Peter Paul Dator, president of Vapers Philippines, said more than 50 million smokers around the world have already switched to vaping, which means they have significantly reduced their exposure to toxins and carcinogens found in tobacco smoke.
“This is because unlike cigarettes, vapor products and HTPs do not burn organic matter at very high temperatures and therefore do not produce toxic fumes. I believe that vaping can achieve what existing tobacco control policies failed to accomplish in many years—end smoking,” Dator said.
Dator pointed to the dismal smoking cessation rate of 4 percent in the Philippines, which he said reflects the ineffectiveness of existing smoking cessation strategies such as the “quit-or-die” approach. “Smoke-free products can help 16 million Filipino smokers quit smoking or switch to these less harmful alternatives,” he said.
Mirza Abeer, the founder of the Association for Smoking Alternatives in Pakistan (ASAP), said he could attest to the effectiveness of vaping as a part of tobacco harm reduction.
We advocate the adoption of scientifically substantiated smoking alternatives among adult consumers and policymakers.
Mirza Abeer, founder, ASAP
“Quitting smoking is a tough challenge to surmount, but e-cigarettes helped me and other smokers quit. Switching to vaping after smoking for 13 years resulted in my improved health. This also saved me from asthma attacks, and now I feel much better. I hope to share this personal experience to more than 15 million smokers in Pakistan so that they, too, will have a choice,” he said.
“As head of ASAP, we advocate the adoption of scientifically substantiated smoking alternatives among adult consumers and policymakers to help significantly reduce smoking rates in Pakistan and positively impact public health as soon as possible,” said Abeer.
World Vape Day is celebrated a day before World No Tobacco Day on May 31. CAPHRA said that with more than 50 million vapers worldwide and growing, the campaign is expected to gain ground in more countries in the coming years.
May 24, 2021
Philippines Recognized for Tobacco Tax Policy

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The Philippines scored highest among its Association of Southeast Asian Nations peers in a study that rated cigarette tax policy performance from 2012 to 2018, reports The Manila Times.
After evaluating cigarette taxation in more than 170 countries, the authors of the Tobacconomics Cigarette Tax Scorecard study said the Philippines was among the countries “with the greatest improvement in cigarette tax policy,” resulting from “the simplification of previously complicated tiered cigarette excise tax structures, accompanied by large tax increases.”
During the studied period, the Philippines eliminated the multi-tiered structure of the previous system, removed price classification fees and introduced automatic indexation, according to Finance Assistant Secretary Teresa Habitan. It also increased taxes on tobacco products and mandated an across-the-board uniform tax rate of PHP30 ($0.62) per pack beginning 2017.
The study used data from the World Health Organization and focused on four aspects of cigarette tax systems: cigarette prices, changes in cigarette affordability over time, share of taxes in retail cigarette prices and cigarette tax structure.
The Tobacconomics Scorecard’s five-point grading system is derived from the data in the tax/price-related appendices of the biennial WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic.
The WHO report monitors the most effective and cost-effective government interventions—both price and nonprice measures—for reducing tobacco consumption.
May 24, 2021
Brazil: Farmers Benefit from Diversification

Iro Schunke
(Photo: Taco Tuinstra)
Brazilian tobacco growers who adhered to the winter crop within the Corn, Bean and Grazing Land after Tobacco Harvest Program benefited from the high value of the grains this year. This is demonstrated by the survey conducted by the Interstate Tobacco Industry Union (SindiTabaco), which promotes the crop diversification program in southern Brazil.
The area devoted to corn, bean and soybean soared 22 percent in the southern region compared with last year, reaching 144,222 hectares. On the other hand, the area devoted to grazing land dropped 27 percent to 25,572 hectares. Due to weather conditions, productivity rates dropped 34 percent on average, resulting in a total crop production volume of 580,442 tons.
The estimated extra revenue amounts to BRL933 million ($174 million), up 47 percent from 2020, when farmers earned BRL634.2 million from the cultivation of grains and grazing land.
“Diversification is always a good option for the farmers, as it makes it possible for them to earn money from different activities,” said Iro Schunke, president of SindiTabaco, in a press note. “In 2021, we observed a preference of the farmers for the cultivation of grains to the detriment of grazing lands, which resulted into higher earnings, and the credit goes to the good moment these commodities are experiencing within Brazilian agribusiness.”
May 24, 2021
Charlie’s Holdings ‘Turns the Corner’ in 2021

Photo: Charlie’s Holdings
Charlie’s Holdings reported increased revenue, gross profit, gross margin and cash balance in the first quarter of 2021.
Revenue decreased 1 percent year-over-year to $4.36 million but increased 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2020. Gross profit decreased 1 percent year-over-year to $2.42 million but increased by more than 14 percent from the 2020 fourth quarter. Gross margin remained at 55 percent year-over-year and expanded 5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2020.
“Though 2020 was a difficult year for our entire industry, Charlie’s financial performance turned the corner in the first quarter of 2021,” said Charlie’s CEO Brandon Stump in a statement. “Incorporating a right-sized cost structure, strengthened balance sheet and launch of Pachamama Disposables, the company achieved growth in both revenue and gross margin versus the last quarter of 2020. Most importantly, we feel confident that Charlie’s is now positioned for accelerated growth going forward.”
On April 1, 2021, Charlie’s hired Henry Sicignano III as president to spearhead business strategy and capital markets initiatives. Sicignano previously served as president and CEO of 22nd Century Group.
Sicignano will work closely with Charlie’s CEO Brandon Stump to develop and execute business strategy in the rapidly changing electronic nicotine-delivery system marketplace.
So confident are we in Charlie’s future, my brother Ryan and I invested $3 million in Charlie’s common stock last quarter.
Brandon Stump, CEO, Charlie’s Holdings
“We are very pleased about the recent addition of Henry Sicignano as our president,” said Stump. “His past successes—in both his initiatives to provide adult smokers with alternatives to traditional combustible cigarettes and his experience growing and uplisting a public company—will prove invaluable to Charlie’s.
“So confident are we in Charlie’s future, my brother Ryan and I invested $3 million in Charlie’s common stock last quarter. We believe that Charlie’s is well on its way to emerging as America’s No. 1 premium nicotine-based e-cigarette company.”
May 24, 2021
Commission Evaluates EU Tobacco Directive

Photo: areporter
The EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) has helped protect the health of European citizens, but there is room for improvement, according to a report released by the European Commission on May 20.
While lauding the decreases in EU smoking rates since the current directive took effect in 2016, the report argues for stronger enforcement at the national level and better consideration of new market developments, such as novel tobacco products.
“With Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, we are proposing bold and ambitious actions to reduce the use of tobacco. We have set a very clear objective—to create a tobacco-free generation in Europe, where less than 5 percent of people use tobacco by 2040,” said Stella Kyriakides, commissioner for health and food safety.
“This means enforcing EU tobacco legislation more strictly and helping it keep pace with new developments. EU legislation on tobacco has clearly had a positive impact on smoking rates in the EU, but to meet our target, we must set our sights higher. The upcoming reviewing of the Tobacco Products Directive will be an important part of this work.”
With 27 percent of all cancers attributed to its use, tobacco is the single largest avoidable health risk in the EU, according to the European Commission. Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan aims at creating a “tobacco-free generation” by 2040.

EU legislation on tobacco has clearly had a positive impact on smoking rates in the EU, but to meet our target, we must set our sights higher.
Stella Kyriakides, commissioner for health and food safety
The TPD has put in place comprehensive EU tobacco control policy rules, notably through enlarged combined health warnings, a track-and-trace system, a ban on characterizing flavors, the creation of an ingredients database and the regulation of electronic cigarettes. It has also contributed to the improvement of public health through a decrease in tobacco consumption. The report also concludes that, due to market developments, there is scope for improvement in certain essential areas, such as labeling, assessment of ingredients, cross-border distance sales and novel and emerging products.
Adopted in 2014, and applicable for most of its provision as of May 2016, the TPD concerns the manufacture, presentation and sale of tobacco and related products and aims at facilitating smooth functioning of the internal market, protecting people’s health—particularly of the youth—and meeting the EU obligations under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
The May 20 report is supported, among others, by a study on consumer preference and perception of specific categories of tobacco and related products and a support study to the report on the application of the directive. It also draws on SCHEER’s opinion on electronic cigarettes and the most recent Eurobarometer survey on attitudes of Europeans toward tobacco and electronic cigarettes.
May 21, 2021
Altria Group Holds Annual Meeting

Photo: Casimiro
Altria Group held its 2021 annual meeting of shareholders on May 20. During the annual meeting, CEO Billy Gifford summarized Altria’s full-year 2020 and first-quarter 2021 financial results and discussed Altria’s progress toward its vision of responsibly transitioning adult smokers to a noncombustible future. Gifford also shared Altria’s corporate responsibility priorities and environmental, social and governance efforts, reaffirmed Altria’s guidance for adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) and addressed shareholder questions.
Altria’s shareholders elected to a one-year term each of the 11 nominees for director named in Altria’s proxy statement, ratified the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers as Altria’s independent registered public accounting firm for 2021, approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation of Altria’s named executive officers and rejected two shareholder proposals.
On May 10, 2021, Altria’s board of directors elected Kathryn McQuade to serve as Altria’s independent chair of the board. The appointment became effective following the conclusion of the annual meeting.
In his remarks, Gifford reaffirmed Altria’s guidance for 2021 full-year adjusted diluted EPS to be in a range of $4.49 to $4.62, representing a growth rate of 3 percent to 6 percent from an adjusted diluted EPS base of $4.36 in 2020.

May 21, 2021
FDA Publishes List of Marketing Applications

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products has introduced a new webpage on its site entitled “Deemed New Tobacco Product Application Lists.” The webpage lists and features 17 MS Excel files that include over 6 million deemed new tobacco products for which a premarket application was submitted to the FDA by Sept. 9, 2020.
A court order provided for a one-year period during which time such products might remain on the market pending FDA review. If a negative action is taken by the FDA on the application prior to Sept. 9, 2021, the product must be removed from the market or risk FDA enforcement. If a positive order is issued by the FDA on a product in the below lists, the product will be listed on the positive marketing orders page and may continue to be marketed according to the terms specified in the order letter.
The FDA stressed it has not independently verified the information provided by applicants about the marketing status of their products. In addition, the list excludes entries of products from companies that did not provide information on current marketing status of their products to the FDA so that the agency could determine whether the existence of the application could be disclosed.
“It is important to note that the lists are not comprehensive lists intended to cover all currently marketed deemed tobacco products that a company generally might manufacture, distribute or sell without risking FDA enforcement,” the FDA wrote on its website.
Companies that submitted their application by the Sept. 9, 2020, deadline can keep their products on the market for one year pending FDA review.
If a negative action is taken by the FDA on the application prior to Sept. 9, 2021, the product must be removed from the market or risk FDA enforcement. If a positive order is issued by the FDA on a product in the lists, the product will be listed on the positive marketing orders page and may continue to be marketed according to the terms specified in the order letter.
The publication of the list likely signals the start of enforcement. The FDA has already issued 111 warning letters to vapor companies in 2021.
Stakeholders in the nicotine business have been anticipating the FDA list for months. In September 2020, the FDA stated that it would publish a list of vapor companies that had submitted PMTAs by the Sept. 9, 2020, deadline. The news came just one week after several retail groups submitted a letter to the agency asking for a published list of applicants.
May 20, 2021
WHO Reiterates its Opposition to THR

Photo: Olrat
In the runup to World No Tobacco Day on May 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reasserted its abstinence-only approach to nicotine.
In a May 19 press release titled “Quit tobacco to be a winner,” the WHO said that the tobacco industry has “promoted e-cigarettes as cessation aids under the guises of contributing to global tobacco control” while employing “strategic marketing tactics to hook children on this same portfolio of products, making them available in over 15,000 attractive flavors.”
The agency also insisted that the scientific evidence on e-cigarettes as cessation aids was inconclusive and that “switching from conventional tobacco products to e-cigarettes is not quitting.”
“We must be guided by science and evidence, not the marketing campaigns of the tobacco industry—the same industry that has engaged in decades of lies and deceit to sell products that have killed hundreds of millions of people,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “E-cigarettes generate toxic chemicals, which have been linked to harmful health effects, such as cardiovascular disease and lung disorders.”
We must be guided by science and evidence, not the marketing campaigns of the tobacco industry.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general, WHO
The global health body also reiterated its commitment to excluding the tobacco industry from the debate through article 5.3 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
“The tobacco industry is the single greatest barrier to reducing deaths caused by tobacco use,” the WHO wrote. “Their interests are irreconcilably opposed to promoting public health and point to a critical need to keep them out of global tobacco control efforts.”
The organization also cited the United Nations Global Compact, which banned the tobacco industry from participation in 2017. “In line with Article 5.3, industry has been entirely excluded from the U.N. system, and its agencies have been urged to devise strategies to prevent industry interference,” the WHO wrote.
May 20, 2021
Blind Test: Smokers Unable to Detect Brands

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When properly blinded, smokers are unable to tell apart brands of cigarettes, according to a study by the Sharik Association for Health Research and Alfaisal University in Saudi Arabia that was published in JMIR Formative Research.
In 2019, Saudi Arabia implemented a law requiring cigarette manufacturers to sell their products in generic, unbranded packaging. Following the measure, smokers started complaining to the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) about a perceived difference in cigarette quality. These complaints persisted for more than 90 days, starting in mid-November 2019 and continuing until at least March 2020, when the researchers started writing their manuscript.
Tobacco companies denied changing ingredients, manufacturing processes and the quality of tobacco sold in Saudi Arabia.
Smokers in the United Kingdom and Australia also complained about taste differences after their countries implemented plain tobacco packaging.
Previous studies of the matter did not find significant differences in taste, but they highlighted the difficulties of measuring this variable, which may affect the results. The main difficulty is in the method of measuring the difference between the branded and the plain-packaged cigarettes without exposing participants to the brand they are trying during the study. No previous study was fully able to blind the participants to the cigarette branding, although the senses are known to affect the taste.
Remarkably, no significant differences were seen in smokers’ ability to identify their favorite brands.
For the current study, researchers fitted each participant with virtual reality goggles accompanied by special software to alter the visual reality. In addition, the participants wore medical gloves to alter the feeling of touching the cigarettes. Then, participants received six sequences of different random exposures (three puffs) to three plain-packaged cigarettes (two from their favorite brand and one from another brand as a control) and three branded cigarettes (two from the favorite brand and one from another brand as a control).
After controlling participants’ visual and touch perceptions, no significant differences were observed in their ability to identify plain versus branded cigarettes. Remarkably, no significant differences were seen in smokers’ ability to identify their favorite brands.
The experiment convinced participating smokers that the taste of cigarettes in Saudi Arabia remained unchanged after plain packaging. Prior to the experiment, 16 out of 18 participants thought they detected a change compared to the old, branded cigarettes. After the experiment, all participants reported that they had changed their opinion and did not believe any taste differences existed between plain-packaged and branded cigarettes.
The authors note that sensory perception and sensory research are priorities within the tobacco industry because they have direct effects on commercial concerns. Sensory aspects contribute to smoker satisfaction and tobacco product acceptance, and they play an important role in controlling cigarette-puffing behavior. According to the researchers, tobacco companies have capitalized on distinct sensory preferences across gender, age and ethnic groups by tailoring products for specific populations.
May 20, 2021