Category: News This Week

  • Bidi Vapor Enters Pouch Market

    Bidi Vapor Enters Pouch Market

    Photo: Bidi Vapor

    Bidi Vapor will soon launch the Bidi Nicotine Pouch. Engineered to provide a premium smokeless nicotine experience to its users, the Bidi Pouch is made from a tobacco-free nicotine formulation.

    The Bidi Pouch takes advantage of Bidi Vapor’s proprietary nicotine-delivery method on the heels of the growing popularity of the company’s premium vape pen, the Bidi Stick. Having established a strong wholesale-distribution network with its premium vape pen, the Bidi Stick will allow for immediate distribution of the Bidi Pouch through existing channels, Bidi Vapor wrote in a press statement.

    Worldwide, the nicotine-pouch sector is projected to grow to $3.35 billion by 2025, up from $637.8 million in 2019, according to Market Study Report. The category has continued to explode recently, with New York-based Nielsen reporting an increase in unit sales of 498 percent in U.S. convenience stores over the 24 weeks ending May 30, 2020.

    “We are excited to introduce the Bidi Pouch to adult consumers,” said Niraj Patel, CEO of Kaival Brands Innovations Group, which has an exclusive partnership and distribution deal with Bidi Vapor. “This is one of several initial steps we are taking towards our goal of providing improved products that are more sustainable.”

  • Daughters & Ryan Sells Majority Stake

    Daughters & Ryan Sells Majority Stake

    Mark Ryan (right)
    Photo: Timothy Donahue

    Daughters & Ryan tobacco company has sold a majority stake to Inter-Continental Trading USA for an undisclosed sum. Mark Ryan, founder and president of Daughters & Ryan, told Tobacco Reporter today that the time was right. Ryan said he will stay with the company for at least five more years.

    “The main thing was keeping our pipe tobaccos on the market,” said Ryan. “I have been fighting for this industry for 30 years; it just seemed like the right time to sell a portion of the company. I want to enjoy myself more. We started having some issues with tube production in the Philippines so we wanted to make sure we could move manufacturing here domestically and this allows us to accomplish that.”

    Inter-Continental will take control of the manufacturing of Daughters & Ryan cigarette tubes and pipe tobacco.

    Daughters & Ryan’s began in 2002 as a manufacturer and distributor of roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco and expanded into the pipe market with its line of premium pipe tobaccos, as well as cigars and e-liquids. The company also offers other tobacco products (OTP) such as cigarette tubes, rolling papers and rollers, filter plugs, injection machines and shisha accessories.

    Daughters & Ryan is housed in an 80,000-square-foot facility that sits on a 20-acre lot in Kenly, North Carolina, USA. The company has 17 employees and sales reached nearly $5 million in 2014, according to the most recently available data.

    Ryan, who also owns the L.A. Poche Perique Tobacco Co. in Louisiana, USA, said the Perique company was not included in the stock sale. Perique is a unique type of tobacco that is grown exclusively on a small swath of land near New Orleans.

    Shargio Patel, president of Inter-Continental, is well-known for acquisitions and investment in growth opportunities. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Based in Mount Prospect, Illinois, USA, Inter-Continental Trading USA manufactures OHM pipe tobacco, cigarette tubes and filtered cigars, 752 pipe tobacco and filtered cigars, Shargio cigarette tubes and accessories, Roxwell pipe tobacco and cigarettes tubes, Westport filtered cigars and Kashmir rolling papers, hemp wraps, pre-rolled tubes and accessories. –T.S.D

  • Ploom S Debuts in the United Kingdom

    Ploom S Debuts in the United Kingdom

    Photo: JTI

    Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has launched its Ploom S heated-tobaccodevice in the U.K., reports The Grocer.

    The product will be sold through two Ploom-branded lounges in London, Ploompop-up shops, online at www.ploom.co.uk and through accredited retailers.

    The device is used with tobacco sticks, which are sold separately. The tobaccosticks will be available in four different flavors—flavored tobacco, smoothtobacco, menthol and menthol/berry. The Ploom S device will have arecommended retail price of £89 ($116.06) and the consumables will have arecommended retail price of £4.50 for a pack of 20 sticks.

    “The time is right for JTI to enter this exciting growth segment in the U.K. with aproven product that continues to grow in markets in which we have alreadylaunched,” said JTI U.K. General Manager Dean Gilfillan.

    Ploom S is the second tobacco-heating system available in the U.K., after PhilipMorris International’s IQOS, which launched in 2016.

    Previously, JTI launched Ploom in Japan, Russia and Italy.

  • Inaccuracies in EU E-Cigarette Review

    Inaccuracies in EU E-Cigarette Review

    Photo: BAT

    British American Tobacco (BAT) has called on a European Commission scientific committee to enhance the quality of its ongoing review into e-cigarettes.

    As part of the European Commission’s forthcoming review of the Tobacco Products Directive, the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) Committee was tasked with producing a scientific review of the health effects of e-cigarettes. On Sept. 23, SHEER adopted its preliminary opinion. The public consultation on the preliminary opinion closed on Oct. 26.

    In its response, BAT pointed out “major flaws with the methodology and conclusions.”  The report, says BAT:

    • Fails to contextualize the risks of e-cigarettes relative to those associated with continued smoking.
    • Makes inaccurate claims regarding e-cigarettes many of which have been widely debunked by the scientific and public health communities.
    • Contains false assumptions that e-cigarette aerosol is the same as tobacco smoke.
    • Neglects landmark independent studies showing that many smokers view e-cigarettes as an acceptable alternative to smoking.
    • Relies on data from non-EU markets and studies on products pre-dating the current Tobacco Products Directive that are not relevant to the current EU context.

    “If future regulations on vaping were to be based on the review as it stands now, they would be based on flawed evidence,” said Eric Sensi-Minautier, Vice President EU Affairs at BAT, in a statement. “We call on the SCHEER Committee to address the serious gaps in the review and reflect the weight of evidence supporting the harm reduction potential of e-cigarettes relative to continued smoking.”

  • China Shuts Down Juul Counterfeiter

    China Shuts Down Juul Counterfeiter

    Photo: Steveheap – Dreamstime.com

    Chinese federal authorities have shut down a major manufacturer and international distributor of counterfeit Juul devices and pods, Juul Labs announced.

    Following a lengthy investigation last year by Juul Labs’ brand protection team into counterfeit operations in the region, the company identified Shenzhen Kang Erqiang Electronic Technology Co. as a large player in the illicit global trade of counterfeit Juul products.

    Chinese law enforcement subsequently seized 14,600 units of counterfeit Juul products, including counterfeit pods, devices, and packaging. A computer was also seized, which provided authorities with critical information regarding when the illicit operation was launched as well as a rough estimate of counterfeit sales.

    Authorities determined that the counterfeit operation began sometime in 2018, and over a 16-month period, sold roughly $324,000 worth of counterfeit Juul products. The factory operator confessed to his involvement and was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, along with a fine equivalent to $163,487.

    In a statement, Juul said it would continue to fight illegal sales of its products. “These black-market products present additional health and safety risks to adult consumers given that they often are produced in unsanitary conditions without manufacturing and quality controls and lack ingredient testing and product characterization. They also may contain harmful chemicals not present in other, authentic products. Furthermore, sales of counterfeit vapor products undermine underage-prevention measures through ease of access.”

  • Vapor Sector Concerned About U.K. Lockdown

    Vapor Sector Concerned About U.K. Lockdown

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive

    The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) expressed disappointment that the U.K. government failed to recognize the vapor sector as an essential business as it announced a new Covid-19 related lockdown.  

    John Dunne

    “Whilst we recognize the predicament that the government faces, with data highlighting the worsening coronavirus situation across the country, as an industry we feel extremely disappointed that the vaping sector has once again been overlooked as one providing essential goods and services,” said John Dunne, director general at the UKVIA, in a statement.

    “Only earlier this year Public Health England acknowledged the contribution played by vaping in helping smokers quit and recent research has again highlighted that vape products are much more effective than NRTs in helping smokers give up,” he said.

    “The worse thing that we need to avoid happening is people being tempted back to smoking or not trying to quit as a result of the stress caused by this latest development.”

    Dunne said it would be important for the vapor industry to reopen for business in early December—the target date for the end of the second lockdown—so it can maximize sales in the lead up to the Christmas holiday and and safeguard the thousands of people it employs in the manufacture, wholesale, quality control and retail of vapor products.

  • Altria Results Demonstrate Resilience

    Altria Results Demonstrate Resilience

    Photo: Altria Group

    Altria Group’s net revenues rose by 3.9 percent to $7.12 billion and by 3.9 percent to $19.85 billion in the third quarter and the first nine months of 2020, respectively, when compared to the same periods in 2019.

    “Altria continued to demonstrate its resilience during the third quarter while navigating the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Altria CEO Billy Gifford in a statement. “In the third quarter, our tobacco businesses delivered strong financial performance once again and we continued to make progress against our 10-year Vision.”

    Altria noted that Philip Morris USA expects its heat-not-burn IQOS devices to be available for sale in select Charlotte, North Carolina, convenience stores sometime in November while Helix expanded the distribution of On! by an additional 16,000 stores with its modern oral product now available in 56,000 stores as of the end of the third quarter.

    While tobacco analysts from Morgan Stanley noted that Altria’s third-quarter results were ahead of expectations, Philip Morris’ recent write-down of Juul was larger than expected.

  • Ellen Strahlman Joins Altria Board

    Ellen Strahlman Joins Altria Board

    Photo: Jakub Jirsák | Dreamstime

    Ellen R. Strahlman will join the Altria Group board of directors Nov. 2, 2020, the company announced in a press release.

    Strahlman served as executive vice president, research & development and chief medical officer of Becton, Dickinson and Co., a leading global medical technology company, from April 2013 until her retirement in January 2018.

    Before joining Becton Dickinson and Co., she served as a senior advisor to the CEO at GlaxoSmithKline from April 2012 through March 2013, after previously serving as the senior vice president and chief medical officer from April 2008 through March 2012.

    Prior to 2008, Strahlman held senior executive leadership roles in global product development and commercialization, medical affairs and business development at leading pharmaceutical and medical technology companies including Pfizer, Novartis, Virogen, Bausch & Lomb and Merck & Co. She currently serves as a director of Syncona having previously served as a director of Syncona Partners.

    At Altria Group, Strahlman will be a member of the finance and innovation committees.

  • ‘Covid Response Blueprint for Endgame’

    ‘Covid Response Blueprint for Endgame’

    The world’s ongoing response to Covid-19 offers a precedent for drastic action to eliminate the tobacco industry, according to Stanford University professor John P. A. Ioannidis and health economist Prabhat Jha

    While most anti-tobacco measures to date have targeted demand, the “endgame” might require reducing supply, the scholars write in The Lancet. The public health community has little experience enforcing major changes that disrupt markets, but the Covid-19 pandemic provides a natural experiment, they argue.

    Measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 have disrupted multiple sectors of the economy quickly and deeply, including travel, tourism, restaurants, entertainment and retail. The cumulative share of these markets before Covid-19 far exceeded the $1 trillion tobacco market.

    “Even if all 100 million tobacco-related jobs were lost, this number is still much lower than the number of jobs lost by lockdown measures for Covid-19 worldwide,” the authors write, citing 400 million full-job equivalents lost because of the pandemic in the second quarter of 2020 alone.

    “Moreover, of 100 million people among the tobacco workforce, manufacturing accounts for only 1-2 percent of jobs. 40 million people work in tobacco-growing and leaf-processing, 20 million work in home industries, and the remaining people work on distribution, sales and promotion.”

    The authors suggest a safety net could be provided during a transition period to reduce poverty, similar to that activated for Covid-19-related unemployment.

    The benefits of eliminating the tobacco industry would also exceed those achieved by anti-Covid measures, according to the authors. “Even under the most pessimistic projections, Covid-19 fatalities are well below the perpetuated burden of tobacco deaths,” the write. “Moreover, Covid-19 kills mostly older people with multiple underlying diseases, whereas half of tobacco deaths occur in people aged 30–69 years.”

     

     

  • JT Ups Forecast After Strong Quarter

    JT Ups Forecast After Strong Quarter

    Masamichi Terabatake (Photo: JT)

    Japan Tobacco’s (JT) revenue decreased 2.5 percent to ¥1.59 trillion ($15.25 billion) in the third quarter of 2020. Adjusted operating profit at constant currency increased 6.3 percent to ¥479.8 billion. On a reported basis, adjusted operating profit decreased 2.2 percent to ¥441.5 billion. Operating profit decreased 11.4 percent to ¥390.2 billion, while profit attributable to owners of the parent company decreased 18.4 percent to ¥257.9 billion.

    JT revised its revenue and adjusted operating profit at constant currency forecasts for fiscal year 2020 upward by ¥60 billion and ¥30 billion, respectively. The company also revised upward its adjusted operating profit on a reported basis forecast (by ¥26 billion), its operating profit forecast (¥42 billion) and its profit attributable to the owners of the parent company forecast (¥24 billion).

    “The JT Group posted encouraging results in the year-to-date, driven by strong underlying fundamentals, despite a challenging operating environment, and our adjusted operating profit at constant currency grew due to the share and pricing gains in the international tobacco business,” said Masamichi Terabatake, president and CEO of the JT Group, in a statement.

    “Our forecasts are revised upward following the strong year-to-date performance as well as efficient cost management while we continue to invest in high priority activities, and we have confidence in achieving the revised forecast.

    “Looking ahead and taking into account the prevailing and highly uncertain environment, we will continue investments to offer products and services with agility, as we adapt to evolving ways of working and changing consumer needs.”