Category: News This Week

  • Imports banned

    Imports banned

    Turkey banned the import of e-cigarettes and related products on Feb. 25.

    The ban covers e-cigarettes, accessories, spare parts and solutions as well as e-cigarette products that use heating or incineration, like electronic hookahs. The country had already banned the sale of electronic cigarettes.

    In 2019, 17.6 million illegal cigarette packages and 140,000 electronic cigarettes were seized at the country’s border.

    “We will not give passage to illegal trafficking of cigarette[s] and electronic cigarette[s],” said Ruhsar Pekcan, Turkey’s minister of trade. “I wish the best for our country with this serious measure for the good health of our fellow citizens.”

    About 14.5 million adults and 252,000 children in Turkey use tobacco every day, and about 83,100 people die from tobacco-related diseases, according to the Tobacco Atlas.

  • Cigar exports up

    Cigar exports up

    In 2019, the Tobacco Business Group of Cuba (Tabacuba) reported more than $269.8 million in exports, almost $10 million more than in 2018.

    Tabacuba plans to raise its revenues to more than $280.8 million in 2020 with the export of quality cigars, according to the group.

    During the last meeting of Parliament, Cuban Minister of Economy Alejandro Gil said that an increase in cigar sales would represent about $300 million in annual income for the island.

    Tabacuba is in charge of Cuban tobacco activity, from agricultural production, pre-industry, industrial production, marketing, logistics and development. The industry is the fourth largest contributor to the country’s GDP.

  • Electronic age-verification

    Electronic age-verification

    Juul Labs will propose to federal regulators an e-cigarette that will unlock only for users 21 and older.

    The company will submit the proposal as part of its premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) that is due to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by May 12. All vapor product manufacturers must submit their PMTAs for review by May 12 to keep their products on the market.

    Juul Labs intends to submit more than 250,000 pages, including scientific research, marketing materials and an update on its efforts to curb illegal sales to minors, according to a Juul Labs official. The company plans to submit additional applications over the next three to five years, including an application to market its products as less harmful than combustible cigarettes.

    The company plans to outline a new marketing campaign and a proposal for a U.S. device capable of verifying the user’s age. The company has launched vaporizers in Canada and the U.K. that include an option to lock or unlock the device using a Bluetooth connection to a mobile app; to sign into the app, users must submit a photo of themselves as well as government identification. The app also allows users to monitor their nicotine consumption. The U.S. version of the device would not monitor nicotine consumption.

    The company also plans to submit two flavors, menthol and Virginia tobacco, in two strengths, 3 percent and 5 percent, to the FDA for approval as well as evidence that shows lower levels of toxicants in its products’ aerosol than in cigarette smoke.

    Altria, which owns a 35 percent stake in Juul Labs, has been assisting the company with the application. “Altria is working day by day with us, side by side, helping us extensively,” according to Juul Labs. “They took the lead on certain [areas] of the studies.”

  • Pyxus reorganizes

    Pyxus reorganizes

    Pyxus International announced the next steps in its business transformation. The company will consolidate its emerging market branded businesses under a new operating model, implement a global operations efficiency program and streamline its senior management reporting structure.

    The new operating model aligns the company’s B2C and B2B e-liquid, legal cannabis, industrial hemp, and CBD businesses and brands under FIGR Brands, a wholly owned Canadian subsidiary of Pyxus. The combination of the company’s investments in Purilum, Humble Juice Co., Criticality and Twelfth State Brands into one operating model is designed to allow Pyxus to more effectively leverage the entities’ collective strengths to build a global consumer products brand business that can deliver the next generation of THC, CBD and e-liquid consumer products to legal markets around the world.

    Harvey Carroll, current president of FIGR Brands, will manage the new operating model and will report to Pieter Sikkel, Pyxus’ president and CEO.

    The global operations efficiency program is currently underway and is a comprehensive review of Pyxus’ global footprint and cost structures. This review encompasses all of Pyxus’ business units, including FIGR Brands and its leaf tobacco business, Alliance One International, with the aim to create more value for its customers and shareholders and position the company for long-term success. Pyxus management will report on progress in the implementation of the global operations efficiency effort by May 1, 2020.

    Effective immediately, the board of directors has appointed Martin R. Wade III as nonexecutive chairman of the board. Daniel A. Castle, founder of Castle Brand Group, will transition from being a member of the board of directors to serving as a consultant to Pyxus. Bryan Mazur, who has served as executive vice president of global specialty products, will be leaving the company as that position is being eliminated.

    “Pyxus continues to transform how it operates as we work to build a more streamlined organization for the future,” said Sikkel. “The new consumer products branded business model is a natural milestone in our company’s transformation journey to deliver superior value for the benefit of our stakeholders. We remain committed to achieving long-term, sustainable growth and look forward to building a stronger Pyxus as we continue to execute against our vision to transform people’s lives so that together we can grow a better world.”

  • Halting sales

    Halting sales

    Juul Labs is halting its sales in Indonesia, citing concerns over unregulated sales to youth.

    The company will suspend Indonesia sales “indefinitely” until it can ensure that online and traditional retailers in the country will “increase and enforce age restrictions and compliance measures,” according to a statement.

    Indonesia, with a population of nearly 270 million people, has one of the world’s highest smoking rates and some of the weakest regulations; the country does not impose penalties for selling cigarettes to minors.

    Indonesia has been seen as critical to Juul Labs’ growth amid legal and regulatory issues in the U.S. concerning the company’s role in the rise of youth vaping. Halting sales of its products in Indonesia is a major setback for Juul Labs’ plans to expand in Asia.

    The company launched its products in the country in July 2019.

  • Juul investment scrutinized

    Juul investment scrutinized

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether Altria adequately disclosed the risks of its investment in Juul Labs to shareholders.

    Altria spent $12.8 billion on a 35 percent stake in Juul Labs in December 2018, and Altria has recorded $8.6 billion in impairment charges since then, bringing its investment value to $4.2 billion.

    The SEC issued subpoenas to Juul Labs, and the company has turned over correspondence documents as well as financial projections that were shared with Altria before the deal.

  • Underground factory

    Underground factory

    Authorities in Spain have found an illegal cigarette factory harboring six trapped Ukrainian workers during an operation to find a drugs gang in Costa del Sol, reports Al Jazeera.

    The men were trapped in the illegal underground facility and running out of air after a generator that pumped in fresh air was turned off. The entrance was covered with cargo and, initially, authorities could not hear the men shouting and banging on the roof of the soundproof factory.

    The factory was equipped with bunk beds and living quarters and was built 13 feet underground. The workers were blindfolded when being led to the facility and were not allowed to leave unaccompanied. The men worked there for two weeks at a time and were reportedly paid €7,000 ($7,574) a month. Police said the workers were exposed to toxic materials in conditions that were “dangerous.”

    Authorities said the factory produced at least 3,500 cigarettes an hour and generated profits of more than €600,000 per week. The facility had been in operation for a year.

    Twelve British suspects have been arrested after a series of raids last week where more than 3 million cigarettes, more than 17 metric tons of rolling tobacco, 20 kgs (44 lbs) of hashish and 144 kgs (317 lbs) of cannabis were seized. The suspects have been remanded to custody until trial.

    The suspects were reportedly smuggling the cigarettes into Britain.

  • Belgium bans ads

    Belgium’s federal Parliament has approved a total ban on the advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products, reports The Brussels Times.

    The bill was passed with two abstentions and removes the last remaining exceptions to an earlier ban on conventional advertising, including advertising on the front of shops and on cigarette displays as well as lighted signs. Advertising in the press, on TV and on the radio was already banned, and a law to force cigarette companies to use neutral packaging has also been passed.

    The ban goes into effect Jan. 1, 2021.

    Parliament also approved an extension to the existing law that bans smoking in cars where minors under the age of 16 are present. The new law will now cover all minors up to the age of 18 to coincide with the law governing the sale of tobacco products.

  • New managing director

    New managing director

    British American Tobacco Malaysia has appointed Jonathan Reed as its new managing director effective April 1, 2020, reports The Sun Daily.

    Reed will replace Erik Stoel, who has been at the helm since June 2016 and has opted for early retirement.

  • Study retracted

    Study retracted

    The Journal of the American Heart Association has retracted a study by Dharma Bhatta and Staton Glantz showing a link between e-cigarette usage among adults and heart attack.

    The article, “Electronic Cigarette Use and Myocardial Infarction Among Adults in the U.S. Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health,” appears to be missing information regarding the link between when e-cigarettes are used and when heart attacks appear in individuals.

    “Post publication, the editors requested Bhatta and Glantzto conduct the analysis based on when specific respondents started using e‐cigarettes,” the journal wrote.

    “The authors agreed to comply with the editors’ request. The deadline set by the editors for completion of the revised analysis was not met because the authors are currently unable to access the PATH database. Given these issues, the editors are concerned that the study conclusion is unreliable.”

    Representatives of the vaping industry welcomed the study, which they say had damaged the sector’s reputation and caused confusion among smokers looking to quit.

    “We welcome the Journal of the American Heart Association’s decision to retract this study,” said John Dunne, spokesperson for the The U.K. Vaping Industry Association.

    “ Quality, peer-reviewed science consistently demonstrates the public health potential of vaping, while studies that reach unreliable conclusions such as this one risk keeping people smoking cigarettes,” Dunne said. “The duty now falls to those in the media, who have given this research and its authors a platform, to make their own urgent retractions and corrections.”

    Glantz said that in retracting his study, the Journal of American Heart Association had caved to pressure from e-cigarette interests. “The results in the paper are accurately analyzed and reported,” he said in a response to the incident on his blog.