Category: RYO/MYO

JT Launches Mayfair Gold RYO

Image: JTI UK
Japan Tobacco International U.K. has launched Mayfair Gold Rolling Tobacco 30g in England, Scotland and Wales.
“Ultra value” remains the fastest-growing segment in the British tobacco category, and Mayfair Gold Rolling Tobacco offers a premium quality Virginia tobacco at a recommended retail price of £18.50 ($24.22) per 30g pouch.
The launch builds on the success of Mayfair Gold factory-made cigarettes, which have achieved a retail sales value of £46.7 million since debuting in September 2023 and is the fastest growing factory-made cigarette brand in Independent & Symbol Groups in the last 12 months.
The continued demand for lower-priced options has led to an increase in growth of ultra value tobacco products. According to JTI, Mayfair Gold Rolling Tobacco 30g represents a great opportunity for retailers to capitalize on an established heritage brand at an ultra-value price point.
“We find new product launches are helpful for our business across all categories, even in tobacco where customers are more brand loyal,” said Aruna Patel of Rons News in Worcestershire. “Mayfair is a popular brand, and we’d recommend Mayfair Gold to other retailers, as price is the main factor for our customers.”
“The ultra-value price point remains the key focus for us, with 60 percent of all sales volumes coming from this sector,” said Mark McGuiness, marketing director at JTI U.K. “We are continuing to innovate our offering in this area with the launch of a heritage brand, Mayfair Gold, into the RYO [roll-your-own] category.”
September 9, 2024
Shock Absorber

Photo: Alessandro De Leo | Dreamstime
With an appropriate tax regime, fine-cut tobacco can provide a useful buffer between high-priced cigarettes and illicit products.
By Stefanie Rossel
Across Europe, three countries offer showcase examples of unintended consequences created by ill-designed tax policies. The fiscal frameworks in France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands prevent fine-cut tobacco (FCT) from fulfilling its buffer function in the nicotine ecosystem, leading to high levels of illicit trade. When taxed at comparatively low rates, FCT products can serve as a “shock absorber” between higher taxed factory-made cigarettes and illicit smokes. If the tax rates and retail prices of combustible cigarettes and FCT become too similar, fine roll-your-own (RYO) and make-your-own (MYO) products may lose their appeal to smokers with lower disposable incomes.
In the European Union, home to some of the world’s leading RYO and MYO markets, France presents a prime example. “The market is riddled with illicit trade, as the taxation levels prevent FCT to fulfill its buffer function,” says Peter van der Mark, secretary general of the European Smoking Tobacco Association (ESTA). “Since 2020, volumes of FCT have consistently declined, by 8 percent in 2021, 13.7 percent in 2022 and 10.2 percent in 2023.” This decline is slightly more pronounced than that in other tobacco segments.
On the bright side, according to van der Mark, French authorities appear to have belatedly recognized the negative impacts of their policies. Last month, the responsible minister acknowledged that beyond a certain point, raising taxes becomes counterproductive and boosts contraband, which benefits neither public health nor public finances. “We can only regret that it took one-third of the market to be illegal to come to that conclusion,” laments van der Mark.
The U.K. faces a similar situation. According to van der Mark, that country’s government has nearly aligned the tax rates on FCT with those on cigarettes—and without consulting the industry. As a result, legal volumes have been declining substantially, benefiting smugglers and illicit traders. According to van der Mark, this is not only impacting manufacturers, distributors and retailers but also the finance ministry (and therefore U.K. citizens), which last year saw its tobacco tax receipts drop by nearly 15 percent compared to 2022—a loss of approximately £1.5 billion ($1.91 billion).
Germany, the largest EU market for hand-rolling products, also hiked FCT taxes but managed to avoid the negative effects experienced by Britain and France, thanks to its incremental approach. “The ad valorem component on FCT increased progressively and moderately whilst step increases of the specific or minimum were always kept below 10 percent,” explains van der Mark.
“In general, we consider the German tax model to be well crafted as it allows for predictability and ensures the market functions smoothly whilst allowing the government to pursue its treasury and health objectives,” says van der Mark.
“Volume-wise, of course we note a decline in comparison with 2020 [consumption], which was exceptionally high due to the Covid-19 outbreak. In 2023, volume declined by 5 percent compared to 2022, confirming a declining trend in general.”
This year, however, Germany’s market has benefitted from rising FCT taxes in the Netherlands. According to van der Mark, a 50 gram pouch now costs approximately €25 ($27.02) there, encouraging Dutch smokers to source their tobacco elsewhere, including in neighboring Germany.
Across Europe, the general trend is toward less tobacco consumption, and FCT is no exception. “Inflation had a massive impact on consumer ability to buy tobacco products in 2022–2023,” says van der Mark. “Consumers down-traded or moved to FCT or illicit cigarettes. Although inflation has decreased, it remains very unequal from one country to another. Where inflation remains high, we expect sales of FCT to slightly increase, demonstrating once again the buffer function this product category can fulfill, provided it is taxed approximately.”
“We consider the German tax model to be well crafted as it allows for predictability whilst allowing the government to pursue its treasury and health objectives.”
STG Buys Mac Baren
As the market contracts, the fine-cut industry has been consolidating. In June, Scandinavian Tobacco Group acquired family-owned Mac Baren Tobacco from Halberg for DKK535 million ($76.87 million). Founded in 1826, Mac Baren’s portfolio includes pipe tobacco brands such as Mac Baren, Amphora and Holger Danske as well as fine-cut tobacco brands such as Amsterdamer, Choice and Opal. The company also produces and sells nicotine pouches with the brands Ace and Gritt.
Mac Baren sells its products in 74 countries and generates most of its net sales in the U.S., Denmark and Germany. Other key markets include the U.K., France, Spain and Italy. Headquartered in Svendborg, Denmark, the company has production facilities in Denmark and the United States (in Richmond, Virginia), and employs approximately 200 people full time.
Both Mac Baren and STG are members of ESTA. “The reduction of family-owned companies in our sector is always regrettable, but at the same time, we are pleased to see that its traditional know-how will remain in the very capable hands of STG, a company that is committed to high-quality traditional smoking tobaccos,” says van der Mark.
The FCT sector has consolidated at regular intervals, with the last wave being triggered by the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) in 2014. At this time, van der Mark sees no indications of a new consolidation wave, however.
New Regulations on the Horizon
Whether the pending TPD revision will change that situation is up for discussion. The European Commission’s evaluation report, expected toward the end of 2024, should provide some insights into the future regulatory environment. According to van der Mark, a 2021 report on the TPD application identified topics likely to be discussed further in the future.
“This includes the field of ingredient regulation, where we have seen several member states taking cavalier initiatives and establishing outright bans of certain ingredients,” he says. “In general, we fear that the notion of ‘flavors’ has been largely misunderstood and will be subject to debates that will most likely be based on assumptions more than on actual scientific underpinning. Labeling and packaging, where the commission is no longer hiding its preference for plain packaging, will also be an issue, and, of course, the regulation of novel tobacco products.”
With a new commission poised to take office in November, van der Mark expects more emphasis on novel nicotine products and less impact on the FCT segment. “For fine-cut tobacco, the whole legislation has already been there since TPD2,” he says.
“We are more concerned about the ingredients regulation. We believe that the ingredients which are in tobacco products, representing between 1 percent and 3 percent of the total weight, are nonconsequential, but the commission is continuously looking at the ingredients as if they would make the product even more problematic from a health perspective. We think that the commission simply has the wrong end of the stick.”
Whether the EU’s approach toward tobacco products will change with the new crop of lawmakers remains to be seen. “At this stage, it is not sure whether the ‘shift to the right’ will affect the functioning of the EU Parliament and its ‘great coalition’ made of the Socialists and Democrats, Renew and center-right European People’s Party groups,” says van der Mark.
“An interesting statistic, however, is that about 60 percent of the elected members of the European Parliament are coming from parties that are not governing in their national jurisdictions. This means that we could see a European Parliament ‘free’ from the guidance of the national government, at least to a certain extent.”
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

August 1, 2024
Filtrona Launches Plastic-Free RYO Filter

Photo: Filtrona
Filtrona has launched a plastic-free filter for the roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco market.
According to Filtrona, the Rip-a-Tip filter marks an exciting material advancement in the RYO market, a category expected to reach a global value of $45 billion by 2033.
“The launch of Rip-a-Tip supports our ESG goal to offer a complete portfolio of plastic-free products by 2050. It is a biodegradable RYO filter solution that meets growing consumer and regulatory demand for tobacco products grounded in sustainability,” said Filtrona CEO Robert Pye in a statement.
“As the tobacco industry moves toward plastic reduction or elimination, accelerated by complex regulations on sustainability, the Rip-a-Tip ticks all the boxes while enhancing the consumer experience with our century-long filtration expertise,” said Pye.
The Rip-a-Tip is designed with convenience and configurability in mind, with the option for RYO tobacco companies to customize the filter to the preferred diameter, pressure drop and choice of substrate, such as white or unbleached sustainable materials.
Each Rip-a-Tip stick holds six individual filter tips measuring 14 mm in tip length. To provide more “real estate” for branding and product differentiation, the outer wrap of Rip-a-Tip can be customized to a preferred color or print.
Filtrona also supplies the packaging box for the Rip-a-Tip filters in popular pack formats, including the flip top, cigarette, push and slide, and side push and slide. The design of the packaging box can also be customized.
July 10, 2024
On a Roll

image: Miquel y Costas
Driven by cost considerations and growing environmental awareness, do-it-yourself cigarette papers continue to gain popularity.
By Stefanie Rossel
Traditionally, roll-your-own (RYO) products thrive in difficult economic periods, and for the time being, it appears, the challenges won’t cease. As the Covid-19 pandemic ebbed, the world was shaken by war in Ukraine, worsening inflation and cost-of-living crises in many countries. Since October, global stability and confidence has been further eroded by the war between Israel and Hamas.
The economic slump means that many consumers are coping with lower disposable incomes. Among smokers, such a development often encourages a shift from factory-made cigarettes to more affordable RYO or make-your-own (MYO) products.
Market research companies are hence upbeat about the rolling papers market. Future Market Insights (FMI), for example, expects the value of the global cigarette paper market to grow from $714 million in 2023 to $1.19 billion by 2033, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2 percent during that period. “The rising popularity of smoking rolled cigarettes along with an increasing number of states legalizing recreational cannabis are the key factors expected to augment the demand for rolling papers,” the report states. The U.S., where 24 states permit recreational cannabis use, accounts for 16.9 percent of the global rolling papers market.
In emerging economies, meanwhile, growing demand for rolling tobacco is creating opportunities for manufacturers to expand their footprints in untapped markets, FMI writes. In some of these countries, restrictions on reduced-risk products also play a role. India, for instance, which banned vape products in 2019, is predicted to witness a CAGR of 6.9 percent in sales of rolling papers through 2033.

Adult smokers increasingly seek all-in-one packaging solutions, rather than making multiple separate purchases.
Jose Rubiralta, global manager, Rizla
Careful Navigation Needed
The global rolling papers market is dominated by several large players. Lately, however, smaller entrants to the category have been offering niche or novelty products in terms of sizes, colors and ingredients.
“In general, we see an upward trend in the global market for rolling papers being driven by increasing preference for hand-rolled tobacco due to the value offer they provide compared to factory-made cigarettes as well as the rise in prominence for more environmentally friendly and innovative products,” notes Jose Rubiralta, global manager of Rizla, which is part of Imperial Brands. “For Rizla specifically, the more recent negative global developments mentioned bear limited impact. We are actively expanding our presence in different markets to build on our position as the world’s most iconic rolling paper brand.”
Santiago Sanchez, executive president of France-based Republic Technologies Group, which is best known for its OCB, Zig-Zag and JOB brands, says that the Covid-19 pandemic had boosted his company’s sales. The more recent series of crises has made it difficult to find shipping vessels, however. It has also boosted inflation and caused a scarcity of raw materials. “I usually say that our products sell better during a crisis—and this is what is happening—though I personally regret very much the suffering of so many people in the present wars.”
Republic has been doing well in its core markets. “Besides, we see an opportunity in new markets, mainly on the American continent,” says Sanchez. “This is not yet linked very much to the RYO tobacco expansion but the depenalization of certain substances such as cannabis that were prosecuted until recently.”
For Xavier Garcia, commercial director of the RYO division at Miquel y Costas, the geopolitical challenges pose new hurdles that require careful navigation. “While we celebrate the positive impact of changing consumer habits, we must remain vigilant in the face of geopolitical complexities. The challenges are formidable, but they present opportunities for innovation and strategic adaptation.”
Smoking Paper, Miquel y Costas’ rolling paper brand that will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2024, currently experiences significant growth in various markets. “The growth of the brand is something transversal and not specific to just a few markets,” says Garcia, who attributes its growing popularity of RYO and MYO products to shortages of affordable cigarettes and higher taxation of factory-made products, among other factors.

We see that consumers ask for new products that are more environmentally friendly.
Santiago Sanchez, executive president, Republic Technologies Group
More Regulatory Hurdles
The next challenge for tobacco-related rolling papers will be regulation, according to Sanchez. “We have the intrusion of the politicians with constant new regulations,” he says. “We will see what happens with the revision of the European Union Tobacco Products Directive and new laws trying to overregulate [the industry] such as [those] trying to have tobacco-free generations and forbidding filters.”
Another challenge comes from the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD), which entered into force in 2021 and bans the sale of single-use plastic items such as plates, cutlery, straws and plastic/cotton bud sticks as well as food containers and expanded polystyrene cups. The law exempts cigarette filters but will oblige tobacco manufacturers to cover the costs of consumer awareness-raising measures and extended producer responsibility schemes tackling the cleanup of litter and its subsequent transport and treatment and other issues starting this December.
“While personally I have always been a great defender of the environment, I would have preferred a smoother application of the directive,” he points out. “The commission has not fulfilled its own timetable and now, in November, we still do not know about taxes to be paid next year, especially considering that some will be retroactive to 2023. Once again, the pressure for the smaller manufacturers is enormous and disproportionate.”
Whether driven by regulation or other factors, eco-friendliness is a major trend in rolling papers, according to Rubiralta. “In line with key consumer trends in the broader fast-moving consumer goods industry, there is a growing demand for more environmentally sustainable products,” he says. “As part of our ongoing efforts, we are actively exploring strategies to reduce the impact to the environment. This includes different product and packaging initiatives of Rizla products, amongst other contributions.
“This summer, for example, we have introduced our Natura filter tips as well as our plastic-free tips in selected markets, such as Greece. This is our first plastic-free tips range, made with biodegradable paper, which is a milestone that our team takes great pride in. This complements our recent environmentally friendly paper launches of Rizla Classic, which are unbleached papers, Natura hemp papers and our innovative Rizla Bamboo papers offer, which have received favorable consumer responses.”
Sanchez’s experience is similar. “We see that consumers ask for new products that are more environmentally friendly,” he says. “For centuries, our industry has used flax and hemp as fibers to produce rolling cigarette paper. Different fibers are now in demand, such as bamboo and rice. There is a preference of some people for rice paper, a raw material that was used many years ago to produce paper. With the improvement of paper technology, these fibers were abandoned because of their fragility. Many products still claim to be ‘rice paper,’ although they’re not made of rice. Republic has gone back to the origins, and it is now producing a special blend of rice plus organic hemp paper, which is the only product in the market containing real rice.”
Several months ago, Republic Technologies introduced the first bagged filter paper. The company is also reviewing all its packaging to remove plastic wherever possible. “Most of our boxes are no longer plastic-wrapped but they still can guarantee the freshness of the product,” says Sanchez. “We have never been fans of closing devices such as magnets because we feel it goes against the environmental target, so we have developed a new way to close some of our booklets just with a paper flap.”

While we celebrate the positive impact of changing consumer habits, we must remain vigilant in the face of geopolitical complexities. The challenges are formidable, but they present opportunities for innovation and strategic adaptation.
Xavier Garcia, commercial director, RYO division, Miquel y Costas
Seeking Convenience
In addition to natural papers and innovative materials, demand is also shifting toward larger paper formats and more advanced products, such as thinner papers, according to Rubiralta. Convenience is a big driver as well. “Adult smokers increasingly seek all-in-one packaging solutions, rather than making multiple separate purchases,” he says. “In response, we are placing a strong emphasis on our combi-packs, expanding our product offerings, and ensuring that this product is readily available to our key customers where this format is relevant.” The company launched its combi-packs of papers and paper filters in the U.K. this year.
“Customers are steering the industry toward a future marked by sustainability, exploration of materials and a demand for convenient solutions,” confirms Montse Bonjorn, director of marketing of Miquel y Costas’ RYO division. “At Miquel y Costas, we’re not merely observing these trends; we’re actively shaping the future of smoking experiences in alignment with our customers’ evolving preferences.”
The company recently introduced a range of eco-friendly, biodegradable paper filters. “As part of our commitment to setting new industry standards, we are set to launch Smoking Supreme, a product that transcends the ordinary,” she says. “Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, this new rolling paper is characterized by its feather-light weight of 12 grams and an ultra-soft surface texture—a harmonious blend for a supreme smoking experience.”
In 2021, the company launched Smoking Cones, a collection of pre-rolled cones crafted in a unique spiral design, a layout that requires less paper and glue to manufacture.
Potential for Growth
Cannabis is playing an ever more important role for rolling papers manufacturers. As further legalization of recreational cannabis is expected in the U.S. and Europe, Sanchez expects demand for RYO papers to increase. “We have developed a patented system to infuse CBD in the natural gum used in the papers. These new products are now available under the Roor trademark that the group acquired a few years ago. Moreover, we have developed a new slim paper, including tips with a length of 125 mm, for the cannabis market.”
“While global trends indicate a surge in cannabis-related products, our focus remains on identifying markets with the greatest potential,” Bonjorn explains. “Regions where cannabis legalization or cultural acceptance is on the rise are particularly promising. Latin America, North America and parts of Europe are among the regions showing considerable potential for growth.”
Miquel y Costas is actively navigating the evolving dynamics of the cannabis market. The company, says Garcia, is ready to contribute innovative solutions to cater to the evolving needs of cannabis enthusiasts. “As we anticipate developments, our strategic approach includes identifying markets where the potential for growth aligns with our commitment to quality and innovation,” he says.
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

December 1, 2023
Campaigners Slam RYO Tax Hike

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Campaigners have slammed U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt after he announced that duty on hand-rolling tobacco would be increased by 10 percent above the “tobacco duty escalator” (inflation plus 2 percent).
“The chancellor has just raised two fingers to working class people across the country,” said Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest.
“Raising duty on hand-rolled tobacco by such a punitive amount is going to push more smokers further into poverty or into the hands of illegal traders including criminal gangs.”
Hunt made his comments during his Autumn Statement on Nov. 22, when the chancellor announced his latest financial package to the House of Commons
According to Treasury figures, smokers will be paying an extra £2.21 ($2.77) for a 30-gram packet of hand rolling tobacco.
Smokers will be paying an additional £0.66 per pack of 20 manufactured cigarettes and an extra £0.33 per 10 gram of cigars.
The Treasury expects to rake in an extra £40 million from the measure next year.

This is a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it’s been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes.
Simon Clark, director, Forest
“This is a clear attack on smokers from poorer backgrounds, many of whom use hand-rolled tobacco because until now it’s been cheaper than buying manufactured cigarettes,” said Clark.
“Instead of punishing adults who smoke with punitive taxation designed to force them to quit, the government should focus on the underlying reasons why a greater proportion of people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are smokers.
“Often it’s because of their environment but, instead of improving the conditions in which many people live, this Tory government is determined to force smokers to give up a habit that may relieve some of the stress caused by their environment.”
November 23, 2023
A Taste of ‘Terroir’

Photos: CTS
With its origin-focused approach, CTS has become a successful niche player in the French RYO category.
By Stefanie Rossel
“Shrinking” is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about the French tobacco sector. According to Statista, French tobacco sales are expected to decline by almost 1 percent annually between 2023 and 2028. In 2022, the tobacco market in France experienced its strongest value decline in a decade.
With the country’s last cigarette factory in Corsica closing this December, cigarette manufacture in France will come to an end. Due to the phaseout of EU tobacco subsidies in 2006, the area dedicated to tobacco cultivation in France has decreased as well—from 3,149 ha in 2016 to 1,205 ha in 2021.
Sadly, the only part of the tobacco landscape that continues to flourish is the illicit cigarette trade. According to a KPMG study commissioned by Philip Morris International, illegal smokes represented 32 percent of the French tobacco market in 2022.
However, this dark environment conceals some remarkable success stories.
One of them has been written by Collaboration Traditab Santele (CTS), an alliance of Traditab, a company run by small tobacco producers in southwestern France, and Santele, a Flemish family-owned manufacturer of traditional Belgian rolling tobacco.
Considering the pressures from increasing regulation, the two companies felt it made sense to join forces. Traditab provided the raw materials and tobacco cultivation knowledge; Santele contributed roll-your-own expertise and manufacturing facilities.
Established in 2016, CTS today is a medium-sized enterprise headquartered in Belgium with offices in France and Spain that currently manufactures and markets four brands of RYO tobaccos, focusing on the concept of “terroir.” The French term is used to describe the environmental factors that affect a crop’s phenotype, including unique environmental contexts, farming practices and growth habitat.
CTS’ Vasconha RYO brand, an American-blend type, is made of 100 percent tobacco cultivated by farmers in Gascony, the Basque Country and Aragon, traditional tobacco cultivating regions on both sides of the Pyrenees. Wervikse Tabak b34, a fine-cut dark blend, comes from Wervik, a historical tobacco-growing region in Flanders. The tobacco for Veramia, a Virginia blend, is cultivated exclusively in the western Spanish region of Extremadura, where tobacco has been grown since the 16th century.

Focus on Origin
The company’s bestseller is 1637. In October 2023, the product was the third-bestselling RYO brand in France. Made of French tobaccos grown in the southwest, its name alludes to the year when tobacco was first planted in the region. The brand was created in 2008 by Traditab at the initiative of a cooperative of small tobacco growers, Tabac Garonne Adour (TGA), that sought to improve the price paid for local tobacco growers.
Anne-Marie Bracq
Marketing began regionally, with an emphasis on tobacconists. “At that time, there weren’t many such products on offer, as organic tobacco products were popular,” says Anne-Marie Bracq, director of CTS France. “We started out with 20 tons of tobacco and grew step by step, explaining to tobacconists that if they choose to sell our products, they support their country’s growers.”
It’s a concept that works well in France, which takes pride in domestically produced cheese and wine varieties that derive their identities from clearly demarcated origins. The company has applied the same philosophy to the other two markets. In Spain, for example, it has a sales force of 17 people.
CTS works with 120 tobacco farmers in France, who are organized in the TGA cooperative and cultivate almost 300 ha in the region between Bordeaux and Lot-et-Garonne. The farms are small, with tobacco representing only one of a variety of crops, typically planted on 2 ha to 4 ha.
While in Belgium, CTS works with only one or two growers, it cooperates with 150 growers of a cooperative in Spain, which cultivates tobacco for CTS’ RYO brands on 550 ha.
Jerome Duffieux
“In France, tobacco growing is not as much a tradition as in Spain, and Burley is the main variety, with flue-cured Virginia [FCV] being more of a filler type,” explains Jerome Duffieux, director of Traditab. “Burley production is more mechanized whereas FCV production is more of a manual process in France. In Spain, where farms are bigger and more specialized in tobacco, it’s the other way around; Spanish FCV is more aromatic.”
Like Traditab, CTS aims to preserve a centuries-old regional tradition. “Our objective is to promote tobacco culture, which involves paying farmers an adequate price,” says Bracq. “This is also important in Spain. Extremadura produces 95 percent of Spain’s tobacco, accounting for 1,900 jobs, and provides €91 million ($95.83 million) to the region’s gross domestic product.”

CTS’s bestselling 1637 brand was named after the year that tobaccos were first grown in the southwest of France.
Expansion Planned
The tobacco growers cooperating with CTS face a challenge shared by farmers in other fields of agriculture: finding successors when they retire. “Maybe it’s more difficult for tobacco because it’s difficult to promote from a health perspective,” says Bracq. “But we still have the problem of economic viability. At CTS, we are looking at ways to maintain tobacco cultivation, trying to develop a future for growers and [figuring out] how to support them economically. We are also running a program to find new farmers.”
CTS plans to expand its current portfolio by developing a new RYO brand, but it’s not easy, according to Bracq. Almost three years ago, France raised tobacco excise taxes to €6.61—substantially above the EU average of €3.34.
The government has continued raising RYO taxes since, thus eliminating the buffer function RYO usually plays between factory-made cigarettes and cheap illegal smokes. “A pack of 20 cigarettes now costs €11 and a 30-gram pouch of rolling tobacco €15 to 20,” explains Bracq. “The RYO segment is now declining more heavily than the cigarette market.”
CTS is presently also involved in a cigar project. “We are developing cigars that are made of tobacco from southern France and plan to launch them in the next three years,” says Bracq.
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

November 1, 2023
Making Their Mark

Illustration: BeMade
RYO and MYO products continue to present remarkable opportunities to the companies supplying these segments.
By George Gay
It has long been debated whether smokers choose roll-your-own (RYO) products over factory-made cigarettes simply because they can save money that way or whether there are other factors in play, most of which revolve around the idea of product customization. One thing that seems certain, however, is that if some smokers want to customize their RYO cigarettes, now is a great time for them to get creative. The product combinations that are possible by putting together the huge range of papers, filters and tobacco now available must be immense and growing.
This is not to say that RYO is about to experience a boom; taxation and regulation will not allow that to happen. But this category, being lifted by the current cost-of-living crisis affecting many people and by the legalization of recreational marijuana use in a growing number of jurisdictions, is likely to punch above its weight for some years to come.
Here, we look at the state of various aspects of the RYO and make-your-own (MYO) sectors: machinery, papers and filters.
Machinery
Anne Laure Jaeckel
Although many cigarettes are hand rolled mainly as a way of saving money, whenever I think of the hand-rolling process, I imagine somebody involved not in an economic activity but in an artistic undertaking. This idea might be a little romantic, however, given that many hand-rolled cigarettes appear less than beautiful, so perhaps I am talking more of a craft than an art, an activity akin to constructing dry stone walls or making hurdle fences, which are often beautifully irregular and, in certain instances at least, economically necessary.
Of course, there is something highly misleading in all this because, unlike the people making dry stone walls and hurdle fences, who are working with crude materials, the person hand rolling a cigarette has in her hands elements that have been produced using advanced designs and technology—elements such as ideally formed, long-stranded fine-cut tobacco and papers and filters fine-tuned for the individual’s preferred choice of cigarette.
And what often gets forgotten is the technology that goes into producing those tiny booklets of hand-rolling papers. They might look simple and insignificant, but the processes necessary to produce them are far from it. Where bobbins of paper have not been pre-gummed, they must have glue applied to one side, they must be cut to length, interleaved, packed into booklets and the booklets included in multi-packs.
And I must confess that, in describing this process, I have paid too little attention to part of the undertaking that is technically challenging: interleaving the cut papers. I was reminded of this when Luc Van de Perre, the founder and owner of BeMade, described how his company had a patented interleaving method, ReadyToRoll, which ensures that when individual leaves are pulled by the consumer from the booklet, the gummed side of the paper always comes out pointing upward. At present, says Van de Perre, 99 percent of paper booklets deliver alternate leaves gummed-side up and then gummed-side down, so half must be turned over by the consumer.
Does this matter? I think it does, if for no other reason than it allows a smoker with impaired vision, who has misplaced her spectacles or is in conditions where the light is poor, to roll a cigarette with confidence. It provides, also, the assurance that she is not going to waste a paper or, even worse, lick the wrong side of a lightweight paper, which will cause it to stick, but only up to a point—that point probably being when the cigarette is lit.
It also demonstrates that even in what some might regard as a backwater segment of the tobacco industry, attention is being paid to the smallest details. The smoker of hand-rolled cigarettes is being treated as important.
In fact, such attention to detail is now at the forefront of BeMade’s activities. The company, which was founded in 2005 and which has a background in booklet production, used that manufacturing experience to develop a fully flexible maker/packer that can produce a full range of booklet formats and pack them in a variety of display boxes. But Van de Perre said that whereas his company had in the past taken machinery projects from start to finish, it was now concentrating on machine developments and installations while working with a bigger partner company in building the machines.
BeMade has also come up with a service strategy recognizing that while its booklet-producing customers are geographically widely spread, it is operating in a relatively modest segment. “Our target is to make sure our customers, booklet producers, get all the tools needed to organize service and maintenance operations in-house or through local support,” said Van de Perre. “This means also that we are prepared to sell the know-how necessary to make our customers independent. All new customers are provided with whatever is necessary to make them self-supporting, though we can also support them via direct web connections to their machines.”

Photo: SWM
Paper
Of course, to produce booklets, you need paper, and, asked about the main RYO market drivers, a spokesperson for SWM and Botani, Anne Laure Jaeckel, product manager of rolling papers at SWM, said the past few years had been all about product research and collaborative developments as their customers had focused on delivering to consumers the best smoking experiences by offering them thinner and lightweight papers. Another important trend had been delivered through developments in botanicals, especially hemp, which had become an essential material in a matter of a few years. In the future, the transparency of papers would be a key feature while the provision of new and exciting colors would also take center stage.
SWM and Botani comprise the Engineered Papers division of Mativ, with SWM serving the tobacco industry and Botani serving the emerging global cannabinoids market.
One question that arises is whether RYO has a future given the array of next-generation tobacco and nicotine products that have emerged recently and given people’s apparent tendency to embrace new technology generally. But Jaeckel seemed unconcerned. While, as always in business, things were changing, this did not signal the end, she said. The change being brought in by the trend toward the legalization of the recreational use of cannabis in many countries was a positive, leading to, among other things, an increase in demand for rolling papers and pre-rolled cones, especially in the U.S. All that was needed now to take things forward in a sustainable way was the introduction of uniform legislation governing product standards.
But some things would remain largely unchanged. For some consumers, RYO had always been and would remain just what they needed—a widely available and cost-effective product. Rolling papers had been invented in the 19th century, and, in part, it was the proof of the product tied up in this history that appealed to many consumers, something to which SWM could attest since its factory in the south of France had been active for 150 years and had witnessed the launch of one of the first rolling paper brands, JOB.
Generally and historically speaking, wood-based bleached materials have gone into making tobacco rolling papers, but Jaeckel said that customers looking to the cannabis market were preferring thin, unbleached, colored or hemp-based papers. Of course, the market for papers, while being strongly influenced by consumer preferences, was also governed by legislation, she added.
The base paper for rolling-papers, Jaeckel said, was supplied in rolls, bobbins and reams, depending on the converting capabilities of customers and on end use applications—for instance, interleaved or flat booklets, or even pre-rolled cones and MYO tubes. All grades of paper could be offered pre-gummed and with filigree patterns, which, along with color options, provided for a wide variety of brand differentiation. And for companies that were only brand owners, SWM and Botani could supply their paper through a network of partner converters capable of transforming it into the required forms.
The range of experiences on offer to the consumer is certainly huge. Indonesia-based The Rolling Paper Company (TRPC), for instance, offers worldwide a wide range of papers, including those made from bleached wood, unbleached wood, unbleached hemp, alfalfa and bamboo. Papers can be watermarked, printed or colored, and the company’s offer also includes blunts, cones and printed cones, all manufactured under one roof using machinery and paper imported from Europe.
TRPC, which has been in business since 2008, produces its own papers under brand names such as SmokeBox but also contract manufactures for other companies.
Ashwyn Daryanani, the founder and owner of TRPC, is confident about the future. In reply to emailed questions, he said the main drivers of the rolling paper business in recent times had been the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana in various jurisdictions and the rising prices of factory-made cigarettes just about everywhere. And, he added, the trends toward the legalization of marijuana use and rising cigarette prices would continue in the future, boosting demand for rolling papers.

Photo: Filtrona
Filters
While Filtrona identifies consumer economics as being the key driver for the MYO category, it sees product customization mainly driving the RYO sector. And the company, which develops and manufactures filters for all types of smoking products, including both the categories under review, predicts that two main factors will drive the RYO/MYO market for the next two years to three years: product customization, and sustainability in respect of both filters and packaging. RYO smokers would be drawn to innovative filter shapes, formats and additives, said Hugo Azinheira, global director of innovation and ESG [environmental, social and governance]. At the same time, there would be a growing need for customized packaging that was more sustainable and that delivered improved product freshness when compared with what was on offer now.
The second driver, meanwhile, meant it was vital for Filtrona to extend its ECO range of filters to RYO/MYO and to work with its packaging suppliers to develop and introduce more sustainable packaging materials.
“The industry’s shift from acetate filters to more sustainable alternatives presents us with one of our biggest opportunities,” said Azinheira in an email exchange. “Our growing ECO range comprises more than 12 innovative plastic-free filters, providing solutions that address single-use plastic bans by using sustainable, biodegradable and plastic-free non-woven materials. All our ECO filters are suitable for use in RYO and reduced-risk product categories as well as ready-made cigarettes.
“We are also working with suppliers to develop and qualify new materials with a lower carbon footprint. We believe that it requires an industry-wide effort to support our customers in their ESG journeys; therefore, we are collaborating with a wide array of suppliers.”
Meanwhile, Azinheira said, because demand for both RYO and, especially, MYO tended to grow when adverse economic environments prevailed, the market for both had been relatively stable during the past five years to six years. But with MYO being a more volatile category, there was higher growth potential in RYO, though both were expected to remain niche categories.
Overall, the RYO and MYO categories would follow the main industry trends, including in respect of the growing cannabis category in North America, for which special filters were being developed and commercialized. While RYO would remain a niche product, demand for it would grow in markets where hemp and cannabis were legalized, but it was important to keep in mind that, within the EU, the new Tobacco Products Directive would impact these new categories.
George Gay is Tobacco Reporter’s European editor, but his territory spans the globe. Based in London, George has covered the tobacco industry since 1982, initially for a U.K.-based publication and since 2004 for Tobacco Reporter. George’s understanding of industry issues, combined with his keen sense of observation and dry wit, have earned him a loyal following among Tobacco Reporter’s readers.

August 1, 2023
Safety Valve

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Within a sensible tax regime, fine-cut tobacco works as a fender between factory-made cigarettes and the black tobacco market.
By Stefanie Rossel
In the nicotine ecosystem, fine-cut tobacco (FCT) fulfils an important function: More affordable than higher taxed factory-made cigarettes (FMC), it serves as a buffer between the latter and illicit smokes. For the past decade, however, sales of FCT have declined in line with those of FMC.
Across the European Union, home to some of the world’s leading markets for roll-your-own and make-your-own products, FCT consumption stood at 78,638 tons in 2021, down from 80,986 tons in 2020, according to the EU Commission. Germany led the European FCT market with a volume of 25,727 tons in 2021 compared with 26,328 tons in the previous year. Other major markets in 2021 were France (7,288 tons), Spain (6,219 tons), Italy (5,303 tons) and Belgium (5,036 tons). Each of them witnessed declines compared to 2020.
Due to the heterogeneous nature of the EU hand-rolling tobacco market, it is difficult to identify a unionwide FCT trend, according to Peter van der Mark, secretary general of the European Smoking Tobacco Association (ESTA). “The fine-cut tobacco market in Europe is characterized by a variety of very different markets, each with its specificities and level of maturity,” he told Tobacco Reporter in a recent conversation. “If one should, however, try and capture a general trend, I believe best is to say that FCT has been unstable with more ups and downs since we last talked than during the past 10 years during which the trend was a slow but steady decline.”
The ESTA observed that in mature FCT markets, such as the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium or France, the decline was sharper than elsewhere. Although recent economic conditions may have temporarily slowed down this decline, there is reason to believe the accelerated downward trend will continue in those markets, according to the trade group.
Van der Mark doubts that recent developments, such as the introduction of novel products such as nicotine pouches, has significantly changed the tobacco market in Europe. Meanwhile, the impact of Covid and the sanitary or economic measures to counter the pandemic depended heavily on the price levels of tobacco products.
“For example, we witnessed in many markets that FCT fully fulfilled its buffer function, especially following border closures,” says van der Mark. “In France, for instance, consumers could no longer access cheaper cross-border cigarettes or illicit ones. As a result, FCT sales went up significantly during that period, capturing consumers that otherwise do not source their tobacco on the French legal market. This, however, was very conjunctural as sales immediately reverted to ‘normal’ levels when travel restrictions were lifted. It was also not a phenomenon occurring in all member states but one linked to where an extensive parallel market existed—the higher [the typical sales in the parallel market], the more sudden was the shift toward FCT.”
Observations also confirm the buffer function of FCT in the economic crisis brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to van der Mark. “The downturn and inflationary period already put—and continues doing so—consumers’ disposable incomes under pressure to varying extents from one country to another,” he says. “When faced with higher budgetary constraints—and provided that FCT is taxed appropriately—consumers are more likely to switch to FCT. The alternative is that outpriced consumers source their tobacco outside of the legal domestic market. Our forecast therefore is that FCT sales will continue to slightly grow in countries where FCT taxation is not prohibitively high in comparison to cigarettes and that in other cases, consumption of nonduty-paid cigarettes will rise.”
Unintended Consequences
France provided a case study of what happens when the buffer of fine-cut tobacco is removed. A major tax hike in 2020 caused the fiscal burden on FCT to rise far more than that of cigarettes, providing a significant boost to the country’s illicit cigarette market. According to KPMG, France remains the EU’s largest illicit cigarette market, with illegal sales of 15.1 billion sticks, or 29 percent of total domestic consumption, in 2021.
“The differential is not large enough anymore to ensure FCT can be seen as a valuable legal alternative for outpriced consumers, hence the ‘new heights’ in illicit trade,” says van der Mark. “As a result, French authorities have been grappling recently with illicit factories producing cigarettes on the French territory whilst this phenomenon was initially limited to eastern and central Europe. Last year, it was reported that about 100 illicit factories were dismantled throughout the union in 2021 alone, with most of their production, cigarettes, being destined to markets such as France or the U.K.”
Encouragingly, there are signs that French authorities are starting to appreciate how their fiscal policy is impacting revenues and disrupting health objectives. “After the experience of Covid, the French Assembly made a report on the size of the parallel market,” says van der Mark. “Interestingly, the report describes nothing else but the FCT buffer function, but it has a hard time acknowledging it.”
Van der Mark expects to see a similar rise of illicit cigarettes in the U.K. The country, which is no longer an EU member, remains an important market for fine-cut tobacco. Under the cost-of-living crisis the U.K. is currently experiencing, RYO products have come to account for 46 percent of the country’s tobacco market. In mid-March 2023, the U.K. raised cigarette taxes by 10.1 percent in line with the retail price index plus an additional 2 percent, bumping the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes to more than £14 ($17.39). Duty on hand-rolling tobacco was increased by 10.1 percent plus an additional 6 percent.
“It is not the first time that U.K. authorities establish an ‘escalator’ policy like this, each time leading to increased illicit trade and increased tax gaps and usually leading to authorities halting that policy after a few years,” observes van der Mark, citing a study by London Economics commissioned by the ESTA. The country has some of the highest FCT duties in Europe. In 2004–2005, these contributed to FCT illicit trade levels of up to 62 percent, according to the report. Following increased enforcement activities and more moderate duty increases, the illicit trade in FCT dropped to 28 percent—a record low—in 2016–2017. “There is no reason to believe that this policy being a mistake in the past will not be another one now,” says van der Mark.
By contrast, Germany’s tax model has reduced smoking prevalence while containing demand for illicit products, according to van der Mark. In January 2022, the country’s Tobacco Tax Modernization Act entered into force. It includes a four-stage tax increase between 2022 and 2026. Excise on fine-cut tobacco will increase between €0.13 and €0.16 per year whereas the average tax hike for a pack of 20 factory-made cigarettes will be €0.08. According to the German Federal Office of Statistics, the volume of duty-paid FCT rose by 0.9 percent in 2022 despite the tax hike compared to the previous year while sales of FMCs decreased by 6 billion units, or 8.3 percent, during the same period.
“If we compare the tax increase on a 1 gram versus 1 stick basis, which is the approach enshrined in the excise directive, the tax differential is essentially maintained throughout the period, specifically to allow FCT to fulfill its buffer function,” says Van der Mark.

FCT sales will continue to slightly grow in countries where fine-cut tobacco taxation is not prohibitively high in comparison to cigarettes. In other cases, consumption of nonduty-paid cigarettes will rise.
Peter van der Mark, secretary general of the European Smoking Tobacco Association
A Hurdle for Exports
It remains unclear how the EU will tax FCT in the future. The European Commission failed to propose an expected update to the 2011 EU tobacco tax directive in December. Instead, leaked documents gave some indications of the commission’s intentions (see “A Blunt Tool,” Tobacco Reporter, February 2023).
Rumors suggest that the commission’s proposal sought to align the FCT minimum tax rate with that of cigarettes and that these minimum rates would be adapted to each member state’s level of affordability. “Obviously, we believe such a proposal would have severely impacted the FCT markets considering it would have forced a number of countries to ignore a tax differential above the minimum rates, leading to increases of illicit trade as was experienced in the countries that adopted such an approach, such as France, the U.K., Netherlands, Greece or Ireland,” says van der Mark.
Taxation aside, the FCT sector is still struggling with another issue: In line with the EU Tobacco Products Directive’s track-and-trace requirements, EU-made tobacco products must now carry an EU code regardless of the regulations and labeling obligations in the destination market. “If the destination market has a different and noninteroperable traceability system, this heavily disrupts production, increases cost, creates distribution hassles and as a result significantly disadvantages EU companies,” says van der Mark.
“As of May 2024, the scope of the EU traceability regime will be extended to other (niche) tobacco products. Some of them, such as pipe tobacco products, are typically manufactured in Europe and exported all over the world. At the same time, the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and anti-illicit trade protocol require all parties to adopt a traceability regime but does nothing to ensure these systems are interoperable. Therefore, we do expect this issue to become more and more prominent,” says van der Mark.
In March 2023, the EU Commission published an implementation regulation amending the previous one for the functioning of the EU system. “This was obviously the opportunity to provide export products with more flexibility, but the commission refused to do so,” says van der Mark. “As you can imagine, this amended Implementing Act was developed by the commission without conducting a single evaluation before and without allowing for a discussion with the relevant stakeholders.
“Interestingly, whilst the commission always claimed that track and trace was about stopping illicit trade, the commissioner recently replied to a parliamentary question by stating that ‘the system does not provide any information on the illicit trade of these products.’ To us, this shows that the system was adopted and designed based on the assumption that the industry itself was organizing illicit trade—that policy choices were made with complete disregard for the impacts on smaller companies.”
The commission’s recent insistence that the system is not about illicit trade, says van der Mark, suggests it has realized its initial assumptions were wrong.
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

May 1, 2023
All in the Paper

Photo: RTI
Republic Technologies strengthens its lead in the world of RYO and MYO.
By Stefanie Rossel
While a niche compared to the global combustible cigarette market, the roll-your-own products category continues to grow steadily. Trouve360 Reports valued the global RYO products market at $8.72 billion in 2021 and projects it to reach $10.67 billion by 2028, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 2.9 percent. The Covid-19 pandemic has boosted the sector, according to Santiago Sanchez, executive president of Republic Technologies International (RTI), a leading supplier of smoking accessories probably best known for its JOB, Zig-Zag and OCB rolling paper brands. “Sales increased a lot in 2020–2021 due to the stocking situation and increasing demand,” he says. “Some retailers overstocked. Now we have a kind of stabilization, which started early this year for our company. Sales have stabilized at a higher level than before Covid.”
The RYO category also benefits from its unique position in the tobacco industry. “If you look at the U.K., for example, where vaping has become very popular, you will notice that the RYO market has not been shrinking because of people switching to vape products,” says Sanchez. “Whilst we have lost some customers to vaping, we have won new customers who have downtraded from highly taxed factory-made cigarettes.”
Due to continuing tax increases for cigarettes, Sanchez expects more smokers to switch to more affordable RYO and make-your-own products. Production planning, however, has become more difficult for his company: “Currently, the situation is very dynamic due to inflation and the energy crisis following the Russian war against Ukraine and due to stockpiling; you don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” says Sanchez.
RTI boasts the largest paper booklet factory in the world. It is located at the company’s headquarters in Perpignan in the south of France and has an output of 1.2 billion booklets annually.
The company is also present in Barcelona, Spain, where it moved to a new, larger site last year. Here, RTI manufactures filter tubes for Spain, Portugal, France and Italy. With its two tube maker machines, the factory has a capacity of 4 billion tubes a year. With five filter maker machines, the plant also supplies 15 billion filters as a base for the tubes as well as for sale as bagged filters.
With Austria-based Altesse, RTI has a third production facility in Europe that manufactures tubes and filters for Central Europe; Germany is the main market for tubes in Europe. Top Tubes in Montreal, Canada, supplies the North American market with filter tubes. A plant in North Carolina produces RYO and MYO products as well as pipe tobaccos for the United States, where the RTI operates under the name Republic Brands. Furthermore, five distribution companies in the U.S., Canada, France, the U.K. and Germany are affiliated with RTI.
Controlled Process
Santiago Sanchez
The company sells to 110 countries worldwide and is vertically integrated. Most of the paper it processes is produced by its sister company Papeteries du Leman, which is associated with the privately held Republic Technologies Group. “From cigarette paper to the final product, everything comes from one company,” Sanchez emphasizes. “We also have close ties with the people growing the plants for the raw materials of our products, for example the farmers in Champagne who grow hemp for our hemp papers.”
RTI has total control of the process, according to Sanchez. To help reduce greenhouse gases, the company tries to source its materials locally as much as possible. “Except for the Arabic gum that is imported from Africa and the bamboo that we source from China, all raw materials and machinery come from within 500 km of our Perpignan site,” says Sanchez.
Operating in a comparatively small segment of the tobacco industry, RTI does not have available as vast of an array of ready-made manufacturing equipment as the large cigarette companies do. Instead, the smoking accessories supplier has an R&D department with a team of engineers and technicians who design all machinery, which is then custom built. Maximized automation and flexibility are key requirements of the equipment as RTI produces many different paper specifications based not only on cellulose but also on textile fibers such as hemp, flax, bamboo and rice. Traceability is another consideration. Each bobbin is marked with a matrix code so that the paper can be traced back to the machine and even the canal on which it was manufactured. As one measure to protect its products from being counterfeited, RTI embosses its papers with watermarks.
Counterfeiting is a big issue in the RYO category, according to Sanchez, who observes this threat especially for RTI’s OCB brand, with fakes coming mostly from China. The company says it relentlessly pursues counterfeiters. In March this year, it won a significant legal victory in the U.S. when a jury found that a Georgia-based wholesaler had willfully sold and distributed counterfeit rolling paper products under Republic Brands’ TOP and JOB trademarks. Republic Brands and its affiliates were awarded $11 million in damages from the counterfeiting wholesaler and its owner.
R&D is Key
At its headquarters, RTI has a dedicated laboratory that checks the ingredients and raw materials of the company’s products for regulatory compliance. It also analyzes competitors’ products and fake versions of its own trademarks. The lab is equipped to measure all paper characteristics, such as opacity, tensile strength, porosity or thickness.
R&D is a must for RTI because of legislation, the move toward more environmentally friendly production and other factors, says Sanchez. “Regulation makes work highly complicated. Being delivered to 110 markets, our products have to comply with all the different regulations, health warnings and even plain packaging requirements, as is the case in Israel,” he says.
RTI’s lab also provides vaping machines and related testing equipment. The company diversified into the vape category in 2014 and has since been selling e-liquids under the E-CG brand. In October 2020, the company acquired French liquid manufacturer Innovative – So Good to expand the scope of its business. Today, RTI is one of the leaders in the French vape market, where its liquids are exclusively sold through tobacconists. All liquids are created at the Perpignan site.
One of the advantages of rolling papers is that they can be made with naturally occurring fibers and without calcium carbonate and citrate as combustion additives, as is the case with factory-made cigarettes.
In June 2019, the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive entered into force. Since then, all tobacco products with filters and filters marketed for use in combination with tobacco products in the common market must carry a label that states that the products contain plastic.
Presently, the RTI’s R&D team develops many products that are more environmentally friendly. RTI has launched a line of biodegradable filters that are made with paper. Touch and filter properties are virtually the same as those of cellulose acetate (CA) filters, explains Sanchez. “It’s the result of a two-year development,” he says. “Technically, it replicates CA. Tests have shown that smoking experience is the same, and from a physical point of view, pressure drop equals that in a CA filter. We are the only ones offering this kind of biodegradable filter for RYO. The paper is the key; it is made from cellulose and viscose. Only few paper manufacturers are capable of producing this.”
RTI also markets its biodegradable filters in some of its tube products. Environmentally friendly filters today account for 20 percent of the company’s turnover from filters.
New Base Materials
Regarding rolling papers, the company has a wide range of products in its portfolio. RTI claims to be the only company selling cigarette papers that contain real rice fibers. “Rice fibers are quite fragile; they tend to break too often on high-speed machines,” says Sanchez. “So many manufacturers stopped making it. We developed a rice paper in 2021 with a mixed blend consisting of 50 percent rice and 50 percent hemp and adopted our manufacturing process to handle the product.” Rice paper is one of the original cigarette paper types; it burns more evenly and reportedly gives more of a natural taste, so many consumers still want it. The rice that RTI processes in its paper comes from the French Camargue region.
In 2021, RTI also introduced Roor rolling papers with CBD-infused gum, which are distributed in markets where CBD is legal, such as the U.K. and Germany. “Due to Covid, the product has been launched only recently, but it’s doing particularly well in Germany. We also offer variants with rice, organic hemp and unbleached papers,” says Sanchez.
OCB Bamboo is another newcomer from RTI. “We have developed a full range of bamboo papers, which we are now planning to sell worldwide,” Sanchez says. “OCB Bamboo has been a big success in the U.S. Bamboo is good for the environment; it grows fast and needs no fertilizers. We are trying to find an alternative source to China, for instance, in the Philippines.”
Stefanie Rossel is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial contributor. An experienced trade journalist, she combines sharp reporting skills with in-depth knowledge of the tobacco and vapor industries. Prior to joining Tobacco Reporter, Stefanie was editor-in-chief at Tobacco Journal International, where she worked for a decade. Fluent in English, German and French, Stefanie covers tobacco news around the world. She is based in Germany.

August 1, 2022
Rebirth of an Icon

Photo: Rizla
The legendary Rizla brand gets a makeover.
By George Gay
Having been told that the Rizla brand of rolling papers was being given “a very significant refresh to ensure it remains relevant, particularly for younger adult smokers,” I couldn’t help wondering how it was possible to know when a brand needed such a refresh. The answer, it turns out, is fairly simple, at least in theory. Andrew (Drew) Marfleet, the head of marketing for Rizla, told me during a Teams meeting toward the end of June that, in large part, it was a matter of asking the brand’s consumers.
Rizla, he said, had been talking to consumers for more than a year, and the feedback had included the message that, while during the past few years, changes had overtaken societies, the way consumers viewed brands and the way many brand owners presented their products, Rizla’s image had remained largely unchanged.
The message was clear and the solution seemingly simple, but this was not quite the case. In refreshing the brand, a number of other factors had to be taken into consideration, not least of which concerned the fact that while consumers wanted change, they were at the same time greatly attached to Rizla’s “iconic and legendary” status. Now words such as iconic and legendary are often bandied about where they really have no place, but this is not the case with Rizla. The Rizla brand, which was acquired by Imperial Tobacco, now Imperial Brands, in 1997, dates to 1796 and the granting of a license by Napoleon Bonaparte to the Lacroix family for the supply of its premium rolling papers to his troops, while the Lacroix family’s involvement with paper can be traced back to at least 1532 and Pierre Lacroix.
So there was something of a conundrum to confront because here was a rock-solid brand but one that had been around for the sort of timespan over which even rocks wear down. In other words, there was a tightrope for the marketing people to walk in trying to stay true to a venerable brand dating back more than 200 years, while bringing its image up to date. As Marfleet told the people around him, “no pressure then.”
In fact, negotiating the tightrope required an even trickier balancing act than is implied here. In recent times, Rizla has seen an uptick in demand from those in the 21–30 age group, and it was focus groups largely made up of such people who expressed a desire for a refresh. But the brand’s core consumers are men aged 35 and above, so any refresh needed to be mindful not to alienate them. Unsurprisingly then, Marfleet made the point that this group of older consumers also had been kept close to the research, though, ultimately, he added, it had been about listening to all of the brand’s consumers and keeping them at the center of everything that had been done.
I guess this approach goes to the heart of marketing, which is defined briefly as being about identifying consumer needs and determining how best to meet them. But care has to be exercised here; otherwise, like me, you can make an altogether wrong assumption. This refresh is about marketing, so these “needs” have to do with the brand messaging, not the product itself.

Visual Positioning
So, if the product remains the same, what is involved in a brand refresh? Well, according to Marfleet, it is ultimately about the brand’s strapline. “It is the visual positioning of the brand and the way that the brand communicates itself,” he said. “So, for as long as we can remember, Rizla has had the strapline of Never Settle [as, for instance, in: Keep Discovering—Never Settle; and Keep Creating—Never Settle]. What we have moved to, again after listening to our consumers, is celebrating our heritage and our legacy in a modern way. And that has led to our new brand positioning, which is, Roll with the Legend—Since 1796.”
Beyond the strapline, Marfleet said, the refresh was more generally about brand communication, which, of course, raises another question. Isn’t the communication of tobacco and tobacco-related products and brands banned in many jurisdictions, which certainly include most of the markets where rolling-tobacco products and accessories are popular?
Rizla was definitely limited in how it could communicate its message, Marfleet admitted, but it would be making changes in those channels open to it. So, instore materials would be changing, as would the brand’s online digital presence. A more specific example of the changes being made concerns a shift away from the sponsorship of motor sports and toward music and culture in general. Rizla has supported culture in the past, but now it is shifting all of its brand partnership efforts toward music and culture, which resonates more with the brand’s current consumers. Such a shift can be seen also in Rizla’s launch of a digital partnership with the global media platform Dazed, which positions it in the area of supporting emerging artists.
Return on Investment
This is a global refresh that, at the time I spoke with Marfleet, had been rolled out in two key Rizla markets, Italy and Spain, and that was due to be introduced elsewhere in the coming months. It was designed by the Rizla marketing team in close cooperation with a creative agency during a year and a half of weekly workshops that decided, following the sifting of something like 10 iterations, on the new brand positioning.
The Covid-19 pandemic raised some challenges in respect of these workshops, but the overriding challenge, Marfleet said, had been ensuring that those working on the project got it right. In other words, the crux of the matter is: has it worked as a marketing project, and will it be successful as an investment? Well, apparently there has been excellent feedback after rigorous testing, and consumers in both the 21-plus and 35-plus age groups are said to love the refresh.
But rolling papers comprise a niche product, and tobacco smoking is under attack, so will the market hold up to such an extent that the investment will turn out to have been worth it? Marfleet clearly believes so. The RYO market, which was the subject of healthy competition, was quite stable at the moment as a result of downtrading, Marfleet said, and Rizla had definitely seen an uptick in those aged 21-plus picking up on RYO. “Given the stable market and our predictions, we definitely feel that the investment into the brand refresh is completely justified and will pay off,” he said.

Custom Manufacturing
Of course, while Rizla says its products are aimed at the world’s adult tobacco smokers, it is likely that it will benefit from changes in some jurisdictions where marijuana smoking is being legalized. But on the other side of the coin, market challenges could be thrown up by revisions to the EU’s Tobacco Products Directives (TPD) and regulatory changes made by the U.S. Food and Drink Administration. However, Marfleet said these issues were on Rizla’s horizon. “What I can say is that we are proactively planning for multiple scenarios, especially with the TPD, so that we will be ready to take action whatever the outcome of that may be,” he added.
Meanwhile, there was another, unofficial focus group that was regularly kept appraised of what was happening with the refresh: the approximately 200 people who work at the Rizla rolling papers factory in Belgium, which supplies the world with such papers. And, according to Factory Manager Kris Smedts, all of the people working at the factory, who make up a wide range of ages, loved the refresh.
The factory, which was built in 1958 and which, over the years, has been expanded and automated to provide for an annual manufacturing capacity of up to 100 billion paper leaves, spread over a staggering number of SKUs (stock-keeping units), is located on the south side of Antwerp, at Wilrijk. It uses lean manufacturing techniques and is managed by an MRP (manufacturing resources planning) system because, though paper booklets might appear to comprise a simple product, their interleaved presentation is difficult to achieve, especially at high speeds, and the addition of innovations such as cut corners (to ease rolling) and pack-closing mechanisms have, over the years, added to the complexity of manufacture and logistical handling.
Another layer of difficulty is added because, since rolling papers are a niche product, it is not possible to buy off the shelf the machinery for manufacturing and packing it, so it has to be developed by the factory’s own engineers working with specialized partners. And because rolling papers comprise an evolving product, the factory has a special product development team that works on the design of the new or modified machinery required to manufacture the innovative products needed to stay ahead of consumer demands.
Finally, despite the refresh, some things will not change, or not much. During my chat with Marfleet, I mentioned a fairly raunchy Rizla marketing campaign used a good while ago, and he agreed that the brand’s marketing archives included campaigns that had been “on the edge of cheeky,” though, over the years, the cheek had been toned down in line with new advertising regulations. Nevertheless, he said, we’ll never forget that Rizla should always be a fun and quirky brand.
George Gay is Tobacco Reporter’s European editor, but his territory spans the globe. Based in London, George has covered the tobacco industry since 1982, initially for a U.K.-based publication and since 2004 for Tobacco Reporter. George’s understanding of industry issues, combined with his keen sense of observation and dry wit, have earned him a loyal following among Tobacco Reporter’s readers.

August 1, 2021