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  • 3D Bio Traps Tobacco Pests Like a Spider

    3D Bio Traps Tobacco Pests Like a Spider

    3D BioSciences announced that it has been recognized as a “World’s Greatest Company” and will be featured on the Bloomberg Financial Channel’s show on March 8 and 15. The interest comes as the company’s “revolutionary approach to pest management” gains more attention. Its 3DIPNS technology physically immobilizes insects without harming the crop, people, animals, or the environment.

    “The 3DIPNS technology in our products forms an artificial spider web over the body of the insect, trapping it,” CEO Frank Jusich said. “There is nothing else like it available for pest control.”

    Approved for use on tobacco, the product is used widely in South America under the brand name Siltac and the company says growers have reported good efficacy with no phytotoxicity issue. Since 2022, the company has been selling the technology under the Stik-Kote and Pest-Kote brands in the United States. Jusich said most of the clients have used the products in greenhouses, nurseries, and specialty agriculture like berries and tree fruits, however, the company has recently “began focusing on other crops like tobacco and thus far those farmers who have tried it have used it again.”

    World’s Greatest TV show has been airing for 19 years, featuring behind-the-scenes looks at companies such as Coca-Cola, Crest, P&G, NASCAR, and more.

  • Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Market Opens

    Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Market Opens

    Zimbabwe’s 2025 tobacco marketing season opened this week (March 5) with stakeholders upbeat about increased output due to favorable weather, contrasting to last year’s El Nino-induced drought.

    “We are expecting a bigger crop, much bigger than last year, over 280 million kg, and I think it will sell well,” said Patrick Devenish, chairman of the industry regulator Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.

    Last year, Zimbabwe produced more than 240 million kg worth $1.4 billion in export earnings. China is the largest importer of Zimbabwe’s tobacco and is expected to have high demand for its top-quality leaf this year. 

  • Hong Kong Officials Seize $3.8M in Illicit Products

    Hong Kong Officials Seize $3.8M in Illicit Products

    Today (March 7), Hong Kong customs officers seized more than 6 million illicit cigarettes and heated tobacco products worth more than HK$29 million ($3.8 million) in two separate operations.

    In one operation, two men were arrested with 6 million cigarettes that are relatively unpopular in the area, stored in a truck and warehouse.

    “It is believed that the products would later be exported to other countries,” said Chan Sing-lung, a senior investigator of Customs’ Revenue Crimes Investigation Bureau. “But we do not rule out the possibility that some might get into the local illicit cigarette market for sale.”

    Earlier in the morning, a mainland man was arrested with 90,000 illegal cigarettes and 110,000 illicit heated tobacco products. Another 140,000 duty-not-paid cigarettes from Japan and alternative smoking products were found in his hotel room, together with a large number of empty bags for Japanese duty-free goods.

    Officials said the contraband was part of a larger smuggling operation from Japan.

    “Our investigation shows the group took advantage of air passengers to bring illicit tobacco products into the city, store them in hotel rooms and then distribute them to customers,” said Wong Wing-yuen, a senior investigator of the Customs and Excise Department.

    In the past half month, 13 men and eight women were arrested, mostly mainland tourists traveling from Japan. They were involved in 20 cases of 600,000 untaxed cigarettes and 240,000 alternative tobacco products, with a total market value of HK$4 million ($520,000).

  • Scandinavian Sales Up, Profits Down

    Scandinavian Sales Up, Profits Down

    Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) released its 2024 annual report today, reporting a sales gain of 5.4%, while net profits were down by more than 20%. One of the biggest cigar companies in the world, it saw a 6% sales increase for the year to 9.2 billion Danish kroner ($1.3 billion), compared to 8.7 billion kroner in 2023. Net income, however, dropped for the second straight year to 940 million kroner ($136 million) from 1.2 billion kroner in 2023.

    Last year “was another challenging year with a volatile business environment,” wrote chief executive officer Niels Frederiksen and chairman Henrik Brandt. “The global market for handmade cigars remains dominated by U.S. consumption.” 

    Handmade cigars accounted for 36% of STG’s 2024 revenues, while machine-made cigars and smoking tobacco were 48%.

  • Texas: Expanded Medical Marijuana Bill Opens Door for Vape

    Texas: Expanded Medical Marijuana Bill Opens Door for Vape

    Medical cannabis grower Texas Original today announced its support of Texas Senate Bill 1505 which would improve patient access to medical cannabis. In particular, it would allow the use of aerosol and vapor as a means of administering low-level THC cannabis when medically necessary, saying “these medical products offer immediate relief, which is critical for patients with episodic conditions such as PTSD.”

    The bill, which was heard by the Senate Committee on State Affairs on March 3, proposes amendments to the Texas Compassionate Use Program (CUP).

    “Senate Bill 1505 proposes crucial improvements to the Compassionate Use Program that will benefit patients throughout the state,” said Nico Richardson, CEO of Texas Original. “We are grateful to Senator Charles Perry for his meaningful amendments. These changes will make the program more accessible and bring relief to the patients who rely on it for their medical care.”

    The new bill would also allow for satellite locations where medicine can be stored, improving patient access and reducing medicine costs, and aligning dosing with other prescription medications by capping THC by milligrams instead of by weight.

  • Taiwan Close to Deciding on Heated Tobacco Products 

    Taiwan Close to Deciding on Heated Tobacco Products 

    Two years in the making, Taiwan’s Health Promotion Agency (HPA) Director-General Wu Chao-chun said on Friday, that decisions to approve heated tobacco products could begin coming out as soon as next month.

    Eleven tobacco manufacturers submitted applications to the HPA and six completed the documentation assessment phase of the approval evaluation process. Those companies moved into the product testing phase of the evaluation, which takes six months.

    In March 2023, the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act was amended to allow a path to legalization on a case-by-case basis. Manufacturers that gain approval would be authorized to commercialize their products with the appropriate labeling and health warnings. Those that do not are forced to resubmit and begin the process again or move to litigation.

    Wu said announcements of the results would be staggered as the documentation came in at different times and often had to be redone.

  • PMI Retains European Vape Patent

    PMI Retains European Vape Patent

    European patent officials tossed a challenge from a British American Tobacco subsidiary allowing Philip Morris to retain its patent for a type of power supply for electronic vapes.

    The patent from PMI primarily describes a power supply system for an e-vaping device, including a sensor and a sensor holder designed to regulate airflow and house a power source. Nicoventures claimed the patent was not new because it used similar features in three older patents for its “Vuse Solo.” The BAT side argued that there were several features in the older patents that effectively served as sensor holders similar to the PMI design.

    In a Feb. 20 decision that was published yesterday (March 5), the appellate board at the European Patent Office upheld an earlier decision dismissing Nicoventures’ opposition because Philip Morris’ power supply design contains a unique structure.

    “The board concurs with the respondent’s arguments [that] the structure of the e-vaping device in [the older inventions] and the patent are not identical,” the Technical Board of Appeal said.

    PMI further argued that Nicoventures failed to prove that Vuse Solo “was available to the public before it filed its own patent application, therefore Nicoventures cannot argue that its design is not new,” Law360 wrote.

  • Israel Mandates Graphic Images on Tobacco and Vape Products

    Israel Mandates Graphic Images on Tobacco and Vape Products

    Israel’s Health Ministry announced today (March 6) that it mandated graphic warning images be printed on cigarette packs in an effort to deter smokers. Materials will include images that depict decayed organs, people on ventilators, and children surrounded by cigarette smoke. The graphic photos will be in addition to the existing written warnings.

    “This is another significant step in reducing the attractiveness of tobacco products and preventing youth addiction to tobacco and nicotine,” said Health Minister Uriel Busso.

    The regulations will apply to various tobacco products, including cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, hookahs, and chewing (snuff) tobacco. Israel will be one of the first countries globally to require a combined health warning on e-cigarettes and their components.

  • Study: Vaping Does Not Help Smokers Quit

    Study: Vaping Does Not Help Smokers Quit

    E-cigarettes do not increase smoking cessation and are associated with reduced tobacco abstinence, says researchers at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and Moores Cancer Center at the University of California San Diego. The study, among smokers in the U.S. and published March 5 in JAMA, “refutes the common misperception among tobacco users and e-cigarette proponents” that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking.

    “Most smokers think vaping will help you quit smoking,” John P. Pierce, Ph.D., a distinguished professor at the school and study’s co-author said. “However, this belief is not supported by science to date. While some researchers have suggested that smokers who switch to daily vaping will be more successful in quitting smoking, we studied quitting success among both daily and non-daily vapers and came up with a quite definitive answer.”

    The study analyzed data from 6,000 U.S. smokers from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study. There were 943 smokers who also vaped and by matching and comparing these to similar smokers who didn’t vape, they found smoking cessation was 4.1% lower among smokers who vaped daily and 5.3% lower among smokers who vaped occasionally.

    Researchers said that while e-cigarettes don’t have the same health consequences as smoking, they are not harmless.

    “The adverse health effects of cigarette smoking become obvious after people have smoked for 20 years,” said Pierce. “While vapes generally don’t contain the same harmful chemicals as cigarette smoke, they have other risks, and we just don’t yet know what the health consequences of vaping over 20 to 30 years will be.”

    This study was supported by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program of the University of California Office of the President.

  • PMI Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.35 Per Share

    PMI Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.35 Per Share

    The Board of Directors of Philip Morris International Inc. today (March 6) declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.35 per common share, payable on April 10, 2025, to shareholders of record as of March 20, 2025. The ex-dividend date is March 20, 2025. For more details on stock, dividends and other information, see www.pmi.com/dividend.