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  • 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.

  • Turning Point’s Q4 Beats Estimates

    Turning Point’s Q4 Beats Estimates

    Turning Point Brands published fourth-quarter earnings with an investor presentation on its website yesterday that saw a decrease from last year but exceeded analysts’ expectations. It posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.98, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.70. Revenue came in at $93.7 million, below the $102.28 million analysts were expecting. Its $104.5 million adjusted EBITDA FY 2024 was a 12.0% increase from 2023.

    For the fourth quarter, Turning Point saw net sales increase 12.8% YoY to $93.7 million, with an adjusted EBITDA of $26.2 million, up 5.3% over prior year. The Zig-Zag segment grew 1.8% while Stoker’s products jumped 25.8%. Turning Point Brands ended the quarter with $46.2 million in cash and $57.4 million available on its revolving credit facility.

    “We were pleased with our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results and the momentum we are seeing across the organization,” said Graham Purdy, President and CEO.

    Looking ahead, the company projects full-year 2025 adjusted EBITDA of $108 million to $113 million. It also expects combined Modern Oral sales of $60 million to $80 million.

    The company’s shares were up 5.60% in premarket trading today following the release.

  • Bloom Vape Available in Missouri

    Bloom Vape Available in Missouri

    Bloom and BRB Missouri today (March 6) announced a partnership to bring Bloom’s vape lines to the Missouri recreational market. The products are already available for cannabis consumers across Missouri, the ninth state where Bloom is available.

    BRB Missouri is a manufacturing partner for BellRock Brands. Bloom will mark the third brand and only vape-focused brand in BRB Missouri’s portfolio. BellRock Brands’ products are currently sold and marketed in 11 states and Canada.

    “The potential in Missouri and the Midwest overall is exciting to Bloom,” said Casey Ly, CEO and co-founder of Bloom. “As we continue to focus on expansion, it is imperative we’re working with partners like BellRock who focus on best-in-class execution and a customer first approach.”

    Bloom will launch six strains across two collections under their flagship product, The One Gram Surf.

    “Always on the vanguard of innovation and design, Bloom is a leader and trusted brand within the cannabis market,” said Sat Joshi, board member of BRB Missouri. “As the Missouri market continues to grow, customers are demanding more sophisticated options that fit their lifestyle and needs. Bloom’s strong brand positioning and rigorous operating standards make it the perfect addition to our portfolio here in Missouri.”

  • Juul Cleared in Patent Dispute with Altria

    Juul Cleared in Patent Dispute with Altria

    The U.S. International Trade Commission affirmed a judge’s decision exculpating Juul in an infringement case brought by Altria-owned NJOY over several vaping patents. In January, Administrative Law Judge Doris Johnson Hines found that Juul did not violate Section 337 of the Tariff Act by importing vaping products, which Altria claimed was an infringement on two patents covering vaping technologies.

    In a three-page decision, the ITC reviewed the noninfringement finding to revise a citation in the judge’s initial determination that concluded NJOY “did not satisfy the economic prong of the domestic industry requirement, which requires the complainant to show that it has made significant investment in products protected by the patent,” Theresa Schliep wrote for Law 360.

    Concerning the economic prong, the ITC took “no position on these findings,” the decision said, and the ITC declined to review the remainder of the decision, including the judge’s conclusion that Juul did not violate Section 337.

    The Juul products the ITC investigated were “electronic nicotine delivery systems” and the cartridges or pods that go with them, as well as the pieces that make up the pods, such as “atomizers, subassemblies, devices subassemblies, [and] chargers,” according to court filings.

  • Tobacco Workers Strike in Western Turkiye 

    Tobacco Workers Strike in Western Turkiye 

    Failed contract talks have left hundreds of workers at three tobacco factories in Turkiye’s western İzmir province on strike, demanding higher wages and better benefits. Union leaders accused employers of offering unrealistic proposals and favoring subcontractors.

    At the beginning of this week, 600 workers at Sunel Tobacco, 800 workers at Oriental Tobacco, and 300 workers from T.T.L. Tobacco, all organized under the Tekgıda-İş Union, halted production.

    Tekgıda-İş İzmir No. 7 Branch President Ömer Atabey said there were separate negotiations, but the three factories acted together. “They keep telling us, ‘If the collective agreement is settled at one, it will be settled at all.’ We responded, ‘If you employers have united, then we workers at the three factories have united too.’ We put this decision into action for the benefit of our members, and we will continue our struggle until we receive the wages and social rights we demand,” he said.

    “They are trying to stall us by offering only a 2% or 4% welfare increase above inflation,” Atabey said. “The three employers are acting together and trying to impose terms on us. We responded to this with worker solidarity. We decided to strike at the start of the second sixty-day period, without waiting for the end. That’s because there is a huge gap between our demands and their offers. They are not objective, they are not realistic.”

    Atabey also said employers paid subcontractors up to 2,000 liras ($55). “But they are unwilling to offer similar wages to their own workers. This was one of the biggest breaking points for the workers. The employers are not objective or realistic,” he said.

  • BBK Tobacco Settles “Juicy” Trademark Case

    BBK Tobacco Settles “Juicy” Trademark Case

    BBK Tobacco & Foods LLP and Olympic Reef LLC filed a notice with an Arizona federal Monday announcing they had settled a lawsuit over the “Juicy” products trademark. BBK registered “Juicy” as a trademark in 2006 — and amended the registration in 2020 — for its products, including rolling papers and pipes. According to the complaint, Olympic Reef likely caused confusion in the market when it started using the word “Juicy” in combination with other words to describe some of its products, including prerolled cannabis cigarettes called “Juicy Joints,” “Super Juicy’s,” and “CBD Juicy Joints.”

    U.S. District Judge David G. Campbell signed an order that day vacating a case management conference that had been set for Wednesday and ordering that the case would be dismissed with prejudice 30 days from the order. Details of the settlement were not publicly available.

    BBK simultaneously found itself in a similar dispute in the same Arizona court with Central Coast Agriculture over the term “Raw.” This week U.S. District Judge Michael T. Liburdi issued a mixed ruling on dueling summary judgment bids in the trademark lawsuit between the tobacco and cannabis companies.

  • Oregon Bill Looks to Ban Flavored Products

    Oregon Bill Looks to Ban Flavored Products

    A bill to ban flavored nicotine products in Oregon got a first hearing Tuesday, with wording broad enough, according to Sen. Lisa Reynolds, to include any flavored product that contains tobacco or nicotine and “things we haven’t thought of yet.” If passed, Senate Bill 702 would ban the sale or distribution of any “flavored inhalant delivery system products or flavored tobacco products” in the state.

    “The bill would also ban promotional giveaways and other free distribution of all tobacco products, whether flavored or not, and it would require all cigarettes, vapes, and smokeless tobacco products to be sold only at licensed retailers,” Anthony Macuk wrote for KGW8.

    Dozens of people testified about the bill at the hearing before the Senate Committee on Early Childhood and Behavioral Health. Students, parent advocates, and lawmakers mainly focused on the health risks of tobacco and the appeal of flavored vapes to teens and young people. However, several tobacco shop owners testified that it’s already illegal for people under 21 to purchase vaping and tobacco products, and said an across-the-board ban on flavored products would heavily damage their businesses and create an expanded and empowered black market for flavored products. Others, including Sen. David Brock Smith, argued that vapes and smokeless tobacco products are less harmful to users’ health than traditional cigarettes and that banning the alternatives would push some users back towards the more damaging products.

  • Pakistani Tobacco Growers Told to Avoid Surplus

    Pakistani Tobacco Growers Told to Avoid Surplus

    As purchasing companies in Pakistan have slashed their quotas for the year, officials from those companies are advising farmers against growing surplus tobacco. Those officials said that the growers had again reverted to growing tobacco after they were unable to cover the costs incurred on wheat production as official wheat rates were slashed drastically.

    Pakistan Tobacco Company, Philip Morris International, and a few national tobacco-purchasing companies were executing agreements with the growers, however, sources said small cigarette manufacturers avoid those agreements and wait to exploit the growers with leftover tobacco.

  • Sri Lanka Destroys $4 M in Illicit Cigarettes  

    Sri Lanka Destroys $4 M in Illicit Cigarettes  

    Sri Lankan customs officials destroyed $4 million worth of illegally imported foreign cigarettes this week in Colombo. The cigarettes were confiscated in 2018, 2022, and 2024. According to customs spokesman Seevali Arukgoda, the authorities seized 8.7 million cigarettes during those three years.

    Arukgoda said the agency plans to invest in modern equipment powered by artificial intelligence to improve container scanning and enhance contraband detection.