Blog - Tobacco Reporter

U.S. States Report Zyn Shortages

Zyn nicotine pouches are out of stock at multiple retailers that ship across the U.S., and some wholesalers are also reporting difficulty getting the product.

Some smoke shops in New York said they are out of the pouches, and wholesalers in New Jersey and Florida said they’ve been hard to get, Bloomberg reported.

The scarcity comes after Philip Morris International reported that U.S. volumes of the nicotine pouches jumped 80 percent in the first quarter.

There’s also a lawsuit about the products’ nicotine content and growing criticism of marketing practices, raising concern that there could be a regulatory crackdown on the popular cigarette alternative.

Zyn is an important source of growth for Philip Morris International as cigarette smoking declines and the vape industry is increasingly dominated by unauthorized products made in China.

In an earnings call last month, Chief Financial Officer Emmanuel Babeau acknowledged Zyn’s growth was straining the supply chain.

In February, PMI reported that it had shipped nearly 385 million cans of the flavored nicotine pouches in the U.S. in 2023, up 62 percent year-over-year.

The firm expects to do even better business in 2024, forecasting U.S. shipments of around 520 million cans this year, its February earnings report said.

May 23, 2024

Northern Ireland to Adopt Generational Ban

Northern Ireland will participate in the U.K. generational tobacco ban.

The U.K. Tobacco and Vapes Bill aims to phase out the sale of cigarettes. It would make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, after they turn 18.

It would also provide powers to address vaping among young people. The bill is part of the U.K. government’s plan for a “smoke-free generation,” according to the BBC.

The Northern Ireland Assembly endorsed a legislative consent motion on May 21 to allow the bill to apply to Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann said the bill aims to “stop people from ever starting to smoke, thus preventing a lifetime of addiction.” He dismissed arguments that the legislation is “nanny statism” and would deny people “freedom of choice.”

On vapes, he said the bill includes regulation-making powers to allow for future restrictions on vape flavors, packaging and point-of-sale displays. The bill is progressing through Parliament despite opposition from several leading Tory figures.

May 22, 2024

PMI Acquires Minority Stake in Eastern Co.

Philip Morris International has acquired 14.7 percent of Eastern Co., reports Egypt Today.

PMI and Eastern reportedly seek to explore potential strategic areas for collaboration in technology, manufacturing and innovation.

“We look forward to exploring potential areas of cooperation with Eastern, including opportunities to provide adult smokers in Egypt with better options than cigarettes,” said Fred de Wilde, PMI president for South and Southeast Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Middle East and Africa, in a statement.

In November, Global Investment Holdings, an investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates, paid EGP16.4 billion ($531.6 million) for 669 million shares in Eastern Co.

Eastern Co.’s primary shareholders include the state-owned Holding Company for Chemical Industries (20.9 percent), the Allan Gray Equity Fund (7.2 percent) and the shareholders union of the Eastern Co. (6 percent), with the remaining 36 percent of shares trading freely on the stock exchange.

Egypt has been selling stakes in 35 state-owned companies through offering shares to strategic investors.

Eastern Co. is Egypt’s largest cigarette manufacturer, with a portfolio that also includes cigars and pipe tobacco, among other products.

May 22, 2024

Food for Thought

(Photos: Stuart Mitchell)

“You couldn’t make it up.” That was how Simon Clark, the director of the Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco (Forest), summed up the way in which the U.K. government had, in October last year, renegued on earlier assurances and announced a generational ban on tobacco sales.

Clark was speaking as co-host of a Beat the Ban lunch held at the Boisdale Restaurant in London on May 21. The proposed ban, currently being pushed through parliament, would make it illegal in the U.K. to sell tobacco products to anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009.

Clark pointed out that this would mean a person of a certain age would be able to buy tobacco while another person, one year, or, in some cases, just one day younger, would not be able to do so legally. Eventually, a person 70 years of age would not be able to buy tobacco legally.

Forest is opposed to the proposed ban for several reasons, but mainly because it believes the ban would infantilize young adults and increasingly older adults, driving some of them towards the black market and criminal gangs, while doing nothing to stop sales of tobacco products to children, which are already illegal.

What was extraordinary, Clark said, was that while, in April 2023, the government had made it clear it did not intend to raise the minimum age for the sale of tobacco, in October, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, announced plans for the generational ban.

“In our view, the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is a desperate attempt by a desperate prime minister to leave a legacy—any legacy—however unconservative, before the next general election [due to be held this year or, at the latest, January 2025],” said Clark.

Clark was scathing, too, about the way the bill is being “steamrollered” through parliament. Following a short public consultation before Christmas, the government had announced it would not consider any submissions from groups with links to the tobacco industry, which, for instance, included Forest and even retailers. “To the best of my knowledge, that has never happened before,” he added.

After its second reading, the bill entered its committee stage, when 17 MPs were appointed to the Committee, 16 of whom had voted for the bill and the other of whom was known to support it. And when it came to inviting people to give oral evidence to the Committee, witnesses were almost exclusively supporters of the bill.

“Not only has the process been absolutely scandalous, the bill as it stands is illiberal, unenforceable, and has significant unintended consequences,” said Clark. “It will drive the legitimate sale of cigarettes and tobacco underground,” he added, before calling on those so minded to write to their MPs in protest,

Clark’s co-host, Ranald Macdonald, the founder and MD of the Boisdale restaurants, was unable to attend the lunch but sent a message of support along with a special pleading for the smokers of fine cigars.

And the 60 lunch guests, who included MPs, parliamentary researchers, think tank staff, retailers, tobacco industry representatives and journalists, heard from a string of speakers representing or simply speaking up for retailers, young adults and a variety of tobacco products, including pipe tobacco and snuff that will also be covered by the bill should it go through. —George Gay

Editors’s note:

Hours after this story had been submitted, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that a general election would be held on July 4, meaning that parliament was due to be dissolved on May 30 and leaving too little time for the tobacco and vapes bill to complete its passage through parliament. This is unlikely to be the end of the matter, however, because the policy underpinning the bill had cross-party support and could well arise like the phoenix in the future.

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.

May 22, 2024

Prices Slow Tobacco Consumption: Study

Cigarette sales in Pakistan dropped 18 percent following a price hike, reports The Nation citing a recent survey from Islamabad’s Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD).

Pakistan’s total consumption, which includes taxed, smuggled and untaxed products, ranges from 72 billion sticks to 80 billion sticks annually.

“Pakistan has a long way to go in tobacco taxation,” said Maryam Gul Tahir, director of the CRD, noting that Pakistan has some of the world’s cheapest cigarettes. “Public health must be prioritized over industry interests.”

The World Bank recommends a uniform tax structure for all tobacco products to reduce consumption further and increase government revenue.

May 22, 2024

Digital Tobacco Platform Launched

ModernLeaf AI has launched a digital platform offering artificial intelligence solutions to increase productivity for Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers and exporters across the value chain, reports the Zimbabwe Independent.

“Looking beyond Zimbabwe envisions opportunities to expand the platform’s usage across Africa, signaling the need for investment in this ambitious endeavor,” said Takudzwa Sambo, founder of ModernLeaf AI. “ModernLeaf AI is poised to play a pivotal role in advancing the tobacco industry on the continent.”

“With cutting-edge AI technology, ModernLeaf AI empowers you with precision crop monitoring, advanced predictive analysis, early disease detection, premium quality control updates, strategic market insights, cost-efficient solutions, export strategy and compliance in international markets, [and] tobacco business intelligence in over 120 countries,” said Sambo.

Sambo emphasized that leveraging AI to propel Zimbabwe’s tobacco sector onward is a necessity. “I am grateful to the government for its vision outlined in Vision 2030, emphasizing the importance of youth involvement in realizing the strategic goals set forth in the National Development Strategy 1.”

May 22, 2024

Activists Urged to Cite Human Rights

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and Unfairtobacco released a joint report detailing how they believe the industry harms children. Titled Protecting Children From the Tobacco Industry, the report also explains how advocates can use global human rights standards and tools against the tobacco industry.

“Our children deserve to grow up in a world free from the damage, disease and death caused by the tobacco industry,” said Laurent Huber, executive director of ASH, in a statement.

“Every day, tobacco companies are violating children’s right to health, right to a healthy environment and right to be free from racial discrimination. Governments have a duty to protect those basic human rights, and we will stand together with our partners to ensure all children’s rights are upheld.”

According to the report’s authors, human rights mechanisms, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, can help protect children and youth from the tobacco industry.

“Human rights mechanisms are a tool to protect children from the harms of the tobacco industry, including health and environmental damages. Public health advocates can and should use these mechanisms to fight for a healthier world for our children,” said ASH Managing Attorney Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy.

May 22, 2024

Court Refuses to Hear Health Label Challenge

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has refused to hear the tobacco industry’s challenge to graphic health warnings required by a 2020 Food and Drug Administration rule.

In March, a three-judge panel of the same court ruled that the federal requirement for cigarette packs and advertising, which includes graphic images of the effects of smoking, including images of smoke-damaged lungs and blackened feet, does not violate the First Amendment of the Constitution, reports AP News.

The March ruling affirmed that the FDA’s graphic cigarette warnings are both scientifically and legally sound. Proponents say these graphic warnings are critically needed as the current text-only warnings have become stale and unnoticed since they were last updated in 1984.

The three-judge panel ruling overturned a lower court order from a Texas federal district court, which ruled that the requirements violate the First Amendment.

Congress first mandated the graphic health warnings as part of the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which required graphic warnings covering the top half of the front and back of cigarette packs and 20 percent of cigarette advertisements.

Anti-smoking activists welcomed the appeals court’s refusal to hear the industry’s challenge.

“Because of the tobacco industry’s repeated legal challenges, the U.S. currently ranks last in the world in the size of its cigarette warnings and has fallen behind the rest of the world in implementing graphic warnings, which are now required by 138 countries and territories,” said Yolonda C. Richardson, president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a statement.

“It is time for the U.S. to catch up with the rest of the world in implementing this best-practice policy to reduce tobacco use and save lives.”

May 22, 2024

Innokin Recalls Kroma Nova

Innokin is recalling its Kroma Nova products due to a defective charging component

“To ensure the safety of our customers and maintain the high standards of our products, we have decided to initiate a precautionary recall of the Innokin Kroma Nova,” the company wrote on its website.

“We encourage all Innokin customers to contact us whenever issues arise, so our team can implement resolutions in a timely manner.”

Kroma Nova users should contact Innokin at support@innokin.com for further instructions on the recall process. Business-to-business clients should contact their sales representatives.

May 22, 2024

‘Generational Ban Not Enough to Level Up U.K.’

Although Britain’s generational tobacco ban will eventually increase “healthy life expectancy” (HLE) by 2.5 years, it will not be enough to let the government meet the targets of its “leveling up” agenda, according to new research.

Local government secretary Michael Gove’s 2022 leveling up white paper pledged to narrow the difference in HLE between England’s most prosperous and most deprived local authorities by 2030 and to boost overall HLE by five years by 2035.

HLE measures the number of years lived in at least reasonable health. In the U.K., it has risen more slowly than life expectancy in recent decades, meaning people are typically spending more years in poor health, with obvious implications for healthcare and social care budgets.

The researchers, drawn from Bayes Business School, Heriot-Watt University and LCP, analyzed the likelihood of the 2035 target being met. They published their paper, “The Great Health Challenge: Levelling Up the UK,” in The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice.

“It is clear that drastic smoking cessation intervention is necessary to increase healthy life expectancy across the population and to narrow pernicious health inequalities,” said lead author Les Mayhew, professor of statistics at Bayes Business School, in a statement. “The rolling ban proposed in the government’s current legislation is a good first step, but further research could strengthen the case for an outright ban.”

The analysis confirmed that people who have never smoked typically enjoy an additional six years of HLE. Earlier research has shown that smoking kills around 78,000 people in England each year and leads to around 500,000 hospital admissions.

Recent research by the International Longevity Centre concluded that smoking cuts U.K. economic output by £19.1 billion ($24.29 billion) due to shorter working lives. Welfare and healthcare costs would boost that figure significantly.

“Our paper confirms that a smoking ban on those born in 2009 or later is one of the best ways to improve the health of people living in more deprived areas of the U.K.,” said Andrew Cairns, professor of actuarial mathematics at Heriot-Watt University. “The findings vividly illustrate the transformative impact of this measure on the health landscape.”

May 21, 2024