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  • Pakistan Expects Tax Hike to Boost Revenue

    Pakistan Expects Tax Hike to Boost Revenue

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Pakistan’s government expects to collect PKR60 billion ($211.42 million) in additional revenue after increasing the federal excise duty on tobacco products, reports the Pakistan Observer.

    The government dismissed concerns about black market sales.

    The multinational tobacco industry has incorrectly claimed that illicit cigarettes make up 40 percent of the market, according to the government, which cited independent studies showing that illicit products only account for 18 percent of the market.

    According to the Pakistan Observer, the industry is overstating the volume of illegal sales to put pressure on the government following the tax increase.

    The implementation of a track-and-trace system has helped decrease illicit products, according to Malik Imran, country head of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “Tentatively, we can say the volume is now negligible,” he said. 

  • Zimbabwe Tobacco Sales Bring in Millions 

    Zimbabwe Tobacco Sales Bring in Millions 

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s tobacco revenue has reached $258 million, 19 percent more than in the comparable 2022 period, reports NewsDay.  

    “Income/revenue to farmers increased by 19 percent from $216 million to $258 million this year owing to the tobacco value chain transformation strategy, which is currently in motion, and this is likely to increase the country’s chances of achieving the objectives of V30,” said John Basera, permanent secretary of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, referring to the government’s strategy to reduce poverty. “Tobacco output grew marginally by 1 percent from 211,100,219 kg produced during the 2020/2021 production season to 212,711,370 kg in the 2021/2022 season.” 

    Tobacco production is expected to increase by 9 percent from 212,703 tons. 

    Total deliveries were up by 18 percent to 86.14 million kg compared to 72.21 million kg in the same period last year while the average price firmed by 1 percent from $2.97 per kilogram in 2022 to $3 per kilogram in the same period this year. 

  • Ban on Nonprescription Vape Imports

    Ban on Nonprescription Vape Imports

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    The Australian government announced that it will ban the importation of all nonprescription vaping products—including those that do not contain nicotine. The new legislation is billed as containing the most significant tobacco and vaping control measures in the country in a decade.

    The announcement today clarifies last week’s announcement of a crackdown on illegal vaping. This time, the government said it would now include a total ban on nonprescription vaping products.

    To tackle youth vaping, minimum quality standards for vapes will be introduced, including restricting flavors, colors and other ingredients. Vape products will require pharmaceutical-like packaging, and the allowed nicotine concentrations and volumes will be reduced.

    All single-use, disposable vapes will be banned, according to The Guardian.

    Speaking on ABC’s Q&A on Monday night, Australia’s health minister, Mark Butler, said that the tobacco industry was trying to create a “new generation of nicotine addicts” through vaping and that he was “determined to stamp out this public health menace.”

    The move follows an inquiry into vaping reforms led by the drugs regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, with submissions from health professional bodies, public health associations, individual health professionals and university researchers that overwhelmingly support tightening border controls.

    Many public health experts and bodies suggested to the inquiry that border controls should also be placed on non-nicotine vaping products to prevent mislabeling and exploitation of import loopholes. It follows manufacturers falsely labeling products containing nicotine as “nicotine-free” to get around import restrictions, leaving children easily able to buy vapes, often unknowingly inhaling nicotine and becoming addicted.

    The government will also work with states and territories to end vape sales in convenience stores and other retailers. Prescriptions for nicotine vaping products for smokers trying to quit tobacco will be made easier to obtain, with stronger standards around the vaping products that can be bought in pharmacies so people can be assured of the content of the products.

    Butler said he will expand on the reforms in a speech to the National Press Club on Tuesday, where he is expected to say vaping has become “the biggest loophole in Australian history” and announce that the following Tuesday’s federal budget will include AUD234 million ($156.22 million) in funding for tobacco and vaping reforms, the biggest since plain packaging of tobacco products was introduced.

  • 22nd Century Signs Deal with Old Pal

    22nd Century Signs Deal with Old Pal

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    22nd Century announced its second exclusive license, manufacturing and distribution agreement in the hemp/cannabis industry, signed with Old Pal, a consumer company started in California and now operating in eight U.S. states.

    “Old Pal is the second leading consumer hemp/cannabis brand to adopt 22nd Century’s innovative strategic license, manufacturing and distribution agreement. This model enables brands to focus on product development, customer engagement and marketing while we provide expansive access to mass market channels urgently seeking new, high-margin, high-velocity products to meet growing consumer demand,” said James A. Mish, CEO of 22nd Century.

    Initially launched in California in 2018, Old Pal gained recognition for its nostalgic branding. In addition, Old Pal’s continuously growing line of apparel, accessories and home goods has firmly established it as a prominent cultural figure in the world of cannabis, according to 22nd Century.

    The exclusive license with 22nd Century covers Old Pal branded non-delta-9 THC, hemp-derived cannabinoid consumer products and accessories. Similar to 22nd Century’s first single-source integrated production, sales and distribution agreement in hemp/cannabis, signed with Cookies, the Old Pal agreement will leverage 22nd Century’s formulation, ingredient and manufacturing infrastructure plus the company’s turn-key sales and distribution platform for alternative consumer products in a complete go-to-market solution.

    Combined, the company estimates that its agreements with Cookies and Old Pal represent more than $140 million in revenue opportunity with attractive margins over the terms of the contracts. 22nd Century is now advancing its initial mass market retail efforts for these products across the United States, leveraging a network of more than 200 wholesale distributors. The company continues to pursue additional exclusive license opportunities with industry brands interested in its innovative integrated solution.

  • JT Reports ‘Solid’ First-Quarter Results

    JT Reports ‘Solid’ First-Quarter Results

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Japan Tobacco (JT) reported revenue of ¥665.3 billion ($4.86 billion) in the first quarter of 2023, up 14.4 percent over the comparable 2022 quarter.

    Core revenue at constant currency exchange rates increased by 6.2 percent to ¥594.6 billion. Adjusted operating profit at constant exchange rates increased by 5.1 percent to ¥204.7 billion. On a reported basis, adjusted operating profit increased by 14.6 percent to ¥223.4 billion. Operating profit increased by 15.7 percent to ¥206.4 billion. Profit increased by 16.6 percent to ¥144.7 billion.

    “JT Group delivered solid results in the first quarter, building on the positive momentum across its businesses,” said Masamichi Terabatake, president and CEO of JT. “Robust pricing in the tobacco business continued to drive the strong performance of the group.

    “In line with our plan to increase our presence in HTS (heated-tobacco sticks) and establish the foundations for JT Group’s future earnings growth, we successfully launched Ploom X in Italy and Lithuania in April after an encouraging rollout in the U.K. We are making good progress for additional international launches, with a rollout in Portugal planned for mid-May.

    “Guided by the group’s management principle, which is to pursue the 4S model, and considering the recently announced JT Group Purpose, we will continue to take all necessary decisions to address operational uncertainties, such as regulatory changes, economic instabilities and volatile foreign exchange rates.”

  • As Smoking Declines, More Adults Switching

    As Smoking Declines, More Adults Switching

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    U.S. cigarette smoking dropped to another all-time low last year, with one in 9 adults saying they were current smokers, according to government survey data released April 27. Meanwhile, electronic cigarette use rose, to about one in 17 adults.

    The preliminary findings from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are based on survey responses from more than 27,000 adults.

    Last year, the percentage of adult smokers dropped to about 11 percent, down from about 12.5 percent in 2020 and 2021. The survey findings are sometimes revised after further analysis, and the CDC is expected to release final 2021 data soon.

    E-cigarette use rose to nearly 6 percent last year, from about 4.5 percent the year before, according to survey data.

  • Bangladesh Urged Against Interference

    Bangladesh Urged Against Interference

    Image: Tobacco Reporter archive

    Bangladesh should monitor the tobacco industry’s attempts to influence the formulation and implementation of graphic health warnings, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal’s Tobacco Control, reports United News of Bangladesh.  

    The study, “Tobacco Industry Interference to Undermine the Development and Implementation of Graphic Health Warnings in Bangladesh,” examines the tobacco industry’s efforts to “delay and weaken” the implementation of graphic health warnings in Bangladesh.  

    The Bangladesh Cigarette Manufacturers’ Association was the most active industry actor in “interfering” with the process, according to the study, while BAT Bangladesh was most active and the only company that acted alone to thwart graphic health warning implementation.

    The study urges the government to adopt the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control’s Article 5.3 guidelines and make their implementation a policy priority.   

  • Filipinos Warned Against Disposed Cigs

    Filipinos Warned Against Disposed Cigs

    Image: Andrii Yalanskyi | Adobe Stock

    The Philippines Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Port of Zamboanga has warned the public against buying cigarettes that have disposed of by the agency, reports the Philippine News Agency.

    The confiscated smuggled cigarettes are sprayed with pesticides, according to Mike Lanza, the customs intelligence and investigation service chief of BOC-Zamboanga.

    “Hundreds of people were waiting to salvage packs of cigarettes,” Lanza said, referring to a large-scale destruction of illegal cigarettes completed on April 28, which took place at a sanitary landfill in Barangay Salaan in Zamboanga City. “The drivers of the dump trucks had to stop to avoid accidents.” 

    According to the BOC, individuals will pay scavengers for each pack of cigarettes they can recover. “They sell the cigarettes to community sundry stores at cheaper prices,” said Arthur Sevilla, BOC-Port of Zamboanga acting district collector.

    The confiscated cigarettes are drenched in water and repeatedly crushed by heavy equipment, but scavengers search for packs that may have managed to stay dry.  

  • The Man Behind the Plan

    The Man Behind the Plan

    Anxious Jongwe Masuka
    (Photo: Taco Tuinstra)

    Zimbabwe’s minister of Agriculture, Anxious Jongwe Masuka, explains how the country will build a $5 billion tobacco industry by 2025.

    By Taco Tuinstra

    Following the resignation of Zimbabwe’s longtime president, Robert Mugabe, in late 2017, the new government invited private citizens to provide ideas on how to improve agriculture. Drawing on his extensive background in agriculture, policy and strategy, Anxious Jongwe Masuka wrote a letter in which he detailed the steps that he believed would help the nation achieve a prosperous, sustainable and competitive agricultural sector.

    One of the issues he mentioned was tobacco, the country’s most important agricultural export by a wide margin. Zimbabwe has the potential to generate and retain much more value from its tobacco industry than it is getting now, Masuka argued in his missive, unaware that he would soon be put in charge of the sector.

    “Then, when I was appointed a minister, President Emmerson Mnangagwa handed me back my letter and said, ‘I fully agree with what you have written here, and now please go ahead and implement it,’” recalls Masuka.

    Tobacco Reporter caught up with Masuka at the Ministry of Agriculture in Harare to discuss the details of what is now known as the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan.

    Tobacco Reporter: Please briefly sketch the economic significance of tobacco to Zimbabwe. How much of the value created is retained domestically, and why does it fall short of its potential?

    Anxious Jongwe Masuka: The context of the tobacco industry in Zimbabwe is exciting, since the first tobaccos were grown by missionary priests and presented at a show in 1895. Tobacco is one of [the] great successes for the country. By 1998, 1,500 large-scale white farmers produced a record 239 million kg. At the time, only a handful of small-scale Black farmers, less than 1,000, produced the crop. Following the land reform program from 2000 onward, the demography has dramatically shifted. A new record 260 million kg was produced in the 2019/2020 season, predominantly by smallholder farmers who constitute over 85 percent of the growers.

    The tobacco crop annually supports up to 160,000 households, accounts for more than 50 percent of agricultural exports and contributes 25 percent to agriculture GDP.

    Tobacco production is now a catalyst for accelerated rural development. Tobacco is grown predominantly by smallholder farmers, who constitute 85 percent of producers. Tobacco supports, directly and indirectly, 10 percent of Zimbabwe’s population (1.5 million).

    Some 98 percent of tobacco is exported in a semi-processed form. However, according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, only 12.5 percent of total exports is the net benefit after payment of external loan obligations by tobacco merchants.

    Zimbabwe produces 6 percent of the world’s tobacco. The global tobacco market is estimated at US$850 billion, and 6 percent of the value translates to $51 billion of the global market value of tobacco. In 2020, Zimbabwe produced and exported over 200 million kg of tobacco worth only $991 million, so clearly there is scope for massive value retention in the country.

    This is the basis for the Tobacco Transformation Plan, an idea I floated to the president in 2018 when I was still in the private sector and before being appointed minister in August 2020.

    What are the Tobacco Transformation Plan’s main objectives?

    From the mentioned statistics, it is clear that the industry must transform for value preservation and for sustainability. The Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan seeks to increase tobacco production to 300 million kg by 2025 and transform the value chain into a $5 billion industry through exports of tobacco value-added products. The broad objectives of the plan are to accelerate localization of tobacco funding; increase tobacco productivity and production from 210 million kg to 300 million kg; increase production of alternative crops and increase their contribution to farmers’ incomes; increase the level of tobacco value addition and beneficiation into cut rag and cigarettes; and ensure sustainability and traceability in the production of the crop.

    Why is such a large share of cultivation currently funded by contractors? And how does the Tobacco Transformation Plan seek to remedy this situation?

    Collateral, title deed-based financing collapsed in 2000, when all agricultural land became state land. By 2004, tobacco production had plummeted to 48 million kg from a high of 239 million kg. A dual marketing system was then introduced by government—a contract system was allowed, operating alongside the established auction system. Over the years, the contract system was refined to provide agronomic and farm infrastructure and equipment support in addition to inputs and working capital. Resultantly, and cumulatively, over 95 percent of production is currently funded through contract farming. This contract production financing model of tobacco requires that tobacco be prefinanced by offshore funding.

    Local lending by local financial institutions for farming purposes is limited, particularly for small-scale farmers who do not meet the collateral requirements following the collapse of title-based lending in 2000.

    The localization plan will involve government availing $60 million as seed finance to establish a revolving facility. The plan will operate alongside contract production of the crop. This will anchor the growth to 300 million kg.

    How do you view the role of tobacco buyers in the future? Will they still be funding tobacco cultivation after the Tobacco Transformation Plan has been carried out?

    Zimbabwe envisages growing the tobacco industry to a 300 million kg crop by 2025—an additional 90 million kg from the current average production of 210 million kg—so there is room for both contractors and local financing. The government is not replacing anyone in the current system, especially contractors and buyers. In fact, the exact opposite—we require more contractors and more localization of financing. We envisage that contractors can operate in both systems, whether the source of financing is offshore or is local, a contractor will be required alongside some direct lending to farmers.

    According to some economists, one of the reasons smallholder tobacco growers have struggled to access funding in the past was lack of titles to their lands. What is the current situation in terms of property rights? Does the Tobacco Transformation Plan deal with this issue?

    Those economists are misguided. Tobacco production has reached an all-time high in the current tenure system, post-land reform. All agricultural land is vested in the state, and for the right reasons, following the land reform program. Farmers got offer letters, and now securitized A1 and A2 permits and thereafter 99-year leases. It is in this context that tobacco production has grown through strong value chain or contract-growing support.

    Government is currently seized with the legal reviews to make permits and leases more attractive to financiers, so issues of collateralization, transferability and valorization are being discussed.

    It is also important, for emphasis, to highlight that the Tobacco Transformation Plan is an agronomic plan, not a land reform plan.

    Are you confident that Zimbabwe can sell a 300 million kg crop even as global cigarette consumption stagnates?

    Zimbabwe will achieve 300 million kg of production by 2025 through increased yields and reduced post-harvest losses. Zimbabwe produces flavor-style tobacco, currently marketed to 60 countries. This style of tobacco will continue to be in demand for the foreseeable future in these countries and beyond. We are also exploring new markets to replace lost markets. Tobacco smoking is by choice, and we think many will continue to choose to smoke Zimbabwean tobacco.

    Tobacco cultivation has environmental impacts, such as deforestation. What measures are in place to protect the environment as the tobacco industry expands?

    The targeted increase in volume to 300 million kg is not from area increase but from post-harvest loss reduction and yield increase. There is, therefore, no envisaged additional deforestation from the increased production. However, the government has created a law for tobacco farmers, so there is an afforestation levy administered by the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality to reverse deforestation caused by the tobacco sector. The industry has a sustainable forestry association, which plants tens of thousands of eucalyptus trees annually.

    Alongside this, research and development has also led to more efficient curing systems, reducing wood and coal usage from 10 kg [of tobacco] to 1 kg [of] tobacco and 6 kg [of tobacco] to 1 kg [of] tobacco, respectively, to almost 1 to 1 for coal to tobacco in current continuous curing systems. Biofuels are also promising fuel alternatives to curtail deforestation.

    All contractors have now signed the sustainability code, and traceability has been heightened to ensure farmers use alternative curing fuel. Growers are also encouraged to plant 1 hectare of trees for every 7 hectares of tobacco, and seedlings are readily available.

    This cocktail of measures will reduce the industry’s environmental footprint.

    Please comment on the Tobacco Transformation Plan’s goal to promote alternative crops. What crops are you targeting, and how do they compare to tobacco in terms of earnings for the farmers and economic contributions to the country?

    Tobacco is already grown in rotation with various crops, for example, maize, and there is also livestock grazing on rotation grass. We need to enhance these and look for alternative crops, for example, industrial hemp and cannabis. The objective is to complement tobacco, not to replace it.

    In 2018, Zimbabwe legalized cannabis for medical and industrial use, with some predicting earnings on par with those of gold. How has the cannabis industry developed since 2018? What have been the major lessons of Zimbabwe’s experience with this crop to date, and what are your expectations for its future?

    Zimbabwe has just legalized the production of cannabis and has issued licenses to 60 growing units. This industry is at a developmental stage, and we expect rapid growth.

     

    The Tobacco Transformation Plan seeks the beneficiation of tobacco by encouraging value-added production. What progress has been made in this area to date? Please comment on the reports about local cigarette factories planned by Cut Rag Processors and Iranian Tobacco Co.

    The environment for investment has seen much improvement, and we expect investors to take advantage of this, including Cut Rag Processors, the Iranians and many others.

    What do you consider to be the greatest challenges to achieving the objectives of the Tobacco Transformation Plan? And how are you addressing those challenges?

    By far the greatest threat is from the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which seeks to eliminate tobacco smoking. This will have tragic consequences for tobacco-dependent African countries such as Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

    Then there are issues of adherence to sustainability and traceability and ensuring growers’ viability.

    More discerning markets want their tobacco to be produced ethically and sustainably. These are legitimate concerns. We are taking this on board and going to every length to show we are producing this tobacco in a sustainable manner, eliminating child labor, traceability, harmful substances, etc.

    Ultimately, growth in this industry will depend on grower viability. Due to the war between Russia and Ukraine—two major sources of raw materials for fertilizer production—and disruptions to the global supply chain, among other factors, the cost of production for tobacco [has] increased by 30 [percent] to 40 percent. Without a corresponding increase in the price, this means that farmers are squeezed and will therefore have to produce the crop more efficiently.

    We must highlight also that success of the Tobacco Transformation Plan depends on a whole-of-industry approach. The government has created a tobacco working group involving all stakeholders. Every quarter, representatives of tobacco growers, labor unions, buyers, bankers and regulators meet to discuss progress of the Tobacco Transformation Plan, and we look forward to accelerating its implementation.

    Have the various stakeholders generally been receptive to the Tobacco Transformation Plan?

    They have been extremely receptive. The Tobacco Transformation Plan was long overdue.

    Taco Tuinstra is Tobacco Reporter’s editorial director. Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, he coordinates the work of staff writers and contributors. On his watch, Tobacco Reporter has won several awards for editorial excellence. Since joining the magazine in 1997, Taco has visited more than 75 countries to meet industry representatives in their markets and to report tobacco news firsthand.
  • The Pharmacology of Nicotine

    The Pharmacology of Nicotine

    Photo: Richard Villalon

    The fascinating workings of a widely misunderstood chemical

    By Grant Churchill

    In this article, I will describe the pharmacology of nicotine. I will guide you along nicotine’s journey, starting with how it gets into a person, explain what it does once inside by interacting with specific receptors and finally, how it is inactivated and leaves.

    Due to its chemical properties, nicotine can exist in two forms, depending on acidity, which controls its ability to be absorbed and, in turn, the effectiveness of delivery by different routes of administration. For example, certain forms of smoked tobacco must be inhaled to absorb nicotine, such as cigarettes, whereas others, such as cigar and pipe tobacco, are not inhaled but nicotine is still absorbed.

    It might be useful for the reader to know where I’m coming from in writing this article. I’ve got a professional interest in how drugs work as I do research and teach in this area and find the pharmacology of nicotine fascinating and convey this to medical students. I’ve also got a personal interest as both my parents smoked and died from cancer. So, I wonder if vapes were available 40 years ago, would my parents still be alive? And now, should I be concerned that my adult son is vaping?

    Routes and Rates

    I’ll now describe in more detail how nicotine gets into the body and then the brain. This depends on the fascinating interplay between the route of administration and the chemical formulation, for example, free base or salt of nicotine. Regarding the route of administration, one can have an intuitive and qualitative understanding by considering the number of barriers and distance from the site of application to the brain.

    When inhaled, nicotine has a short journey with few barriers as it is absorbed into the oxygenated arterial blood and goes from the heart to the brain within 10 seconds.

    When swallowed, nicotine has a much longer journey with several barriers as it has to make its way through the stomach on to the small intestine before it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. Then it is in the deoxygenated venous blood that goes to the liver, then through veins to the heart, then through the lungs, where it finally meets the starting point for the inhaled nicotine. Importantly, the liver acts as a paper shredder for drugs and metabolizes them before they are delivered to the rest of the body.

    When applied by a patch, the skin provides an additional barrier before nicotine can enter the bloodstream. Surprisingly, an intravenous injection of nicotine results in a slower route to the brain than inhalation.

    For the intuitive understanding of the routes and rates, one can think about the physiological role of each system. The job of the lungs is to absorb large amounts of oxygen and quickly deliver it to the brain, the importance of which is driven home by considering that consciousness is lost within tens of seconds if inhibited. In contrast, the job of the gastrointestinal tract is to absorb food for energy, which is not needed at the pace of oxygen. Moreover, the job of the liver has evolved to protect us from the remarkably diverse and potentially harmful chemicals we consume in our diets, and in this regard, a drug is just another nonfood or non-nutrient to be inactivated and removed.

    The uptake of nicotine can be more precisely studied quantitatively by monitoring nicotine in the blood and graphing this over time. This reveals an initial increase, a peak and then a tapering off, and numbers can be put to the time and concentration at the peak and the area under the curve. The hit comes from a combination of the speed of the peak and the maximum concentration, and the craving comes from when the concentration falls below a critical activity threshold. The different routes of administration show characteristic concentration over time profiles, with inhaled nicotine showing a fast peak within minutes whereas a patch-delivered nicotine shows a slow increase, taking an hour to peak. This has implications in the user experience and the success of nicotine-replacement therapies for tobacco harm reduction. The rate of decrease in nicotine concentration is similar for all routes of administration due to the same elimination mechanisms: a combination of metabolism by the liver and excretion by the kidney into the urine.

    Crossing Barriers

    The chemical formulation of nicotine as a salt or free base has a major impact on its uptake into the body as only the latter gets in. The chemical basis of this can be understood by considering a vinaigrette, which forms two layers, with the oil floating on a layer of vinegar and table salt (sodium chloride) dissolving only in the vinegar. This demonstrates that molecules can be watery or oily and only mix with their own kind, as summed up by the adage that oil and water don’t mix. Bringing this back to biology, the barriers to uptake of nicotine are cells that form layers like brick walls to separate the contents of our gastrointestinal tract from blood and blood from the organs. The cell’s barrier is its surface membrane called a bilayer, which is an inside out soap bubble with a watery surface and an oily interior forming the barrier. A water-loving nicotine salt cannot cross the oily interior whereas the oily free base of nicotine easily crosses.

    The ability of nicotine free base to easily cross cell membranes is the mechanistic explanation of why nicotine can be absorbed from pipe and cigar smoke held in the mouth whereas cigarette smoke must be inhaled. The processing of the tobacco alters the chemical composition and acidity, resulting in cigarette flue-cured tobacco being acidic with nicotine salt whereas air-cured pipe tobacco is alkaline with nicotine free base. For a fuller explanation, we must again consider how chemistry interacts with biology. Smoke from acidic tobacco (nicotine salt) is less harsh and irritating and can be inhaled deeply into the lungs, where the large surface area (approximately the size of a tennis court) compensates for the inability of the salt to cross membranes.

    Nicotine is always present in both forms, and the acidity controls the relative amounts of salt to free base with only a tenth of a percent in cigarette smoke being the free base compared to 50 percent in pipe smoke.

    The trade-offs between the amount of nicotine that is bioavailable and how deeply it can be inhaled to take advantage of the large surface area of the lungs can also explain the nicotine salt craze in vapes. Nicotine salt formed by adding benzoic acid leads to a “smooth” taste, enabling deep inhalation of higher concentrations of nicotine.

    How it Works Inside

    Now that nicotine is in the body, I’ll describe its effects and how it is active. Nicotine affects cognition, body function and mood. The effects of nicotine on cognition relate to attention and memory and it has been suggested to be a “work” drug as opposed to what most of society would think of as a recreational or “fun” drug. The effects of nicotine on body function mostly relate to heart rate and blood pressure. The effects of nicotine on mood are relaxation and euphoria, arguably two of its major effects as nicotine stimulates a reward pathway in our brains the causes one brain region to stimulate other regions involved in emotion by releasing the neurotransmitter dopamine. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that enable communication between the brain cells termed neurons. Very generally, dopamine signals reward or the anticipation of reward—think sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, and these days, smartphones—which leads to pleasure and risk of dependence. Nicotine itself acts by mimicking the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is involved in learning, memory and attention, which fits with its subjective effects mentioned above.

    Remarkably, all the diverse actions of nicotine arise from it acting on the same pharmacological target: the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. This receptor spans the surface membrane of a cell and acts as a gated pore that allows ions such as sodium to flow through and trigger a wave of voltage change that sweeps from one end of the cell to the other. The binding of acetylcholine, or nicotine, results in opening and turning on the signal—but with prolonged presence, the gate on the pore jams shut in what is termed “desensitization.”

    So, nicotine has time-dependent effects: Over a period of minutes, the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors open and release dopamine, but after several hours in the presence of nicotine, many of the receptors desensitize, dopamine levels fall, and more nicotine is required to return to the higher level of dopamine. Over a period of weeks, the neuron responds by increasing the number of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, but most are desensitized, and if nicotine is no longer present, dopamine levels fall, giving rise to physiological withdrawal and addiction. Addiction at the molecular level is related to the structure of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, which is made up of five cylindrical subunits arranged side by side in a circle to form the pore. Each subunit is given a Greek letter designation, and in a mouse model, addiction relates to the presence or absence of the beta subunit.

    Chemical Inactivation

    The pharmacological effects of nicotine wear off with time, not from the above desensitization mechanisms but through chemical inactivation and excretion. Nicotine in the blood has a half-life, the time for a given concentration to be reduced by half, of about two hours. Nicotine declines over time through processes common to all drugs in which the underlying principle is to convert a drug from an oily compound to one that is watery. Water is watery due to it being composed of hydrogen and oxygen, therefore introducing oxygen into nicotine makes it watery.

    This chemical transformation occurs in the liver by the enzyme (a molecular machine) cytochrome P450, which forms the major metabolite cotinine. As cotinine has a half-life of about a day, it can be used to examine past nicotine exposure, often by health insurance companies. Cytochrome P450 is a family of enzymes, and different forms are more or less active in converting nicotine to cotinine; the specific form varies between individuals, and certain forms are more frequent in a given ethnic group. For example, a less active form of the enzyme is more prevalent in individuals with Black or Asian heritage. Cotinine or its metabolites are finally removed from the body through the action of the kidneys and excreted into the urine. Again, the effect of acidity on nicotine can be employed by acidifying the urine to increase the fraction of salt, which cannot be reabsorbed back by the body, which thereby increases nicotine excretion.

    Addressing Misunderstandings

    Lastly, there are many controversies surrounding nicotine based on misunderstanding, half-truths and myths. The major health consequences of smoking are due to chemicals other than nicotine produced during combustion of tobacco, so other methods of nicotine delivery provide for tobacco harm reduction. For example, the relative health harms are such that vaping is a method for smoking cessation endorsed by the National Health Service in the U.K. and promoted as such by the government based on the best current scientific evidence.

    Nicotine was used as a pesticide and can be toxic, but as Paracelsus famously stated, the dose makes the poison; any chemical can be toxic, including seemingly innocuous water, or an exceptionally toxic substance such as Botox can be used safely at a lowered concentration. Nicotine may have bona fide therapeutic use beyond smoking cessation in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and obesity. Intriguing evidence has been published regarding all these disorders, but the studies were small, leading to equivocal results.

    Larger studies are needed, but the demonization of the tobacco industry for past wrongs is tainting and hampering the ability of scientists and physicians to obtain funding and conduct large, definitive trials. Given that psychedelic drugs, which were made illegal and vilified in the 1960s, are experiencing a renaissance to treat depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, there is hope that nicotine can be separated from smoked tobacco and used or not based on the evidence.

    Grant Churchill is a professor of chemical pharmacology at the University of Oxford.