Tag: Featured

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Swisher Names Haley Chief Growth Officer

Illustration: Skypixel | Dreamstime
Swisher has named John Haley chief growth officer, overseeing the company’s newly formed corporate growth department. In this new role, Haley will focus on growth, innovation, strategy and structure of Swisher to enable organizational transformation to drive change throughout the company. He will oversee sales and marketing, strategic growth, innovation, and business analytics.
“I am pleased and excited to take on this new role and effect meaningful change and usher Swisher into a period of accelerated growth and innovation, said John Haley, Swisher’s Chief Growth Officer. “The formation of the Corporate Growth Department will guide our future plans and growth goals and position us strongly for shared success with our trade partners.”
Earlier this year, Swisher announced an expansion of the company’s vision, offerings and focus on adult consumer lifestyles. As part of the strategic focus, Swisher’s five strategic businesses—Swisher Sweets Cigar Co. (large & little/filtered cigars), Fat Lip Brands (smokeless), Drew Estate (premium cigars), Hempire (hemp products) and Rogue Holdings (modern oral nicotine)—provide category expertise, product knowledge and a focused approach under a renewed purpose for the company.
John Miller
The new corporate growth department will also include a renewed focus on servicing the needs of Swisher’s trade partners with better market and in-store data insights, including packaging and merchandising solutions.
“These are exciting times for Swisher and since the beginning of 2020, our new path forward has been guided by our strategic goals, guiding principles and our purpose, mission, vision, said John Miller, Swisher’s President. “Under the leadership of John Haley and the corporate growth department, the team will support the work that has started to transform our business, reimagine how we work, and accelerate the expansion and growth of our company.”
December 17, 2020
Brexit Claims First Cigarette Brands

Illustration Skypixel – Dreamstime.com
Imperial Brands will reduce its range of products in Northern Ireland as a result of Brexit, reports The Grocer.
Northern Ireland will remain under EU legislation, making it subject to the EU rules requiring pictorial health warnings on tobacco packaging. Tobacco manufacturers would have to produce separate products for Northern Ireland and Great Britain to comply with these laws.
“Due to the smaller volumes, it is likely that there will be a significant reduction to the product range for NI [Northern Ireland] accounts, final range still to be confirmed,” Imperial said in a letter to wholesalers.
“We continue to plan and prepare for different Brexit scenarios, which includes a range of different regulatory requirements across the U.K.,” said an Imperial spokesperson. “We continue to work closely with our customers on the potential changes and would encourage them to speak to their account manager if they have any questions.”
Brexit is likely to impact the nicotine business in several ways. Earlier this month, researchers at the University of Bath argued that withdrawing from the EU offered Britain new opportunities to strengthen tobacco control.
Meanwhile, vapor advocates are hoping that breaking with EU rules will allow the U.K. to continue and even strengthen its comparatively permissive policies on e-cigarettes.
Earlier this year, Tobacco Reporter contributor Clive Bates examined the impact of Brexit on the tobacco and vapor businesses in-depth.
December 17, 2020
China May Step up E-Cigarette Oversight

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
The Chinese government may tighten its grip on e-cigarettes, according to a new report from eCigIntelligence.
Legally, the China National Tobacco Co. (CTNC) has a monopoly over both combustible and vapor products, but the organization has not exercised its authority to date. According to the report, that could change in the future.
There are three possible scenarios, according to the market intelligence provider: “One possible scenario is that the government may allow private companies to continue operations but under close observation to ensure their products do not target non-smokers or minors.
“The government could also decide to crack down on the e-cig market, which as the report explains would have a significant negative impact on the growth in sales of tobacco-alternative products in the country. A third scenario would involve the China National Tobacco Company extending its existing control over traditional cigarettes to vaping products.”
December 17, 2020
Indonesia: Tobacco Bracing for Tax Hikes

Photo: Taco Tuinstra
The government of Indonesia will increase the excise tax on tobacco and tobacco products in 2021, according to a report in The Jakarta Post.
The increase is expected to negatively affect cigarette makers amid weakened purchasing power in the pandemic, according to analysts.
Cigarette excise taxes will be increased by an average of 12.5 percent in February 2021.
“The majority of the companies’ sales volume comes from machine-made clove cigarettes, including those of Sampoerna and Gudang Garam,” Mirae Asset Sekuritas analyst Christine Natasya wrote in a research note.
The increase applies only to machine-made clove cigarettes and machine-made white cigarettes, according to Finance Minister Mulyani Indrawati. The hand-rolled cigarette excise tax will remain the same.
December 16, 2020
Rise of Youth Vaping Slowing

Photo: Aliaksandr Barouski – Dreamstime.com
The increase in U.S. teenage vaping seen from 2017 to 2019 has halted in 2020, according to new research published by the JAMA Network. The study also found that there was a significant decline in the use of Juul products, countered by increases in the use of other vapor brands.
In 2020, Monitoring the Future surveyed 8,660 students in 10th and 12th grade. Nicotine vaping prevalence in 2020 was 22 percent for past 30-day use, 32 percent for past 12-month use and 41 percent for lifetime use; these levels did not significantly change from 2019. Daily nicotine vaping significantly declined from 9 percent to 7 percent over 2019 to 2020.
The authors of the study speculate that the rise of youth vaping has slowed because of “noteworthy events” during late 2019 and early 2020. The e-cigarette and vaping–associated lung injury epidemic that received considerable media attention in the second half of 2019 may have deterred use by increasing adolescent perceptions of harm from vaping.
What’s more, on Feb.7, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began enforcement against the sale of e-cigarette cartridges with flavors other than tobacco or menthol. This FDA action came after the decision by market leader Juul Labs to voluntarily stop selling most of their its cartridges preferred by youth.
In addition, the federal minimum age for legal e-cigarette purchase changed from 18 to 21 years on December 20, 2019, thereby potentially reducing youth access to vaping products.
“We are encouraged that according to the paper in JAMA Pediatrics underage use of Juul products, ‘dropped dramatically,’ which shows the importance of evidence-based interventions,” Juul said in a press release.
“We will continue to combat underage use of vapor products, which is unacceptable, by working with states toward full implementation and enforcement of Tobacco 21 and supporting [the] FDA’s [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] active enforcement against illicit and illegally marketed products, such as disposables, that jeopardize the category and its harm reduction potential for adult smokers.”
The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) called for more action against e-cigarettes.
“The 2020 Monitoring the Future survey results released today provide fresh evidence that youth e-cigarette use remains at epidemic levels in the United States and that young people continue to have easy access to the flavored products that have fueled this youth nicotine addiction crisis,” CTFK President Matthew L. Myers wrote in a statement.
“These results further demonstrate that as long as any flavored e-cigarettes are left on the market, kids will get their hands on them and we will not end this crisis. Action to eliminate flavored e-cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products that lure kids, including menthol cigarettes, is more critical than ever given the growing evidence about the impact of smoking and vaping on Covid-19.”

December 16, 2020
BAT Covid Vaccine Moves to Human Trials

Photo: KBP
Kentucky BioProcessing (KBP) plans to commence a Phase I first-time-in-human study of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate following approval of its investigational new drug application by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Enrollment for the study is expected to begin shortly.
The Covid-19 vaccine candidate will become one of a number of potential vaccines to have progressed beyond pre-clinical testing. The study is designed to enroll a total of 180 healthy volunteers who will be divided into two age cohorts, 18 to 49 and 50 to 70. Each group will then be subdivided into low dose and high dose treatment groups and randomized 2:1 to receive either the low dose or placebo, or high dose or placebo. Results from the study are expected mid-2021 and, if positive, would allow for continued progress into a Phase 2 study, subject to regulatory approval.
The candidate vaccine has been developed using KBP’s fast-growing plant-based technology. According to KBP parent company British American Tobacco (BAT), this approach has a number of possible advantages, including the rapid production of the vaccine’s active ingredients in around six weeks compared to several months using conventional methods. The candidate vaccine also has the potential to be stable at room temperature, which could be a significant advantage for healthcare systems and public health networks worldwide. If successful, the speed of production of the active ingredients has the potential to reduce the time between identifying new viruses and strains and vaccine development and deployment to those who need it.
David O’Reilly
“Moving into human trials with both our Covid-19 and seasonal flu vaccine candidates is a significant milestone and reflects our considerable efforts to accelerate the development of our emerging biologicals portfolio,” said David O’Reilly, BAT’s director of scientific research, in a statement. “It is our unique plant-based vaccine technology, which acts as a fast, efficient host for the production of antigens for a variety of diseases, that has enabled us to make this progress and respond to the urgent global need for safe and effective treatments and vaccines.”
Tobacco Reporter’s Stefanie Rossel highlighted KBP’s endeavor in a June 2020 feature story, titled “Shots on Goal.”
In July, Medicago, a Quebec-based biotechnology company backed by Philip Morris International and other investors, also started human trails for a tobacco-based Covid-19 vaccine.
Researchers in Thailand, too, are developing a tobacco-based Covid-19 vaccine.
December 16, 2020
California Flavor Ban Postponed

California’s controversial ban on flavored e-cigarettes will not take effect on Jan. 1, 2021. According to a report by Halfwheel, the Superior Court for the County of Sacramento has approved an agreement that postpones the enforcement date at least until the signatures are verified for a ballot measure proposal that seeks to repeal the law.
In November, the California Coalition for Fairness turned in more than 1 million signatures seeking to qualify a referendum for the November 2022 ballot aimed at overturning the legislation. Those signatures need to be verified at the county level, a process that is underway but might not be completed until Jan. 21, 2021, after the law was set to take effect. Now, the parties have agreed to delay the law until after the signature verification process is completed.
If the verified signature threshold is not met, the law would take effect once the Secretary of State has verified the process is complete. If the signatures are verified the flavor ban would be suspended until at least December 2022.
To get on the ballot, those in support of the referendum needed to get 623,212 verified signatures from California voters.
Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on Aug. 28, the California law prohibits the sale of all flavored tobacco and vapor products, including those with menthol flavor. The legislation does not make it illegal for someone to purchase, possess or use flavored tobacco or vapor products, however.
The bill contains a provision that would impose a $250 fine for each violation.
December 16, 2020
South Africa Tobacco Ban Unconstitutional

Photo: David Carillet – Dreamstime.com
South Africa’s ban on tobacco sales during the country’s hard lockdown earlier this year was unconstitutional, the country’s High Court ruled Dec. 11.
From March to August, the government prohibited sales of tobacco products and alcohol to help stem the spread of the coronavirus. Market leader British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) and smaller companies united in the Fair-trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) challenged the ban, arguing that a short-term ban on a product whose health risks become evident only in the long run makes no sense.
They also questioned the rationale of the argument around cigarette sharing. Tobacco shortages and high prices of black-market cigarettes would only increase the likelihood of smokers sharing their “stompies,” the tobacco companies said.
The government lifted the ban before the matter had been heard in court, but BATSA decided to proceed with the court action to prevent the ban from being reintroduced at a later stage of the pandemic.
In its ruling Friday, the Western Cape High Court judges who presided over the case said Regulation 45, which Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma relied upon for the ban, “cannot and does not withstand constitutional scrutiny.”
In court, the government had argued that the ban was aimed at reducing the occupation of intensive care unit beds by smokers. If people didn’t smoke, they would likely not get Covid-19 in a more severe form, it argued. But BATSA maintained the government had not justified the ban in law or science.
Tobacco companies expressed satisfaction with Friday’s ruling.
“British American Tobacco South Africa has been vindicated in its view that the disastrous ban on tobacco sales was unjustified and unconstitutional after the Western Cape High Court ruled in its favor,” the company wrote in a press release.
“The five-month ban on tobacco and vapor products sales was ill-considered, unlawful and has worsened the illicit trade in cigarettes and vapor products in the country.”
“We note and welcome the judgment of the full bench of the Western Cape High Court, wrote FITA in a statement.
“The court further found Regulation 45 to be neither necessary nor that it furthered the objectives set out in section 27(2) of the Disaster Management Act. This, of course, was one of the arguments advanced by FITA in its challenging of the ban on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco-related products, which the full bench of the North Gauteng High Court erred in finding same to be necessary.”
In the wake of the court ruling, BATSA also renewed its call for South Africa to urgently ratify the World Health Organization Illicit Trade Protocol to eradicate the illegal sale of cigarettes. The company stated that ratifying the protocol is “the only way for the country to claw back tax losses resulting from the explosion in illicit trade that occurred during the ban on tobacco and vapor products.”
In July, BATSA estimated that the ban on legal cigarette sales had cost South Africa ZAR4 billion ($241.7 million) in lost excise tax revenues and 30,000 lost industry jobs.
December 14, 2020
Taat’s Hemp Cigarette Arrives in Ohio

Photo: Taat Lifestyle & Wellness
Taat Lifestyle & Wellness has started distributing Taat, its tobacco and nicotine-free hemp cigarette, in the United States, the company announced in a statement. On Dec. 11, 2020, a first shipment of Taat arrived at the Canton, Ohio, warehouse of ADCO Distributors.
Taat Chief Revenue Officer Tim Corkum said he was impressed with the rapid rollout of Taat.
“It was exactly four months ago that I joined the company to lead commercialization efforts for Taat in the United States, and I consider it an incredible accomplishment for us to have taken the product from its first iteration to being retail-ready and in a distributor’s warehouse in that short of a period without any of the advantages that an established tobacco industry firm would have,” he said.
“We are thrilled to be receiving the first distribution-scale batch of TAAT right on schedule, so that we can begin filling pre-orders from our tobacco retailer accounts across the state of Ohio,” said Pat Bell, chief operating officer of ADCO commented.
“Additionally, we have received numerous requests from retailers who wish to place an order for TAAT upon the arrival of the first shipment to our warehouse, which we anticipate could lead to even more orders of TAAT. For a product that is not yet sold at retail, I am very impressed with the amount of interest that TAAT has managed to garner over the past few months.”
In October 2020, the Taat Lifestyle & Wellness announced that it would be debuting Taat in Ohio. Initial launch activities included the rollout of a large-scale digital marketing campaign targeting legal-aged smokers in Ohio and sales efforts coordinated by a key accounts manager with more than a decade of sales experience with one of the world’s largest tobacco companies.
December 14, 2020
European Authorities Seize Illegal Cigarettes

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
Law enforcement authorities seized 37 million illegal cigarettes worth €12.9 million ($15.4 million) and 1.8 tons of tobacco in a 10-day operation led by Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency with the support of Europol.
The operation, known as JAD Arktos 2 and coordinated from Frontex’s headquarters in Warsaw, was co-led by Latvia and Finland and saw the involvement of border guards, police and customs officers from Poland, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.
JAD Arktos 2 took place between Nov. 16-25 and targeted excise fraud, particularly tobacco smuggling, document fraud and migrant smuggling at selected border crossing points at EU’s eastern land borders.
Since this operation focused predominantly on identifying criminal activities related to excise fraud, the Analysis Project Smoke within Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Center supported this operation by facilitating the cross-checking of entities against Europol’s databases.
The operation was coordinated under the umbrella of the European Multidisciplinary Platform against Criminal Threats as part of the EU Policy Cycle, a four-year plan for the fight against serious and organized crime. It brings together police and law enforcement authorities of EU member states, European agencies and international organizations to jointly strengthen Europe’s borders and internal security.
December 11, 2020