Tag: Featured

Stories featured at the top of tobaccoreporter.com

BAT Buys Dryft Pouch Business

Photo: Dryft Sciences
British American Tobacco (BAT) has bought the nicotine pouch product assets of Dryft Sciences, a U.S.-based modern oral nicotine product company.
The acquisition expands BAT’s modern oral portfolio in the U.S. from four to 28 product variants. It follows the acceptance of Dryft’s recent pre-market tobacco product application submission for filing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The enhanced portfolio will include a wider range of nicotine strengths and flavors.
BAT will rebrand Dryft’s U.S. portfolio under its global modern oral brand, Velo, and expects to accelerate growth through superior distribution, marketing and channel capabilities.
“Today’s announcement underscores our societal commitment to accelerate our transformation and build ‘a better tomorrow’,” said BAT CEO Jack Bowles in a statement. “Our multi-category strategy is key to our transformation. The addition of Dryft to our U.S. Velo brand is a major step forward, further enhancing our successful vaping and oral portfolio.”
“We’re proud of the tremendous momentum we’ve built with Dryft and thrilled that our strong product portfolio will now serve to enhance the Velo brand,” said Jason Carignan, president of Dryft Sciences. “We remain confident that modern oral innovations like Dryft and Velo will continue to find an adult consumer base seeking alternatives to traditional products.”
According to BAT, the acquisition fits into its mission to reduce the health impact of its business. The company aims to accelerate the growth of its new category revenues at a faster rate than its total revenue, reaching £5 billion ($6.5 billion) in 2025. BAT wants to have 50 million consumers of non-combustibles worldwide by 2030.
November 3, 2020
Plea to Classify Vape Shops as Essential

Photo: VPZ
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) has asked the U.K. government to reclassify vape shops as essential outlets during the upcoming Covid-19 related national lockdown.
In a letter directed to Business Secretary Alok Sharma, Small Business Minister Paul Scully and Public Health Minister Jo Churchill, UKVIA Director General John Dunne urged the government to consider the role of the vapor sector in terms of health and the economy.
John Dunne
“With vape stores remaining closed for a length of time and without access to their vaping supplies, many vapers and ex-smokers will be at risk of relapse back to smoking at these stressful times,” Dunne wrote.
“Economically, as I am sure you will know, vaping has been a UK plc success story and has supported the high street through the challenging environment experienced in recent years,” Dunne added. “Ongoing closure of vape shops, which in our opinion are providing an essential service to current vapers and existing smokers, would be hugely detrimental to the sector’s contribution to the national economy and the health of the nation.”
According to the Office for National Statistics, the U.K. is home to around 7 million adult smokers. Data also shows that currently around 3.2 million people vape in Great Britain.
November 3, 2020
Bidi Vapor Enters Pouch Market

Photo: Bidi Vapor
Bidi Vapor will soon launch the Bidi Nicotine Pouch. Engineered to provide a premium smokeless nicotine experience to its users, the Bidi Pouch is made from a tobacco-free nicotine formulation.
The Bidi Pouch takes advantage of Bidi Vapor’s proprietary nicotine-delivery method on the heels of the growing popularity of the company’s premium vape pen, the Bidi Stick. Having established a strong wholesale-distribution network with its premium vape pen, the Bidi Stick will allow for immediate distribution of the Bidi Pouch through existing channels, Bidi Vapor wrote in a press statement.
Worldwide, the nicotine-pouch sector is projected to grow to $3.35 billion by 2025, up from $637.8 million in 2019, according to Market Study Report. The category has continued to explode recently, with New York-based Nielsen reporting an increase in unit sales of 498 percent in U.S. convenience stores over the 24 weeks ending May 30, 2020.
“We are excited to introduce the Bidi Pouch to adult consumers,” said Niraj Patel, CEO of Kaival Brands Innovations Group, which has an exclusive partnership and distribution deal with Bidi Vapor. “This is one of several initial steps we are taking towards our goal of providing improved products that are more sustainable.”
November 3, 2020
Daughters & Ryan Sells Majority Stake

Mark Ryan (right)
Photo: Timothy Donahue
Daughters & Ryan tobacco company has sold a majority stake to Inter-Continental Trading USA for an undisclosed sum. Mark Ryan, founder and president of Daughters & Ryan, told Tobacco Reporter today that the time was right. Ryan said he will stay with the company for at least five more years.
“The main thing was keeping our pipe tobaccos on the market,” said Ryan. “I have been fighting for this industry for 30 years; it just seemed like the right time to sell a portion of the company. I want to enjoy myself more. We started having some issues with tube production in the Philippines so we wanted to make sure we could move manufacturing here domestically and this allows us to accomplish that.”
Inter-Continental will take control of the manufacturing of Daughters & Ryan cigarette tubes and pipe tobacco.
Daughters & Ryan’s began in 2002 as a manufacturer and distributor of roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco and expanded into the pipe market with its line of premium pipe tobaccos, as well as cigars and e-liquids. The company also offers other tobacco products (OTP) such as cigarette tubes, rolling papers and rollers, filter plugs, injection machines and shisha accessories.
Daughters & Ryan is housed in an 80,000-square-foot facility that sits on a 20-acre lot in Kenly, North Carolina, USA. The company has 17 employees and sales reached nearly $5 million in 2014, according to the most recently available data.
Ryan, who also owns the L.A. Poche Perique Tobacco Co. in Louisiana, USA, said the Perique company was not included in the stock sale. Perique is a unique type of tobacco that is grown exclusively on a small swath of land near New Orleans.
Shargio Patel, president of Inter-Continental, is well-known for acquisitions and investment in growth opportunities. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Based in Mount Prospect, Illinois, USA, Inter-Continental Trading USA manufactures OHM pipe tobacco, cigarette tubes and filtered cigars, 752 pipe tobacco and filtered cigars, Shargio cigarette tubes and accessories, Roxwell pipe tobacco and cigarettes tubes, Westport filtered cigars and Kashmir rolling papers, hemp wraps, pre-rolled tubes and accessories. –T.S.D
November 2, 2020
Ploom S Debuts in the United Kingdom

Photo: JTI
Japan Tobacco International (JTI) has launched its Ploom S heated-tobaccodevice in the U.K., reports The Grocer.
The product will be sold through two Ploom-branded lounges in London, Ploompop-up shops, online at www.ploom.co.uk and through accredited retailers.
The device is used with tobacco sticks, which are sold separately. The tobaccosticks will be available in four different flavors—flavored tobacco, smoothtobacco, menthol and menthol/berry. The Ploom S device will have arecommended retail price of £89 ($116.06) and the consumables will have arecommended retail price of £4.50 for a pack of 20 sticks.
“The time is right for JTI to enter this exciting growth segment in the U.K. with aproven product that continues to grow in markets in which we have alreadylaunched,” said JTI U.K. General Manager Dean Gilfillan.
Ploom S is the second tobacco-heating system available in the U.K., after PhilipMorris International’s IQOS, which launched in 2016.
Previously, JTI launched Ploom in Japan, Russia and Italy.
November 2, 2020
Inaccuracies in EU E-Cigarette Review
Photo: BAT
British American Tobacco (BAT) has called on a European Commission scientific committee to enhance the quality of its ongoing review into e-cigarettes.
As part of the European Commission’s forthcoming review of the Tobacco Products Directive, the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) Committee was tasked with producing a scientific review of the health effects of e-cigarettes. On Sept. 23, SHEER adopted its preliminary opinion. The public consultation on the preliminary opinion closed on Oct. 26.
In its response, BAT pointed out “major flaws with the methodology and conclusions.” The report, says BAT:
Fails to contextualize the risks of e-cigarettes relative to those associated with continued smoking.
Makes inaccurate claims regarding e-cigarettes many of which have been widely debunked by the scientific and public health communities.
Contains false assumptions that e-cigarette aerosol is the same as tobacco smoke.
Neglects landmark independent studies showing that many smokers view e-cigarettes as an acceptable alternative to smoking.
Relies on data from non-EU markets and studies on products pre-dating the current Tobacco Products Directive that are not relevant to the current EU context.
“If future regulations on vaping were to be based on the review as it stands now, they would be based on flawed evidence,” said Eric Sensi-Minautier, Vice President EU Affairs at BAT, in a statement. “We call on the SCHEER Committee to address the serious gaps in the review and reflect the weight of evidence supporting the harm reduction potential of e-cigarettes relative to continued smoking.”
November 2, 2020
China Shuts Down Juul Counterfeiter

Photo: Steveheap – Dreamstime.com
Chinese federal authorities have shut down a major manufacturer and international distributor of counterfeit Juul devices and pods, Juul Labs announced.
Following a lengthy investigation last year by Juul Labs’ brand protection team into counterfeit operations in the region, the company identified Shenzhen Kang Erqiang Electronic Technology Co. as a large player in the illicit global trade of counterfeit Juul products.
Chinese law enforcement subsequently seized 14,600 units of counterfeit Juul products, including counterfeit pods, devices, and packaging. A computer was also seized, which provided authorities with critical information regarding when the illicit operation was launched as well as a rough estimate of counterfeit sales.
Authorities determined that the counterfeit operation began sometime in 2018, and over a 16-month period, sold roughly $324,000 worth of counterfeit Juul products. The factory operator confessed to his involvement and was sentenced to three years and four months in prison, along with a fine equivalent to $163,487.
In a statement, Juul said it would continue to fight illegal sales of its products. “These black-market products present additional health and safety risks to adult consumers given that they often are produced in unsanitary conditions without manufacturing and quality controls and lack ingredient testing and product characterization. They also may contain harmful chemicals not present in other, authentic products. Furthermore, sales of counterfeit vapor products undermine underage-prevention measures through ease of access.”
November 2, 2020
Vapor Sector Concerned About U.K. Lockdown

Photo: Tobacco Reporter archive
The U.K. Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) expressed disappointment that the U.K. government failed to recognize the vapor sector as an essential business as it announced a new Covid-19 related lockdown.
John Dunne
“Whilst we recognize the predicament that the government faces, with data highlighting the worsening coronavirus situation across the country, as an industry we feel extremely disappointed that the vaping sector has once again been overlooked as one providing essential goods and services,” said John Dunne, director general at the UKVIA, in a statement.
“Only earlier this year Public Health England acknowledged the contribution played by vaping in helping smokers quit and recent research has again highlighted that vape products are much more effective than NRTs in helping smokers give up,” he said.
“The worse thing that we need to avoid happening is people being tempted back to smoking or not trying to quit as a result of the stress caused by this latest development.”
Dunne said it would be important for the vapor industry to reopen for business in early December—the target date for the end of the second lockdown—so it can maximize sales in the lead up to the Christmas holiday and and safeguard the thousands of people it employs in the manufacture, wholesale, quality control and retail of vapor products.
November 2, 2020
Altria Results Demonstrate Resilience

Photo: Altria Group
Altria Group’s net revenues rose by 3.9 percent to $7.12 billion and by 3.9 percent to $19.85 billion in the third quarter and the first nine months of 2020, respectively, when compared to the same periods in 2019.
“Altria continued to demonstrate its resilience during the third quarter while navigating the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Altria CEO Billy Gifford in a statement. “In the third quarter, our tobacco businesses delivered strong financial performance once again and we continued to make progress against our 10-year Vision.”
Altria noted that Philip Morris USA expects its heat-not-burn IQOS devices to be available for sale in select Charlotte, North Carolina, convenience stores sometime in November while Helix expanded the distribution of On! by an additional 16,000 stores with its modern oral product now available in 56,000 stores as of the end of the third quarter.
While tobacco analysts from Morgan Stanley noted that Altria’s third-quarter results were ahead of expectations, Philip Morris’ recent write-down of Juul was larger than expected.
November 1, 2020
Ellen Strahlman Joins Altria Board

Photo: Jakub Jirsák | Dreamstime
Ellen R. Strahlman will join the Altria Group board of directors Nov. 2, 2020, the company announced in a press release.
Strahlman served as executive vice president, research & development and chief medical officer of Becton, Dickinson and Co., a leading global medical technology company, from April 2013 until her retirement in January 2018.
Before joining Becton Dickinson and Co., she served as a senior advisor to the CEO at GlaxoSmithKline from April 2012 through March 2013, after previously serving as the senior vice president and chief medical officer from April 2008 through March 2012.
Prior to 2008, Strahlman held senior executive leadership roles in global product development and commercialization, medical affairs and business development at leading pharmaceutical and medical technology companies including Pfizer, Novartis, Virogen, Bausch & Lomb and Merck & Co. She currently serves as a director of Syncona having previously served as a director of Syncona Partners.
At Altria Group, Strahlman will be a member of the finance and innovation committees.
November 1, 2020