The Phillip Morris International has finally launched the much talked about series IQOS. It is a smokeless cigarette that can be described as a middle ground between the standard and the electronic cigarettes. The new device uses real cigarettes to burn. The cigarette is heated and it produces steam with smoke flavor, instead of the production of the dangerous smoke and tar.
The e-cigarettes have been proved to be a viable alternative solution for smoking for many many people who want to satisfy their passion for nicotine through a relevant mechanism in hand and mouth. However, there are also many smokers who find the taste of a real smoke so difficult to be replaced by an electronic cigarette. The Phillip Morris International hopes to sell its new range IQOS of smokeless cigarette to the smokers who take care of their health.
On November 21, Philip Morris began the production of the new device in Milan in Italy. The company made the experiment and it released the new device on the other side of the planet, in Nagoya in Japan.
The CEO of Philip Morris André Calantzopoulos believes that is “the biggest opportunity of the company’s development in the coming years.”
The IQOS has a sprayer but it differs from the modern electronic cigarettes in terms of functionality.
It uses real cigarettes instead of a fluid replacement. These cigarettes are shorter than the real ones . They are heated to high temperatures, but they are not burnt. These small cigarettes which are called «HeatSticks», can be inserted in IQOS heater, leaving out the filter. Even the name of Marlboro is written on the filter.
The tobacco cigarettes are burnt at about 800 degrees Celsius, but the IQOS device heats the tobacco just at 350 degrees and it gives a pleasant smoke flavor but not pitch. The tobacco is impregnated with propylene glycol that aids in the production of steam.
According to the statements of the PMI, the IQOS device is the result of over ten years of research and development and about 2 billion dollars have been spent in investments.
We can say that the company has a sensitivity to it, especially since the traditional sales of tobacco products have been declined in developed countries, in recent years. The prolonged anti-smoking campaigns for the public health, the increasing of the tobacco taxes and of the marketing constraints make the development field of cigarettes to become difficult.
The success of IQOS device depends on the reducing of the risk of the traditional cigarette which is supposed it offers. The allegations and the evidence that electronic cigarettes are really safer than normal ones are many.
Investigations are underway in Switzerland, and the results are expected in the next year. At present «HeatSticks» subject to the same level of tobacco taxation, like the conventional cigarettes, and their packaging contains a clear warning that “they may be dangerous for your health.”
Today the devices are produced in a pilot plant in Bologna in Italy, and it is in the testing phase.
The Philip Morris already has invested 600 million euros in the factory in Italy. In the next two years the company plans to spread the IQOS device and the «HeatSticks» on all over the world.
Translates: Kyriaki Solomonidou
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