World’s largest tobacco company, Philip Morris, to stop selling cigarettes

Other cigarette companies, including British American Tobacco, are not far off producing rival versions.

Philip Morris was the only of the big four tobacco companies not to challenge a previous United Kingdom court ruling upholding the government’s plain packaging law, saying it preferred to focus on lower-risk products, which are a tiny market now, but should grow in coming years.

Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) is hoping that IQOS will soon become popular in the e-cigarette market.

I don’t think Philip Morris invented cigarettes.

Some longtime anti-smoking advocates are skeptical about Philip Morris’ claims and its motives for its recent moves.

It says trials – not yet externally verified – found the new cigarette had the same impact as quitting smoking.

Philip Morris, which is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, has put more than $3 billion into IQOS during the past 10 years, and the company plans to have this new product in 20 markets before January and 10 additional markets by the end of 2017, the WSJ noted. Philip Morris plans to expand to cities in 20 countries by year-end and as many as 35 countries in 2017.

However, Philip Morris faces increasing regulation for traditional cigarettes around the world, with many countries not only following the lead of the USA but also taking things a step further, introducing plain packaging, large warnings, and other restrictions meant to discourage consumers from smoking.

The recent product announcement has wider implications, tax revenue by start-up e-cigarette brands cut into tax revenue generated by the sales of tobacco products. “That’s why we have a multi-category approach”. It is different from the popular e-cigarettes, which use a liquid that is laced with nicotine. This method involves heating tobacco to consume it, rather than burning it.

PMI and BAT both have various other products in development.

The product uses real tobacco refills, but instead of burning it to produce hazardous smoke and tar, heats it to produce tobacco-flavored vapor. That technology is similar to one owned by Reynolds, which BAT would acquire if its planned acquisition goes through.

Smokers receive the same nicotine hit as traditional cigarettes, but up to 95 per cent less of the nasty toxins.

If a smoker switches to the electronic cigarette or another alternative that could be shown to lower health risks, this could help with overall public health, said the CEO at a healthy organization in the UK.