As the market of tobacco products is shrinking due to various health concerns and the low social acceptability of smoking products, most tobacco companies are highly concerned about their future.
On top of that, there are growing tobacco regulations in the US and all other Western European countries, as a result, many tobacco companies are coming out with a few NGPs which are ‘Next Generation Products’.
Some of them were snus and e-cigarettes. Now another new addition is HTP (Heated Tobacco Products), which is being marketed by these companies in certain middle and low-income countries. Now, it is also available in the USA and one can get them from the website heated.pro which is a product based on Swiss technology.
Tobacco companies are trying to label it as a “reduced-risk” product. The companies are claiming that such new products will not involve any burning or combustion like existing cigarettes.
However, it should not be forgotten that the tobacco industry is known for making false claims. Their earlier products marketed as “mild” and “light” cigarettes were not safer as compared to other cigarettes. Besides, HTPs are also marketed all over the world by adopting a certain way so that they can appeal mostly to the younger generation.
In the year 2017, the British Government had classified these HTPs into the following 3 categories:
- Processed tobacco that is heated directly for producing vapor;
- Processed tobacco that is designed for getting heated within a certain vaporizer;
- Devices that can produce vapor from any non-tobacco sources and the vapor will then be passed over certain processed tobacco for flavoring the vapor.
In the year 2020, the WHO also identified the same 3 types, with another addition of certain new carbon-tipped devices.
What are these heated tobacco products?
HTPs are a kind of tobacco product that needs a certain electronic device for heating a pod or stick of compressed tobacco. By definition, the stick is a tobacco pod or a cigarette, which is heated up to a temperature that is high enough for producing an inhalable aerosol. However, the temperature will be below what is needed for full combustion.
The HTP system of every manufacturer is fully integrated with a heating device. These heated cigarettes for each system have to be used together. The heated pods and cigarettes in each system are available in many different flavors including fruit and menthol.
HTP devices are always quite different from manufacturer to manufacturer. For example, there are some devices that will allow users for controlling at what temperature tobacco will be heated and also the aerosol and flavor emitted.
You cannot call HTPs e-cigarettes. They produce after heating tobacco a nicotine-containing aerosol, whereas e-cigarettes will contain no tobacco, but only use a certain nicotine-containing liquid for producing aerosol.
Generally, the price of these heated cigarettes or pods is equivalent to any premium cigarettes, hence lower taxation of such products can only increase profit for a tobacco company. Taxes on these heated pods and cigarettes should be as high as taxes charged on conventional cigarettes.
