Heat-Not-Burn

As mentioned previously, I’ve found another study to have a look at. This time, it isn’t about vaping (shock!). Instead, it’s about that divisive product - Heat-not-burn.

Considering that whenever heat-not-burn gets mentioned by a vaper (such as myself) on social media the response is, sadly, predictable. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog (notably here, and here) heat-not-burn products are essential to give smokers (and the odd vaper) the widest array of choices possible. Let the market do what it does best.

There’s always something, isn’t there? Last year, back in March, there was a “bit of a kerfuffle” in the vaping community which led to a lot of name calling and general unpleasantness.

So much so that this post was needed. As was this one.

Sadly, nothing seems to have changed as it has all kicked off, once again. The only saving grace is that it doesn’t appear to have been as widespread. Yet.

When Theresa May became Prime Minister it was thought that the downward spiral of anti-lifestyle policies wouldn’t accelerate. Fast forward three years and we now have this:

Smoking must be stamped out in the UK within 11 years, according to timeline set out in ambitious new Government plan

Daily Mail headline July 8th 2019

The release of this plan was delayed, for various reasons, but is now published as Mrs May’s lasting “legacy”.

This will probably piss a lot of people off and frankly, I don’t particularly care so, I’m just going to say it:

If a vape shop wants to sell heat-not-burn in the form of IQOS, GLO or any other HnB product, have at it. If you abide by the relevant rules and regulations, go for it.

For one, it’ll give IQOS users a broad array of places to get HEETS and the other accessories for the product, and that is no bad thing.

Ever since I tried an early heat-not-burn device when I attended the Global Forum on Nicotine (GFN) I have tried to keep an eye on the developing technology. At the end of the day, it’s really a simplistic concept. Instead of setting fire to loose-leaf tobacco wrapped in a slow-burning paper, it’s simply heated in a not too dissimilar way that an e-cig heats e-liquid.

As with the now popular e-cigarette, heat-not-burn didn’t exactly get off to a rip-roaring start. The device we recognise as an e-cig today is due to commercial viability, whether Hon Lik found the original 1963 patent and based his work on that, or came up with a different approach altogether is neither here nor there. The early devices didn’t take the market by storm, and neither did the early HnB products.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the news is awash with an announcement from Philip Morris saying that their Heat-not-Burn product iQOS is coming to the UK. London specifically - for the moment at least.

Well, so what you might be asking, why has a new product launch attracted so much press? The answer to that is two-fold. One, it’s a new product from a tobacco company. We all know how much folks are beginning to despise the tobacco industry - particularly those in tobacco control and public health. Two, it sits in the middle-ish of the “risk-profile” (if such a thing is to be believed) with combustibles at the top, abstinence at the bottom, NRT, e-cigarettes, and snus all feature.