KUALA LUMPUR: Ever heard of something called “IQOS”? It is apparently the abbreviation for a device, said to mean, “I quit ordinary smoking!”
Indeed, a tobacco company may have found a way to keep smokers puffing without the authorities breathing down their necks.
Philip Morris International (PMI) recently introduced the heat stick, a heat-not-burn device it calls “Heets”.
Resembling a whiteboard marker, the device was developed to “roast” tobacco – resulting in the emission of dry vapour for the inhalation of its user – minus the exhalation of a cloud of smoke on each puff.
The heat stick produces light bursts of “dry” vapour that dissipates within seconds – unlike the emission of smoke from cigarettes or the “moist” vapour of vape devices and electronic cigarettes.
Users puff away by inserting a short stick of tobacco refill – which comes in a variety of flavours such as mint, fruit essence and other flavours – into the heating device.
Since its inception in the international market last year, the new device which is picking up popularity worldwide, and also in Malaysia, appears to be a way around the government’s countermeasures against cigarette consumption and public health concerns.
Heets is touted by its marketers as a “lesser devil” of tobacco consumption because it ostensibly reduces public exposure to second-hand smoke.
According to a news report by US-based Washington Post last year, PMI which spent USD$3 billion (RM12 billion) to develop the ‘Heets’ technology claims that heat sticks are a less toxic cigarette — and an innovation which can save lives and eliminate smoking in America.
As demand for the device rises, especially in Japan, PMI intends to multiply its manufacturing capacity from 15 billion units to 100 billion units by year-end, the article said.
However, American anti-smoking activists and health officials have voiced pressing concerns as to whether the new device will lower tobacco-related deaths, or if it is just substituting one harmful product for another.
The report said America’s leading health organisations and experts remain deeply suspicious of the claims made about heat sticks.
In Malaysia, heat sticks were introduced to the market by Philip Morris (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd here last month.
Although heat stick users are not very noticeable currently, probably due to the absence of smoke or simply being mistaken as “vapers”, it is learnt that Heets has been gaining traction subtly amongst the new generation of tobacco consumers.
Checks by theSun revealed that PMI heat stick sets and tobacco refill sticks are retailed here mainly by vape stores and upmarket tobacco dealers, at between RM260 and RM600, depending on what optional accessories are included.
Heets refills which are also available at petrol stations and convenience stores, retails at RM14 for a box of 20s – which is much cheaper than a box of premium cigarettes sold at RM17.40.
At its retail price, excise duty on each refill stick of the device is 40% lower at about 24 sen compared to a regular cigarette at 40 sen.
It was also observed that while the refill boxes carried a warning in Bahasa Malaysia that read “ tobacco products are hazardous to health and are addictive”, there were neither pictorial warnings of disease and health risks as required by local laws and commonly found on regular cigarette boxes.
Whether it really is a safer alternative to cigarettes is yet to be acertained, until more comprehensive research is conducted.
In the meantime, the sale and use of heat sticks appear to be unregulated.
Will heat sticks and its refills be subjected to heavier duties by the law to check the trend and discourage tobacco consumption?
For now, it appears like Malaysian lawmakers are either oblivious to this new trend of tobacco consumption, or are taking the wait-and-see approach as no discussion on the subject has been raised in Parliament as yet.
