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Tobacco firms see Japan as a test ground for vaping products, as
e-cigarettes using nicotine-laced liquid are not allowed under
the country's pharmaceutical regulations.
While Marlboro maker Philip Morris's heat-not-burn "IQOS"
tobacco device is already enjoying strong demand in Japan, Japan
Tobacco's launch of its "Ploom Tech" product has run into delays
due to production shortages.
Japan Tobacco, a former state monopoly still a third owned by
the government, will start selling Ploom Tech at its flagship
shops on Thursday and 100 tobacco stores on July 10 in Tokyo.
The company has said it plans to sell it nationwide in the first
half of the next year.
The company test-launched the product in southwestern city of
Fukuoka in March last year and at its online shop. It had to
temporarily suspend sales after demand overwhelmed supply. Japan
Tobacco said it had sold 250,000 Ploom Tech devices by the end
of last year.
Unlike Philip Morris's IQOS, Ploom Tech does not directly heat
tobacco leaves. Instead, the battery-powered device generates
vapor that goes through a capsule packed with tobacco leaves.
Japan Tobacco said the mechanism produces less smell than
"heat-not-burn" products, and the company hopes it will be a
strong differentiating factor against rivals. It said Ploom Tech
emits smell a five-hundredth of a conventional cigarette.
The company said about 80 smoke-free restaurants, cafes and
other public places in Fukuoka allow the use of Ploom Tech. In
Tokyo, there are about 120 such facilities, it said.
"The number of smoke-free places that allow Ploom Tech is
increasing," Chito Sasaki, president of the company's Japanese
tobacco business, told reporters.
(Reporting by Taiga Uranaka; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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