Philip Morris Factory Halts Cigarette Production

In a move that appears to coincide with Philip Morris International’s previously stated commitment to work with governments to phase-out conventional cigarettes, the company has retooled one of its cigarette factories to begin manufacturing HEETS instead of cigarettes.

HEETS are the tobacco sticks used to refill PMI’s heat-not-burn device, the iQOS. For reference, iQOS operates on a similar principle as most modern vaporizers and electronic cigarettes as it heats tobacco to the point at which a vapor or aerosol is produced, which occurs at lower temperatures than combustion. But unlike e-cigarettes, it uses actual tobacco, not nicotine infused e-liquid.

In regards to the factory no longer manufacturing cigarettes, which is run by Greek PMI affiliate Papastratos in Aspropyrgos, Andre Calantzopoulos, the CEO of Philip Morris International, said in a statement that the factory’s retooling for smoke-free alternative products and shuttering of cigarette production marks “a history day” for PMI. He added that the company “will continue to convert existing sites and invest in new facilities to answer global adult smoker demand for better alternatives to cigarettes.”

“This is a historic day for our company. Papastratos is the first of our factories to end cigarette production and fully shift to manufacturing our smoke-free alternatives. We will continue to convert existing sites and invest in new facilities to answer global adult smoker demand for better alternatives to cigarettes. We made a commitment to provide all people who would otherwise continue smoking with potentially less harmful products. The momentum around this revolutionary change for the benefit of the world’s 1.1 billion smokers, public health and society at large is growing, and we will continue working towards a smoke-free future.”

By PMI’s estimate, nearly 5 million adult smokers will have switched to their IQOS device by January of 2018.

In other news, the IQOS is undergoing a review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which will largely decide its fate within the U.S. marketplace. The company is also reportedly expected to finalize an advertising deal with the Ducati motorcycle company to show its IQOS logo on Ducati’s motorcycles in the upcoming MotoGP.