Quitting smoking is quite possibly one of the hardest things to do. The cravings that each smoker around the world feels – that need to take a drag after a big meal or while out with friends or when you have to use the bathroom – is a hard one to shake. However, the health benefits of giving up cigarettes are almost immediate, with the CDC noting that from as early as one month after giving up cigarettes people cough less and have fewer experiences of shortness of breath and the risk of cancers of the mouth, throat and voice box drops by more than half after ten years.
Philip Morris International (PMI), the company that brings cigarette brands such as L&M and Malboro to TT, wants to help people quit, using their smokeless tobacco products.
The company has a smoke-free vision that would see 50 per cent of its revenue coming from smoke free products by 2025.
In a conversation with the Business Day at the PMI’s offices in Trincity, general manager Sheldon Wood said that while quitting is ultimately the decision that is made by an individual’s choice, PMI’s brands will give people the opportunity to enjoy the same flavour and enjoyment of a cigarette but in a way that would be 95 per cent safer than smoking.
Betting on smoke-free
One would think that it would be counter-intuitive for a tobacco company to transition from their main revenue earner, but Wood said it was part of the company’s overall vision to make smoking safer in particular for the 250,000 legal-aged smokers in TT.
“The reality of the situation is we are in the cigarette business where there are over a billion smokers, but we are betting on our smoke-free vision,” Wood said.
“The first thing that we always advocate is, if you are smoking, the best thing to do is stop. We don’t shy away from that but there is also the reality that there are legal-aged smokers who make a conscious decision to continue. Our vision is to provide these people who make that decision, to give them a less harmful alternative.”
One of those items already on the TT market is the IQOS brand, which uses induction to heat tobacco without burning, thus releasing a smokeless, nicotine-containing vapour. Woods said that the company has not yet launched its vape products but intends to launch them within the next 12 to 24 months.
The main difference between smoking a cigarette and using smokeless options; whether vaping, smokeless tobacco aerosol or using oral products like chewing tobacco; is that it significantly reduces the levels of potentially harmful chemicals taken in with cigarettes.
For example, the IQOS heated tobacco products produces 98.9 per cent less carbon monoxide, 98.2 per cent less nitrous oxides and 89.4 per cent less formaldehyde than cigarettes.
On the other hand, smokeless options are not without their own risks.
The US National Library of Medicine indicated that exposure to smokeless aerosol products could exaggerate airway inflammation, could have the potential to increase oxidative stress and could increase respiratory tract infectio
