What are heated tobacco products?

There are several varieties of heated tobacco products, some of which are promoted as “heat-not-burn” goods.

Electronic heating components are used in certain heated tobacco products.

Read More: Buy heets online

Certain tobacco sticks, plugs, or capsules are heated to a specific temperature. This is the operation of the electrically heated tobacco product that is allowed for sale in the US.

Certain methods involve heating liquids to produce an emission, which is then directed through a tobacco plug to extract nicotine and taste from the tobacco.

Some contain a sealed portion of the apparatus that may heat loose tobacco on its own or in combination with cannabis (marijuana) flower buds.

Some have flavorings added to them.

Some let consumers adjust things like the temperature.

Certain heated tobacco products are shaped and sized like standard cigarettes, but instead of a carbon tip, they contain glass fibers wrapped around it, which the user warms using a match or lighter. The sale of this kind of goods in the US is permitted under federal law.

Are heated tobacco products and electronic cigarettes the same thing?

No. The tobacco leaf itself is heated in heated tobacco products. In contrast, e-cigarettes heat liquids that usually contain flavorings and other substances along with nicotine that is obtained from tobacco.

Are goods made from heated tobacco less dangerous than ordinary cigarettes?

In general, there are less dangerous substances in the emissions produced by heated tobacco products than there are in ordinary cigarette smoke. That does not imply that heated tobacco products are secure, nevertheless.

According to research, heated tobacco products and their emissions include additional dangerous components not found in ordinary cigarettes in addition to many of the same toxic compounds found in conventional cigarettes.

To find out if individuals who smoke cigarettes can lower their risk of tobacco-related diseases by switching entirely to heated tobacco products, more study is required. Research from many nations indicates that the majority of adult smokers who use heated tobacco products have not given up cigarettes. According to surveys conducted among young adults in the United States, they also use heated tobacco products in addition to other tobacco products. Multiple tobacco product use is linked to a higher risk of nicotine dependency and negative health outcomes.

Only one heated tobacco product system (IQOS and three of its tobacco-containing Heatstick products) are permitted to be sold as modified risk tobacco products as of February 2022 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The first tobacco products to be ordered to undergo “exposure modification” were these ones. These particular products could be advertised with the idea that someone who changes completely to IQOS from ordinary cigarettes might lessen their exposure to dangerous substances.

Regarding other heated tobacco products or secondhand exposure to these items’ emissions, no comparable claims may be made. Furthermore, the IQOS producer is not permitted to state that taking IQOS lowers the risk of illness, that the FDA has recommended or approved the product, or that the FDA believes the product is safe for consumer use.

Who is making use of heated tobacco goods?

In the US, these things are brand-new. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States has approved the sale of only IQOS and Eclipse heated tobacco products as of February 2022. Globally, sales of more heated tobacco products are rising.

In 2017, the CDC started monitoring adult use of heated tobacco products in the United States. At that time, 2.7% of individuals who currently smoked normal cigarettes and 0.7% of adults overall said they had never tried a heated tobacco product.

When 2.4% of adults—including 6.7% of those who now smoke normal cigarettes—reported to the CDC in 2018 that they had ever used a heated tobacco product, the number of cases of heated tobacco product usage increased.

In a separate 2019 study, the percentage of individuals who reported using heated tobacco products and using e-cigarettes was greater than the percentage of adults who reported using cigarettes.

1.0% of middle and high school students in the United States in 2023 reported using heated tobacco products within the previous 30 days.

What’s the final result?

Users of heated tobacco products can inhale nicotine into their lungs by heating processed tobacco leaf. IQOS and Eclipse are among the brands of heated tobacco products that are legal for sale in the US.

To fully comprehend the immediate and long-term health consequences of heated tobacco products, more study is required.

It is dangerous to use any kind of tobacco product, including heated ones. They are particularly dangerous for children, teenagers, young adults, expectant mothers, and individuals who do not now use tobacco products.

There is no scientific evidence that heated tobacco products can assist cigarette smokers in giving up the habit.

A recent analysis examines the advantages and hazards of heated tobacco.

Products for heating tobacco are made to do so without burning or emitting smoke. Following the 2016 debut of an electronic gadget called IQOS, the demand for these items skyrocketed in Japan. Although heated tobacco products are now sold in many nations, there are still uncertainties regarding their impact on health and cigarette smoking, therefore we looked at the data.

Read More: heatsticks

Eleven research including more than 2,600 participants are included in our latest evaluation. The main conclusion is that those who shifted from smoking cigarettes to heated tobacco were exposed to less dangerous chemicals than those who continued to smoke, but they were exposed to more of these poisons than those who gave up tobacco use completely.

This reduced exposure was observed for several toxic chemicals associated with heart disease, cancer, and respiratory issues. This suggests that moving from cigarettes to heated tobacco may lower the risk of contracting these illnesses, but further research is needed to make this determination. The trials were all brief, and people usually require some time to acquire ailments linked to tobacco use.

Nevertheless, the data to far supports the particular dangers associated with smoking. We know that breathing the hazardous compounds produced by burning tobacco is the primary cause of the adverse consequences of cigarettes, which kill half of all habitual smokers. We would anticipate that the danger would be reduced for heated tobacco products because they are intended to prevent burning tobacco.

If heated tobacco products lower risk and assist users in quitting regular cigarettes without drawing in users who would not otherwise use tobacco products, then public health might gain.

We were unable to locate any research examining the possibility of helping smokers quit by providing them with hot tobacco products. However, we discovered two Japanese papers examining the impact of IQOS on cigarette sales. Both discovered that the introduction of IQOS hastened the decline in cigarette sales, indicating that heated tobacco products may take the place of cigarettes rather than enhance them.

However, it’s also plausible that fewer individuals stopped smoking since most people reduced their usage but didn’t completely give up. Giving up smoking completely yields greater health benefits than cutting back on smokes.

A comparison with electronic cigarettes

Another category of nicotine products that has seen significant growth in popularity recently is e-cigarettes, sometimes known as vapes. Products that include heated tobacco leaf are heated, whereas e-cigarettes heat a liquid that usually contains nicotine. The science and regulations governing these items varies greatly. Since e-cigarettes have been around longer than heated tobacco, the advantages and disadvantages of using them have been well documented.

E-cigarettes, as opposed to heated tobacco, have been demonstrated to assist users in quitting traditional cigarettes. If e-cigarettes clear the required regulatory barriers, they may even be made available to smokers in the UK in the not-too-distant future.

However, some nations, like Japan, have put in place regulations that effectively forbid the selling of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, even while heated tobacco products are still easily accessible. Since heated tobacco is the only accessible possibly lower-risk alternative to cigarettes, this may help to explain why it has become so popular in Japan. In nations like the US and the UK, where the e-cigarette industry was well-established when IQOS began, heated tobacco usage is still uncommon.

Products from the cigarette business, which has a history of manipulating science to downplay the dangers of cigarettes, dominate the heated tobacco market. On the other hand, a large number of e-cigarette producers are independent of tobacco businesses. While e-cigarettes have been the subject of several independent investigations, all the safety studies regarding heated tobacco in our analysis were carried out by cigarette makers.

The hunt for cigarettes that aren’t as dangerous

According to tobacco firms, they have been looking for a less dangerous cigarette for decades. Certain initiatives, like cigarette filters with air holes added, have backfired.

The e-cigarette emerged as the first non-pharmaceutical nicotine substitute that gained widespread acceptance among smokers worldwide. However, e-cigarettes are free of tobacco, and many of their producers are independent of cigarette businesses. Instead, a large number of tobacco businesses concentrated on creating heated tobacco devices, a market that they could control more tightly thanks to patents.

Sales of electronic heated tobacco devices shot up in South Korea and Japan in 2014 when Philip Morris International brought IQOS to test markets. This was followed by the launch of similar devices by other tobacco businesses. Currently, some of the most well-known include Ploom by Japan Tobacco International and Glo by British American Tobacco.

The majority of studies on the safety of heated tobacco are from Philip Morris International, which filed an application to market IQOS in the US as a “reduced exposure” and “reduced risk” tobacco product. The US approved the marketing of IQOS as a reduced exposure device in 2019. “Completely switching from conventional cigarettes to the IQOS system significantly reduces your body’s exposure to harmful or potentially harmful chemicals,” the review’s findings stated.

“The evidence is not sufficient to demonstrate substantiation of either of the claims about the reduced risk of tobacco-related disease or harm,” according to the rejection letter for the reduced risk application. To be certain about the health effects of heated tobacco use, additional research is required.