Smoking Alternatives: A Comprehensive Overview

After years of being glorified in advertising, glamorized by Hollywood and gambled on in politics, cigarette smoking gradually lost its charm towards adult smokers. The latter came about during the twentieth century when people became increasingly aware of its irreversible health effects.

With the decline of traditional forms of tobacco smoking, including cigarettes, hookah, pipes, and cigars, comes the rise of the modern-day smoking alternatives. As technological progress and emerging players continue to gain more popularity within the market today, adult smokers are getting the chance to choose between a plethora of smoking alternatives.

These alternatives come in various types: from both disposable cigarette substitutes and their rechargeable counterparts to vape pods, pens, and mods, all the way to tobacco-heating devices, such as the category pioneer, IQOS. Just like their name suggests, such substitutes, and also sometimes dubbed e-cigarettes, are designed to mimic the exact look and feel of tobacco cigarettes and come in two categories: disposable one-piece or rechargeable two-piece kits. The essence of such products is the sensor located in the mouthpiece, which detects when a draw is taken and releases vapor accordingly. Similar to such functionality, albeit more expensive, Vape Pods work similarly to e-cigarettes, but instead of operating a cartomizer, they offer a disposable pod, housing both the atomizer and the e-liquid. Both products run on the basis of a rechargeable battery coupled with basic USB charging abilities and offer options that include physical buttons or button-less options.

With expanded battery life, increased vapor production and a wider variety of flavors, the standard vape pen is a three-piece device consisting of a battery, a tank to hold the e-liquid, and removable atomizers. Such products offer the convenience of allowing the detachment of the atomizer’s parts and reassembly, making cleaning and maintenance all the more convenient. Certain Hybrid models have the feature of heating the tobacco infused liquid and allow the vapor to pass through granulated tobacco, for a cigarettelike experience.

Offering a larger battery life than Vape Pens are Vape Mods also known as AVP (Advanced Personal Vaporizer), which utilize the direct lung approach of vaping and provide more customization options allowing users to control options that vary from temperature to vaping volume. These devices come in different shapes and sizes ranging from a small box to a large cylinder but are still considered bulky compared to other e-cigarettes.

We finally delve into Tobacco Heating Devices, in which tobacco is heated to an electronically controlled temperature (usually under 350 degrees celcius), to generate a nicotinecontaining aerosol with a tobacco taste that users can inhale with significantly lower levels of toxic chemicals. These devices warm tobacco sticks to a temperature that’s high enough to release an aerosol but not hot enough to cause combustion.

Pioneering the modern smoking experience is IQOS, Philip Morris International’s (PMI) flagship Heat-not-burn device where tobacco meets technology. The combustion-free device is a new way of enjoying the true taste of tobacco with 95% lower levels of harmful chemicals* by providing much of the experience smokers look for in traditional smoking (taste, sensory experience, ritual characteristics, and nicotine delivery). While IQOS is not risk-free, it delivers nicotine which is addicitive, just like all alternatives above, it has significantly less impact on indoor air quality than burning traditional cigarettes, and leaves a more pleasant aftertaste and better breath quality due to its noncombustion nature.

Based on the totality of scientific evidence available on IQOS to date and the revolutionary technology behind it, switching entirely to the device is likely to present less harm than cigarette smoking and a drastically reduced risk of second-hand smoking.

The latter continuously emulates the real tobacco taste with cigarette-like satisfaction, prompting over eight million smokers worldwide to make the switch to IQOS.

While the ultimate aim remains for smokers to revoke the habit for better health, a product like IQOS remains a winning alternative to adult smokers who would otherwise continue smoking.

The continued innovation behind IQOS has recently culminated in the advancement of both the IQOS 3.0 -sleeker and smaller in design- and it’s MULTI counterpart, which allows adult smokers to use the device ten times consecutively. Yet, at the heart of IQOS lies much more than innovation towards regular cigarette substitutes.

Today, the future of alternative smoking technologies remains open to even more progress as research on the topic is expanded worldwide in the ultimate aim of reducing risks, increasing conveniences, and propelling the world further towards an environment free from the health repercussions associated with traditional smoking.