Heated tobacco products use devices to heat tobacco sticks or capsules instead of burning cigarettes. They are not e-cigarettes, because the consumable contains tobacco. They are central to the smoke-free strategies of PMI, BAT, JTI and Imperial Brands.
Data: PMI/IQOS and PMI Science materials, BAT glo materials, JTI Ploom materials, Imperial Brands Pulze materials, and TobaccoTactics heated tobacco product profiles.
Heated tobacco products heat processed tobacco in sticks, capsules or similar consumables to generate an aerosol. The central difference from vaping is that heated tobacco products contain tobacco leaf or tobacco material, while e-cigarettes heat an e-liquid with or without nicotine.
This distinction matters legally and politically. Heated tobacco products are often marketed as reduced-exposure alternatives to cigarettes, but they remain tobacco products and are treated as such under many tobacco-control frameworks.
PMI’s IQOS is the dominant heated tobacco platform globally. BAT markets glo, JTI markets Ploom, and Imperial Brands markets Pulze. These systems are tied to proprietary consumables such as HEETS, TEREA, Neo, EVO, iD or equivalent sticks depending on market and generation.
Heated tobacco products sit at the centre of tobacco-company narratives about transformation. Companies use them to argue for differentiated taxation, modified-risk claims, flavour rules distinct from cigarettes, and regulatory access for “better alternatives”. Tobacco-control organisations scrutinise these claims because heated tobacco can also protect tobacco-company market share and maintain brand ecosystems.
For Tobacco Nexus, heated tobacco creates new entries: device brands, consumable brands, science programmes, regulatory submissions, lobbyists, retailers, events and researchers connected to product-specific evidence or policy claims.
This page was drafted from public sources. Company figures and product information should be checked against the linked annual reports, regulatory filings and official pages before citation, because financial data and product portfolios change over time.