Japan’s E-Cig Ban Creates Opportunity For HNB Products To Flourish

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In the island nation of Japan, regulations that essentially equate to a government ban on electronic cigarettes that use nicotine-laced liquid known as e-liquid has created an opportunity for heat-not-burn (HNB) products that heat tobacco to the point of vaporization, avoiding higher temperatures at which combustion occurs.
For reference, when smoking conventional cigarettes, combustion is the process that releases smoke. In the case of HNBs and vaporizers, such devices heat up their blends to the point at which vapor is created. In many cases, the truth of the matter is that the “vapor” created by some of these devices is in fact an aerosol, not vapor. Currently in the country, cigarette sales are falling and the reason is simple: many of the countries inhabitants are switching over to heat-not-burn devices that some believe to be less harmful than their conventional cigarette counterparts. Japan Tobacco, which the Japanese government owns one-third of, has forecast a 13.4 percent loss in cigarette sales in the country for 2017 – this in comparison to the year prior, 2016. Reuters reports that the company’s forecast for 2017 places their cigarette sales in the country at 92 billion.

In light of the ban on nicotine e-cigs in the country, Philip Morris International (PMI) has introduced a heat-not-burn device to market in Japan, an HNB that it calls the IQOS. Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which owns the San Francisco-based vaporizer startup Ploom, has released its own smokeless tobacco product to the Japanese market, Ploom Tech. British American Tobacco (BAT), the big tobacco company behind such vaping brands as Blu e-cigs, had no intent of being left out of the lucrative HNB market in Japan, which is why the company released its own smokeless tobacco product known as Glo. With cigarette sales in the country on the decline and interest in HNB devices on the rise, it should come as no surprise to find that new heat-not-burn products are on the horizon. Whether or not regulations will prevent the release of such future HNB devices remains unclear, but if regulations allow, new HNB products are likely just around the bend.

Read more at: https://vaporizerwire.com/japan-e-cig-ban-creates-opportunity-for-hnb-products/

Recreational Pot Is Officially Legal in California 1st Jan 2018

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OAKLAND, Calif. — Retail cannabis shops in California opened their doors on Monday for the first time, inaugurating what proponents say will become the world’s largest market for legalized recreational marijuana.

A transaction that remains illegal in many parts of the country seemed almost banal on Monday for the customers at a dispensary in Oakland who picked out their marijuana, showed their driver’s licenses and walked into the brisk morning air with their drugs in a paper bag.

“This is a whole new world opening up,” said Diana Gladden, 48, who bought marijuana for herself and her aging parents. “My mother, a very strict Southern Baptist, now thinks it’s O.K. because it’s legal.”

One customer left with more than $1,000 worth of cannabis in a large grocery bag.

Medical marijuana has been legal in California for more than two decades but the arrival of full legalization in the state is a milestone for the nation’s fast-growing cannabis industry. Pot is now sold legally down the entire length of the West Coast, plus Alaska.

A slow and halting rollout of California’s new cannabis regulations limited the number of shops offering the drug on Monday to just a handful of cities across the state, including Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose and San Diego. But more municipalities, including San Francisco and Los Angeles, are expected to issue licenses soon.

Alex Traverso, a spokesman for California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control, said around 100 dispensaries in the state were licensed to sell recreational cannabis on Monday.

Outside the dispensary in Oakland nearly 200 people waited in line before dawn for the 6 a.m. start of sales.

“Happy New Year!” Steve DeAngelo, the executive director of the dispensary, shouted through a bullhorn. “We’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time.”

But in a state where marijuana has been widely available for so long, the enthusiasm was relatively muted. Outside a dispensary in neighboring Berkeley only a handful of customers waited in line before sales began.

California is the sixth state to introduce the sale of recreational marijuana, after Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada. Massachusetts and potentially Maine are expected to begin sales this year.

Unlike the other states that have legalized, California has a vast industry producing the drug, much of which is illegally sold across state lines. By one estimate, California produces seven times more marijuana than it consumes.

This is your body on weed

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Philip Morris, submitted an application to the FDA for new tobacco vaporizer.

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Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro cigarettes, submitted an application to the FDA on Tuesday seeking approval for its new tobacco vaporizer. The iQOS device, as it’s currently called, works on the same principle as the Pax, wherein the ground plant matter is gently heated until the active ingredients are vaporized, rather than burned with an open flame. Philip Morris claims that the vapor has 90 percent fewer harmful chemicals than normal cigarette smoke.

Rather than use a propylene glycol solution, the iQOS relies on replaceable real tobacco leaf cartridges which are shaped like conventional cigarettes. These “heat sticks” plug into the plastic heating element to produce a 500 degree F vapor and last around a dozen puffs.

If approved, the iQOS could profoundly shake up the US vaporizer market, which is currently dominated by modular, e-liquid-based vapes. The iQOS’ ease of use, low cost (heat stick packs cost around $6 on average), and brand familiarity are a potent marketing combination. The iQOS is already being sold in a number of foreign markets, including Japan where it has already captured nearly 2.4 percent of the market there.

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