Tobacco

Gama Innovation Award – Product MANCHESTER – 15th December 2015: The Gama Innovation Award – Product for December goes to Lucky Strike Double Click Cigarettes, a new flavour-changing launch from BAT in Poland. An attempt to make cigarette smoking a more interactive experience, Lucky Strike Double Click Cigarettes allow smokers to choose from two different flavours within the same cigarette. By clicking one of two different ‘buttons’ on the cigarette, consumers …

Tobacco firm Imperial Tobacco has announced its preliminary results for the fiscal year ended 30 September 2014, posting a decline in total adjusted revenue of 6% to $6,576 million ($10,514 million). The company, however, pointed to “underlying volumes of Growth Brands up 7%, driven by organic growth and brand migrations” and “strong performance in Growth Markets with underlying net revenue up 7%”. Commenting on the results, Alison Cooper, Chief Executive, …

British American Tobacco (BAT) has reported its financial results for the  9 months ended 30 September 2014, posting what it described as “a good performance in a challenging environment”. The results demonstrated continued strong growth of the Global Drive Brands, good market share performance in key markets and a 1% decrease in volume, the company said. Revenue grew by 2.4% at constant rates of exchange, however movements in many of …

Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG)  has announced the acqusition of all brands belonging to US-based cigar firm Torano Family Cigar Company. The transaction, the terms and conditions of which were not disclosed, will see Scandinavian Tobacco acquire the entire Torano Family portfolio, assuming responsibility for ownership and distribution. STG said the acquisition would strengthen the position of General Cigar, a wholly-owned subsidiary of STG and the US market leader for handmade …

Japan Tobacco International (JTI)  is expanding its range of rolling tobacco with a new premium Signature Blend line under the Amber Leaf brand which is made with organic Brazilian tobacco. Amber Leaf is produced by the Gallaher Group, a division of JTI, and is sold in countries such as  Japan, the USA and the United Kingdom. Launched  on the 1st August, Amber Leaf Signature Blend comes in two pack formats: …

British American Tobacco (BAT) is to introduce a new ‘charge-on-the-go’ e-cigarette in a bid to tackle the problem of battery life in the category, Bloomberg reports. Due for launch in August, the new version of Vype eSticks can be continuously charged via the packaging, which users plug in overnight. Kingsley Wheaton, BAT’s director of regulatory affairs, said: “One of the problems with small batteries in small e-cigs is that the …

The latest figures release from Ash (Action on Smoking and Health), a health charity, has shown that in the past two years the number of electronic cigarette users has tripled in the UK. Their research revealed an estimated increase from 700,000 to 2.1 million users in the period between 2012 and 2014. The report also shows close to two-thirds of users were smokers and one third were ex-smokers, an increase …

STG UK (Scandinavian Tobacco Group UK) has announced that it is to launch its new Break brand of cigarillos with which it is aiming to open up a new super value for money (SVFM) segment in the cigar category. Break Filter Cigarillos, which will be available from May, are claimed to offer a smooth filtered smoke. The mini cigars are described as coming with an inbuilt filter as well as …

Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) announced its plans to close its Bergen op Zoom manufacturing facility in the Netherlands. The company said the decision was down to dwindling demand for traditional smoking products in Europe because of an increase in health awareness, a weak economy and higher taxes on smoking products. The closure will result in 1,230 job losses, but production will be shifted to other factories in Europe with …

The Guardian reports that an advert for Ten Motives e-cigarette advert in the UK has been banned after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that its claims to be “the healthier smoking alternative” could not be substantiated. A leaflet from Ten Motives also claimed that “because it contains no tar or cancerous toxins, you can still enjoy smoking without worrying about the effects on your health”. The company argued that …

With effect from 6 February, Katharina Poschl has replaced her father Dr. Ernst Poschl as one of two managing directors at the leading global snuff company Poschl Tobacco Group. With global market share of about 50% in snuff tobacco, the company also produces pipe and rolling tobaccos. The company’s revenue in 2013 was $634 million. Dr. Poschl had been with the company since 1980, serving for 36 years in total. …

Greek-owned tobacco company Karelia increased its sales by 8% in 2013, the Athens News Agency has reported. The vast majority of its annual cigarette production was exported, bringing €170 million to the country in foreign currency, according to sources. Speaking at an annual employee event, CEO Andreas Karelia is said to have commented: “For the first time in our history, we sold a record 16.8 billion cigarettes in Greece and …

The European Parliament has provisionally agreed to a new directive that will impose tighter restrictions on tobacco manufacturers in Europe. Among the measures announced in the directive are the banning of menthol cigarettes, 10-packs, and smaller packs of roll-your-own tobacco, as well an increase in the size of health warnings to 65% of packaging. The directive also proposes making it compulsory to record and keep track of the movement of …