As novel nicotine products grow in popularity, it’s only a matter of time before false links are drawn between them and the use of some other substance, be it cannabis or combustible tobacco or saturated fats…

It’s fascinating to speculate on how the pouch market will develop. Who will use them, and why, and what will they replace?…

Is there any connection between people’s knowledge of reduced-risk products and their attitudes toward them? Our third survey of European Parliament members’ views will show how any such connection may have altered…

After the victory of right-wing parties in Sweden’s very close election this week, the country’s tobacco alternatives sector – and its customers – may well be breathing a sigh of relief…

Another day, another judgement in the saga of the US vapour industry’s cases against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – but what might the conflicting decisions mean for other smoking alternatives?…

While nicotine pouches are classed in the EU as food products with an unauthorised ingredient, it could be argued that there is nothing novel about tobacco, or nicotine, in food – and it could have an important future too…

Scientific research into novel nicotine alternatives has so far largely focused on vaping, but that is likely to change as the products become more widespread…

The latest financial report from Japan Tobacco International tells a tale that should make bedroom and boardroom reading for government officials, public health departments and regulators everywhere…

You can almost hear the judge’s sigh as he wrote his latest opinion in the long-running litigation between the FDA and the cigar industry over the latter’s treatment by the 2016 final deeming rule. Here we go again……

Trust a politician to come up with a memorable soundbite, a catchy slogan or a simple statement that leaps out at you from the headlines. Top prize this week to Malaysia’s health minister Khairy Jamaluddin…

Could the Khan report, which endorses the UK’s positive attitude towards e-cigs also have lessons for the rest of the world, even for countries where there is far more hostility toward novel tobacco products?…

Some headlines notwithstanding, it doesn’t sound like Joe Biden actually sat in the Oval Office and signed off mandatory nicotine reduction while photographers recorded the historic moment…

Rumours circulating this week that the Biden administration is about to put its weight behind mandatory nicotine reduction in combustibles will have been music to the ears of 22nd Century Group, if few others…

Of course it was only to be expected that the World Health Organization (WHO) would include novel nicotine products in its annual condemnations for World No Tobacco Day, but the approach it took this year was significant: a focus on the environment…

Most tobacco companies are keen to be seen supporting the concept of harm reduction, especially through reduced-risk products like e-cigarettes, heat-not-burn and pouches. But how far is their support for the idea actually having an effect on their activities right now, as well as their future direction?…

The World Health Organization (WHO)’s rejection of a new Covid-19 vaccine on anti-tobacco grounds will almost certainly end up having a negative impact on public health – particularly in the developing world…

Speaking at the launch of the seventh edition of the Atlas, US public health scholar Jeffrey Drope suggested that new nicotine technologies are “a huge distraction” which have “confused governments, the public health community and the public”…

The $16bn takeover of Swedish Match by Philip Morris International (PMI) now seems more likely to happen than not (at least as of today; these things are never certain until the last signature is signed)…

The long-mooted proposal to prohibit menthol is the most dramatic step the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken since the 2009 Tobacco Control Act exempted menthol from a general ban on flavoured tobacco…

Is the present system of peer-reviewed journal publication of scientific papers the best way to get the best science – particularly in the controversial world of tobacco? There are those who think it may not be…

What will Michele Mital’s reign as acting director of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) mean in terms of policy?…

Michele Mital’s appointment as acting head of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) is not bad news for the industry, even if it’s not quite good news. And there may be bigger change at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)…

A no-doubt well-meaning ballot measure enthusiastically taken up by voters just 18 months ago now has General Assembly members in the US state of Colorado tied up in a knot of their own making…

Broadening the appeal of tobacco harm reduction (THR) products in low- and middle-income countries can be an uphill struggle, though it arguably matters more there than anywhere else…

The Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) published a huge number of research abstracts to accompany its annual get-together – here are some of the highlights…

When it comes to taking advantage of Brexit’s opportunities for tobacco reform, the UK appears to have balked worse than a horse at its final Olympics pentathlon…

As the market for nicotine pouches swells, there is – just as with heated tobacco a few years ago – a risk that regulatory interest outpaces scientific research…

“Following the science” is one of the most misleading, clichés of the pandemic, and both advocates and enemies of novel tobacco products need to be cautious of claiming to do the same thing…

Whatever the motives behind it, punitive or would-be persuasive taxation has many of the same drawbacks as prohibition…

Recent changes to Norwegian regulations are unlikely to have a significant impact on the country’s tobacco alternatives market…

Acceptance by the US FDA of very-low-nicotine cigarettes as a modified risk product may be controversial, even bizarre, but it will be worth seeing how they perform in the market – and how that may affect future regulation of alternatives…

Some vapers appear to be switching to heated tobacco products, but should vaping and heated tobacco be viewed as complementary alternatives or competitors…

The heated tobacco sector has, compared with its cousin vapour, always suffered from a lack of scientific research and from the perception that most of what does exist is industry-funded…

Switzerland faces two referendum votes crucial to the future of tobacco product advertising in the country…

New Zealand has designated a cohort of young people – those who will be 14 or younger when the government’s proposed law comes into effect – who will never be old enough to smoke…

It’s the end of an era as tobacco sponsorship of Formula One racing comes to an end – again. Or does it and is it?…

Sooner or later the EU will have a new Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), and one of the big questions will be how it treats new product categories which barely existed at the time of TPD2…

Conflict between public health and political-economic interests seems to be the main reason behind an internal dispute between the Philippine delegation to COP9 and officials at the country’s Department of Health…

Robert Califf’s expected return to head the US FDA has excited plenty of attention in the world of e-cigarettes, but there’s been much less talk about the likely impact on heated tobacco, pouches and other novel nicotine products…

The misleading advertising of tobacco alternatives on social media has become a critical concern of public health groups and some governments around the world…

Why won’t the World Health Organization (WHO) talk about tobacco alternatives? It’s never been shy before about putting forward its extreme scepticism…

Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) found that plain packaging did not produce a decline in men’s snus use in Norway, with “inconclusive results” on both smoking and women’s snus use…

While the decision to give marketing authorisation to some RJ Reynolds relates specifically to e-cigarette products, it’s highly likely that much the same priorities will govern official thinking on other alternative products…

A global consensus between industry, scientists and regulators around the role of tobacco alternatives in smoking cessation could be reached in the long term, but experts believe achieving more cooperation is a major challenge…

Some light is now dawning on some truths long since suspected about the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s approach to tobacco-alternative products of all kinds through its cumbersome evaluation of e-cigarettes…

Tobacco corporations seem to be accelerating their commitment towards more sustainable businesses, investing in projects to reduce environmental harm caused by tobacco-alternative devices…

“Misinformation poses a real threat to progress” in a major area of public health concern, we’re told – and this time it’s about the dangers of tobacco-alternative products…

Swedish Match has announced that the company is to become 100% smoke-free by next year with the separation of its cigar business in the US, a decision that is likely to have an impact in the market…

As the US Food and Drug Administration’s deadline to pass or reject e-cigarette premarket tobacco product applications (PMTAs) arrives, where does it leave the market and what might it mean for tobacco alternatives?…

Sales of nicotine pouches in the US have risen 300 times higher over the five years since they entered the US market in 2016, according to figures released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)…