Heat-not-burn e-cigarette refers to a device that evaporates the tobacco flavor and nicotine in special tobacco by baking at a low temperature (200-350°C) for human smoking. Since this heating method has no combustion process, it will not produce tar, carbon monoxide and other traditional cigarette hazards, which greatly reduces the harm to people. IQOS is the world's first heat-not-burn e-cigarette brand, which was launched in 2014 by the world's largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (Marlboro's parent company), and caused great market response. According to IQOS research, IQOS hazards are reduced by 90% compared to traditional cigarettes.
IQOS products were first piloted in Italy and Japan, and have been a huge success with their excellent product experience and first-mover advantage, with an astonishing 70% customer conversion rate. In 2017, IQOS had total sales of $3.6 billion, accounting for about 72% of the global share of heat-not-burn tobacco products.
The success of IQOS is inseparable from Philip Morris International's expertise in the research and development of new tobacco products. In 2008, PMI invested more than US$3 billion to build a R&D team of more than 400 experts for the research and development of harm-reducing products (RRPs). According to the statistics on heat-not-burn cigarette patents from 1985 to 2016 announced by the China Intellectual Property Office, Philip Morris International ranked first with 141 patents, more than the second, third and fourth patents combined.
The working principle of IQOS e-cigarette is not complicated, the special cigarette is inserted into the heater, heated to a sufficient temperature to emit smoke, the preparation of special cigarette is its main technical difficulty, only large tobacco giants have the strength to develop. Since IQOS has patent protection in heating temperature control, non-residue of tobacco in heating chambers and cartridge manufacturing, for other large tobacco companies, they must develop products through other means to avoid the risk of patent infringement, which is also the main industry threshold for new heat-not-burn tobacco products.
For example, the IQOS heater uses a ceramic heating element, which can be inserted into the heating element when used, and its heating temperature does not exceed 350°C, which is much lower than the combustion temperature of traditional cigarettes, so the harm is greatly reduced. It should be reminded that the pod cannot be rotated after inserting the heating sheet, otherwise the heating sheet will be broken.
At the end of use and when the cartridge is withdrawn, the cap will have a longitudinal displacement with the heating rod, which greatly reduces the amount of residue on the heater, this technology is also one of the core patents of Philip Morris International, and its patent protection point is that the heat-not-burn e-cigarettes of other manufacturers can not produce displacement between the heating rod and the cap when removing the cartridge. Major brands have taken active measures to avoid infringing on PMI's existing patents, which is why many heat-not-burn products on the market have different ways to pick up bombs. For example, Lil uses a cylindrical heating needle to avoid infringement by rotating the pod and then pumping it out, but because the contact area between the cylindrical heating needle and the special tobacco is not large, it is inferior to IQOS in terms of taste experience.
IQOS e-cigarette is the best solution condensed by Philip Morris International's heat-not-burn patent, which also creates its extraordinary taste. In order to solve the shortage of production capacity, Philip Morris International has taken a number of proactive measures to solve the production capacity problem by finding new manufacturers and integrating existing cigarette production lines, including the transformation of the Papastratos cigarette manufacturing plant in Greece into an IQOS heating rod manufacturing plant, and also investing $320 million in a new smokeless product factory in Germany, while the assembly of heating components and chargers is handled by Singapore Venture, and the battery part is completed by Panasonic.
IQOS currently has three heat-not-burn products, namely IQOS 2.4 Plus, IQOS 3.0 and IQOS 3 MULTI, with domestic prices ranging from 500 to 800 yuan. At present, there are 3 main brands of cartridges, namely HEETS, Paramount and Marlboro, with as many as 12 flavors of cartridges and a price of about 30 yuan per pack. Marlboro Original, Paramount Blue and HEETS Amber are the original flavors, which can obtain a taste that is more consistent with traditional flue-cured tobacco; If you like a mint flavor, we recommend Marlboro's light/thick mint. It is worth mentioning that because heat-not-burn cartridges are tobacco controlled products, they are strictly prohibited from being sold in China.
IQOS 3.0 is an upgraded version of IQOS 2.4 Plus, in addition to the appearance size, workmanship and taste have been greatly improved, in terms of operation, the 3.0 side opening lever also adds a lot of fashion. In addition, the 3.0 adopts a type-C charging interface, and the charging time of the cigarette stick is also shortened from the original 4 minutes and 10 seconds to 3 minutes and 30 seconds, shortening the waiting time.
IQOS 3.0 and IQOS 3 MULTI are both IQOS fourth-generation products, compared to the 3.0 split design (the battery box and heating rod are separated), the 3.0 MULTI adopts the design method of integrating the battery box and the heating rod, in order to take into account the feel, the 3.0 MULTI will also make the volume more compact, therefore, its battery capacity is not as good as the 2.4 Plus, 3.0, only 830mAh, can support the use of 10 cartridges, and IQOS 2.4 Plus and IQOS The 3.0 battery has a capacity of 2900mAh and can support the use of 20 pods. In addition, due to the integrated design of 3.0 MULTI, it can be used in conjunction with pumping. FOR USERS WHO WANT TO QUIT SMOKING, IT IS RECOMMENDED TO BUY IQOS 3.0, WHICH DOES NOT SUPPORT CONTINUOUS SMOKING, AND IF YOU WANT TO SAVE CONVENIENCE, IQOS 3 MULTI IS MORE SUITABLE.
